of the early advocacy of and interest in the establishment of the Home by that officer.  This building was the home of the first inmates, and has frequently been used as the summer residence of the Presidents.  It has been occupied by Presidents Buchanan, Lincoln, Hayes, and Arthur.  There is a building to the east called the King Building, after Benjamin King, U.S.A., who was the surgeon in charge for thirteen years.  Brick quarters were erected to the northeast of the Sherman Building in 1883, and, in honor of General Philip H. Sheridan, is named the Sheridan Building.  There is a neat chapel built of red sandstone, which was completed in 1871, where religious services, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, are regularly held.  The officers in immediate charge of the Home are a governor, a deputy governor, a secretary and treasurer, and a medical officer detailed from the army.  The inmates who are not pensioned receive one dollar a month pocket money, and twenty-five cents a day for such labor as they are detailed for and willing to perform.  Some beneficiaries who have families receive a small monthly stipend and reside elsewhere than at the Home.  The whole number of permanent inmates admitted up to September 30, 1892, was 8,086.  The number on the rolls January 31, 1893, was 1,196; of these, 824 were present at the Home, some receiving outside assistance, and some being absent on furlough.

A heroic statue in bronze of Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, by Launt Thompson, was erected in 1874 on the most commanding point of the grounds.  Aside from the artistic finish of the statue, it is a wonderful likeness of the subject.  There is also a perfectly designed hospital for the sick and an infirmary for the aged and helpless, which was completed in 1876.  No grander or more lasting monument could be erected to perpetuate the memory of the illustrious general than the Soldiers’ Home near Washington.

General Scott, in his later years, was very impatient of contradiction, but when convinced that he was in error was always ready to acknowledge it.  In a diary of Colonel (now General) James Grant Wilson, who was at that time aid-de-camp to General Banks, occurs the following: 

“On the morning of the 19th of February, 1864, I spent an hour with Scott at his quarters, Delmonico’s, corner Fourteenth Street and Fifth Avenue.  During our conversation he mentioned that he was engaged in writing his Memoirs, and that he experienced a great deal of annoyance from his difficulty in obtaining dates relating to events in the southwest.  He expressed regret that Gayarre, whom he knew and had met before the war, had not published the third volume of the History of Louisiana, which he [Scott] knew was in manuscript.  I remarked that I thought I had seen the work in three octavo volumes.  ’No, you have not seen three volumes.  There are only two published, and the first is a small 18mo volume,’ was the old gentleman’s answer.  I further added that it was my impression that I had seen three, when the old soldier settled the matter by saying, ’Your impressions are entirely wrong, colonel.’  An hour later I purchased the third volume at a Broadway bookseller’s, and sent it to him with the following note: