Described by the Indiana Adjutant General “as unusual a fighting force as the United States ever armed and equipped for action,” the dreadfully-named, preposterously uniformed Invalid Corps came into existence in April 1863, and within a year became the Veteran Reserve Corps (VRC). Despite general derision from able-bodied filed unit comrades, they provided valuable garrison, guard, and other types of off-line duty, and enabled superb soldiers to continue serving their country during the Civil War, and after.

Stephen A. Goldman, M.D., author of One More War to Fight: Union Veterans’ Battle for Equality through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Lost Cause, will discuss the VRC’s formation, organization, responsibilities, and under-recognized contribution to the successful July 1864 defense of Washington. He will then explain how VRC soldiers played a major role in one of Reconstruction’s most vital organizations, the Freedmen’s Bureau.