Old Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Home
1893 – 1938
Confederate Plot Section Six in Old City Cemetery is the final resting place for the Confederate Veterans who resided at the Old Soldiers and Sailors Home, a refuge for aged and disabled Veterans. The Florida Soldiers Home Association was formed in 1888 with Major Albert Russell (C.S.A.) serving as the organization’s president. Four years later, the Soldiers Home Association purchased ten acres of the Whitney Homestead in which to care for aging Confederate Veterans.
Florida’s Old Confederate Soldiers Home was dedicated on April 6, 1893, consisting of an Italian-styled villa of nine large rooms and a house of two rooms, located at 2336 Talleyrand Avenue. Official regulations required residents to have evidence of their Confederate military service and honorable discharge or parole. The Home was first financed and maintained by the United Confederate Veterans, Sons of Confederate Veterans and Martha Reid Chapter No. 19 United Daughters of the Confederacy. Throughout the years, Florida U.D.C. Chapters gave generously of their time and resources to meet the needs and provide luxuries to the beloved veterans. Confederate organizations of years past acknowledged that the aged soldiers were “a living monument to the War Between the States” and should be cared for, protected and honored. In the years between 1893 and 1938 the number of veterans in the Home ranged from as few as three to as many as forty-seven. For forty years the Home operated and survived on State appropriations and donations from veteran organizations and the U.D.C. Florida’s Confederate home remained in operation until 1938, when the last veteran died. When the property was sold, the State Commander of the United Confederate Veterans transferred funds to the State of Florida for the establishment of an endowment fund to be used for scholarships at the Florida State College for Women (FSU) and the University of Florida.