Review of From Soldier's Home to Medical Center: A Glance at the 125 Year History of the Bath Soldiers' Home (Paperback)

At the same time that Michael Horigan was preparing his book on the logistics of building a prison camp during the Civil War (see "Elmira: Death Camp of the North"), another area man was researching how a neighboring town could handle a similar but much happier enterprise - building and maintaining a Soldiers' Home, where homeless, sick, and/or indigent Civil War veterans of New York State could be cared for with respect and dignity. Robert Yott, himself a Civil War re-enactor, labored to create a book detailing the 125-year history of the Bath Soldiers' Home. Yott's book is all the more interesting for its focus on the genesis of the project, how the citizens of Bath organized to bid to be the location of the prestigious Home, how they won the bid over several other locations including Elmira, how they coordinated fundraising efforts with the famous orator Henry Ward Beecher, how the design was cutting edge technology for the time. Thus, this history of the Bath Hospital becomes, like Horigan's book, a window into life in the Twin Tiers of the time. I encourage you to take a look.

Product Description
The fascinating story of how a group of Civil War veterans, known as the Grand Army of the Republic, led the fight to raise the $100,000 needed to establish a State Soldiers' Home in New York. From its inception to the present VA Medical Center, this book covers the triumphs and scandals in its 125 plus year history. From U.S. Grant to Theodore Roosevelt; Robert Kennedy to the record setting EchoTaps, it's all here. Nearly 200 pages with 150 photos, some never before seen.

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