In 1862 the Civil War lurched into its second year. Union Gen. George McClellan prepared his Army of the Potomac -- 100,000 strong -- for a march on Richmond, Va.

The war had started in May 1861 with both sides fielding armies that, combined, totaled about 42,000 men. No one had expected the fighting to last this long, grow this large, or cost this much in money or men.

Or children.

Orphans are a forgotten casualty of war, earning neither medals nor monuments. But in March 1862 they gained the attention of some Wilkes-Barre area women who formed what news accounts called the Home for Friendless Children.

The home, intended for those left fatherless because of war, was the precursor to the Children's Service Center of Wyoming Valley Inc., a nonprofit children's mental health center.

The idea of an orphanage sprang from a meeting of several women, one of whom had helped establish a similar home in Lancaster.

"This institution had its origin in the desire of some ladies to provide shelter, food and instruction to a number of destitute children who were being trained as street beggars, and exposed to all the vices of that position," according to minutes from the board of manager meetings from the first year of operation.

One woman's husband provided a house on South Street, free of charge. Through private donations they raised enough money to hire a "matron" or female manager, and start taking in "the Little Wanderers that were willing to accept the blessings tendered them," the minutes said.

In 1863 the minutes reported the home had sheltered 47 children since opening, with 22 living there at the time, taxing the small building's resources to the maximum.

Of the 47 that had used the facility, one was adopted and three "have been indentured, where the committee have good reason to believe they will be well treated." Two children ran away and one was stolen by the mother. Others were returned to their families.

But the need for a larger building was clear, and with more private contributions and $2,500 from the state, construction of a new three-story home began at 335 S. Franklin St.

In March 1864, the Susquehanna flooded, washing into the incomplete structure's basement, weakening the foundation. Much of the building had to be rebuilt.

The home stood for 75 years, at its peak housing 100 children. In 1909 scarlet fever infected 30 children, killing two and prompting construction of a separate hospital behind the home.

A school room and girls' dormitory also were added, and the name was changed to the Children's Home.

Though turn-of-the-century reports paint the home as a glowing success, a 1965 article said it was originally more like a "prison" that people rarely discussed.

The home's usefulness diminished in the 1900s when more orphaned children were placed in foster homes. One news account notes the emergence of the automobile made it possible to visit such children "as often as was necessary to assure that the foster parents were good parents.

In 1938 the home's fate and mission changed dramatically when it became the benefactor of Martha Bennet's will. The Michigan resident with family ties to Wilkes-Barre left her estate, with an estimated worth of about $800,000 by one account, for the construction of "a home for poor little children."

The old building was razed and two new "cottages" were built, to be run by a new organization, the Children's Service Center, which shifted the focus away from housing orphans to helping troubled children. The center's mission has grown and changed, extending a variety of psychological and social services to children, but the organization is still at the Franklin Street location, using the two "cottages," one as a crisis unit and the other as a day treatment center.

Histories routinely point out that by the time Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomatox in April 1865, 620,000 people -- in a nation of 35 million -- had been killed. An equal or greater number had been wounded. Nearly $4 billion in property had been wiped out either by war damage or the aftermath of emancipation and the demise of Confederate currency.

But the tallies of history don't record the number of children who grew up without their fathers. In Wilkes-Barre, at least, some of those victims found refuge in the generosity and compassion of those who stayed behind during the fighting. It is a legacy that lives on today.