In the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

the Home Guard or Home Guards were local

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

raised from

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

loyalists.

Missouri

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

after the start of the Civil War there were several competing organizations attempting to either take the state out of the Union or keep the state within it. Home Guard companies and regiments were raised by Union supporters, particularly German-Americans, to oppose the secessionist paramilitary Minutemen, secessionist elements in the official

Missouri Volunteer Militia The Missouri Volunteer Militia (MVM) was the state militia organization of Missouri, before the formation of the Missouri State Guard in the American Civil War. Prior to the Civil War, Missouri had an informal state militia that could be called up ...

and eventually the secessionist

Missouri State Guard The Missouri State Guard (MSG) was a military force established by the Missouri General Assembly on May 11, 1861. While not a formation of the Confederate States Army, the Missouri State Guard fought alongside Confederate troops and, at variou ...

. Many of the Home Guard regiments in the St. Louis area were raised from pre-existing

Wide Awakes The Wide Awakes were a youth organization and later a paramilitary organization cultivated by the Republican Party during the 1860 presidential election in the United States. Using popular social events, an ethos of competitive fraternity, and e ...

, a Republican Party organization established during the 1860 election, and from members of the German Turnverein cultural organization. St. Louis Unionists were mustered into Federal service in April 1861. Five regiments were designated the 1st–5th Missouri Volunteers and five additional regiments were created as the United States Reserve Corps. The second group were commonly referred to as the (St. Louis) Home Guard, and their creation was criticized as these regiments exceeded the requirement for Missouri volunteers under the

Militia Act of 1792 Two Militia Acts were enacted by the 2nd United States Congress in 1792 that provided for the organization of militias and empowered the President of the United States to take command of the state militias in times of imminent invasion or insurr ...

. During the Price–Harney Truce, Governor

Claiborne Jackson Claiborne Fox Jackson (April 4, 1806 – December 6, 1862) was an American politician of the Democratic Party in Missouri. He was elected as the 15th Governor of Missouri, serving from January 3, 1861, until July 31, 1861, when he was forc ...

and Missouri State Guard commander Major General

Sterling Price Major-General Sterling "Old Pap" Price (September 14, 1809 – September 29, 1867) was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded infantry in the Western and Trans-Mississippi theaters of the American Civil War. Prior to ...

demanded that the 1st–5th U.S.R.C. be disbanded as illegal organizations. (These regiments continued to serve though the Missouri Secession Crisis, later being converted into three-year regiments.) Once actual hostilities began in the state in June 1861, Union loyalists as Home Guard units in areas outside of St. Louis were organized and mobilized by

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Nathaniel Lyon Nathaniel Lyon (July 14, 1818 – August 10, 1861) was the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War. He is noted for his actions in Missouri in 1861, at the beginning of the conflict, to forestall secret secessionist plans of th ...

to oppose Sterling Price's Missouri State Guard, which was forming at the same time. One of these units, the Benton County Home Guards, was defeated by a battalion of Missouri State Guards at the Battle of Cole Camp. In late 1861 and early 1862 the three-month-service Home Guard were replaced by Unionist militia regiments, including the new Missouri State Militia, as well as the compulsory

Enrolled Missouri Militia The Enrolled Missouri Militia was a state militia organization of Missouri in 1862 during the American Civil War. It was a part-time force whose primary purpose was to serve as garrison and infrastructure guards, both to augment the Unionist Missou ...

in July 1862, and the Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia, formed later. One particularly famous Home Guard militia was that of Columbia, Missouri. In 1864, it was rumored that Price, by then a Confederate general, was planning on turning his march through Missouri towards the staunchly pro-Union town. Columbia had value not only as a stronghold of pro-Union thought, but served as home to a garrison of Union troops and prison located in the library and main academic building at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

. Worried about Price's raid and concerned about the presence of bushwhackers in the surrounding areas of pro-Confederate Boone County, 90 men assembled a militia named the Fighting Tigers of Columbia. The brigade stockpiled weapons, kept watch, set up a warning bell for the town, and dug a moat around the city courthouse. The University of Missouri's athletic programs are named in honor of the militia.

Iowa

Iowa Home Guard companies provided border defense along the Missouri border during the Civil War. During the Battle of Athens, Missouri, Iowa Home Guard companies on the other side of the

Des Moines River The Des Moines River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that is approximately long from its farther headwaters.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Na ...

protected the supply depots.

Kentucky

The Kentucky Home Guard participated in the Battle of Barbourville, Kentucky in September 1861 as well as the

Battle of Camp Wildcat The Battle of Camp Wildcat (also known as Wildcat Mountain and Camp Wild Cat) was one of the early engagements of the American Civil War (Civil War). It occurred October 21, 1861, in northern Laurel County, Kentucky during the campaign known a ...

and many other skirmishes such as the Battle of Augusta (1862).

Western Virginia

Union supporting Home Guards in Pendleton County, Virginia (in the mountains of what is now the

Eastern Panhandle The Eastern Panhandle is the eastern of the two panhandles in the U.S. state of West Virginia; the other is the Northern Panhandle. It is a small stretch of territory in the northeast of the state, bordering Maryland and Virginia. Some sources ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

) attacked Confederate works and small detachments with indifferent success during the war. The best known of these irregulars called themselves the "Swamp Dragons".

Indian Territory

Union volunteer infantry regiments known as the

Indian Home Guard The Indian Home Guard was a series of volunteer infantry regiments recruited from the Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory to support the Union during the American Civil War. There was also a series of Confederate units of Indian Territ ...

were recruited from the

Five Civilized Tribes The term Five Civilized Tribes was applied by European Americans in the colonial and early federal period in the history of the United States to the five major Native American nations in the Southeast—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek ...

in the

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

. Although the tribal leadership had supported the Confederacy, many of the tribal members did not.

References

External links

* http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/History/HomeGuard.htm * http://members.aol.com/hrftx/BCHG.htm * http://home.usmo.com/~momollus/MOREG/HG.htm * http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cappscreek/mohghistory.html {{American Civil War Militia in the United States Native Americans in the American Civil War Missouri in the American Civil War Iowa in the American Civil War Kentucky in the American Civil War Irregular forces of the American Civil War 1861 establishments in the United States