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292 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
geon and his staff residing in quarters in the hospital building. In addition
to the eighteen buildings for dormitories, there are the library,
power house, bath house, laundry, postoffice, store house, guard house,
conservatory, nurses' home, hospital (ten buildings), assembly hall,
morgue, interurban station and barn, making in all forty-one buildings
now on the grounds.
The present officials are Gen. W. R. Burnett, commandant, and his
wife, Mary Burnett, matron; Capt. B. F. Atkinson, adjutant; Capt.
Charles Lawrence, chief clerk; Capt. F. G. Mitchell, chaplain; Maj. C. A.
Reeser, inspector; Maj. J. T. Haynes, surgeon; Capt. C. W. Metz, first
assistant surgeon; Capt. G. F. Thompson, second assistant surgeon;
Anna Archer, superintendent of nurses; Col. A. A. Pomeroy, hospital
treasurer; John G. Horning, engineer.
The home was opened on the 19th of November, 1888, and from that
time up to the present many changes have taken place. Gen. R. B.
Brown, of Zanesville, is the only surviving member of the original board
of trustees. Gen. Manning F. Force, the first commandant, died in 1889,
and was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati. Geii. A. M.
Anderson, the second commandant, died in 1901, his body resting in the
cemetery at Delaware. Gen. Thomas McAnderson, the third commandant,
resigned in 1904 and moved to Seattle, Washington, Avhere he
still lives. Gen. J. W. R. Cline, the fourth commandant, resigned in
1909 and warfFBack to his native city, Springfield. Gen. W. R. Burnett,
the presenxcommandant, has been in command since 1909. Prior to his
appointment to his present position, the general Avas for many years
one of the foremost public men in his own city, and spent his entire lifetime
in Springfield; was ahvays conspicuous in the politics of the city.
He is a Jacksonian democrat of the old type. He Avas elected mayor of
Springfield three times, and served for years on the important public
boards of the town.
This home has cared for an army of ex-soldiers since its opening,
which now has covered a space of more than tAventy-six years. Soldiers
of the Indian wars, the Mexican war, the Civil Avar and the Spanish-
American war here mingle together and enjoy the blessings and comforts
that this good state and nation provide for all these Avorthy men.
Nine thousand veterans, young and old, have been admitted to the open
doors of this good home. Of this large number, 2,900 have gone to the
eternal camping ground. At least one-half of the dead are shipped aAvay
to their old family burying ground. The cemetery here at the home
shows that 1,365 Civil war soldiers, 47 Spanish-American soldiers, 8
Mexican war soldiers and 1 Indian Avar soldier have been buried on these
grounds.
The hospital of the home is the busy place of the institution, and
as the members grow older and more feeble this Avork will be correspondingly
increased. Everything that can be done for the sick and
afflicted of the home is given them at this hospital. All the eye, ear, nose
and throat work, the surgical work and the medical attention is here eonducted.
Of late years there has been an arrangement with the manage-