Existing comment:
Despite its national profile and initial funding success, the soldiers' home soon suffered a financial shortfall. In 1886, realize that it could not maintain the facility on private donations alone, Lee Camp solicited an annual appropriation from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Returning to the General Assembly in 1892 for increased subsidies, camp officials agreed to deed the property to the State "when it ceases to be used for present purposes." Several times over the next four decades, Virginia lawmakers increased appropriations. By the time the home closed, the State had funded over 80 percent of its total operating expenses. |