With the incoming of Commander Horace Binney Sargent, in 1876, the Grand Army entered upon a new and broader field in its work of fraternal charity; large as had been the liberality of Massachusetts towards its veterans, the Commonwealth yet lacked for its own what the national government had established for the helpless and needy wards of the Republic,--a Soldiers and Sailors Home. With the same earnestness and fervor which had made him the trusted military confidant of Governor Andrew, and later, a splendid commanding officer in the field, Commander Sargent threw himself into the work of securing this great need of the Commonwealth. The times were far from auspicious; business was suffering from severe depression, property values were feeling the apparent shrinkage incident to the approach to a coin basis, Comrade Sargent personally being among the foremost sufferers, while the strength of the Grand Army was from these causes constantly diminishing; and, at the outset, not a few of the members of the organization doubted the necessity for, or feared the failure of, the project. But there was contagion in the fiery enthusiasm and terrible earnestness of Commander Sargent, and, slowly at first, but surely, the plan won its way. Breaking their hitherto and since invariable rule of "one term" elections of department commander, the comrades in Massachusetts a second and a third time re-elected Commander Sargent, and, before the close of the latter term, he saw the beginning of the end in the establishment of a Soldiers Home on Powder Horn Hill, Chelsea.