VirtualMuseum

The Union war effort in the Trans-Mississippi in 1861 focused on neutralizing the threat posed to Missouri by Sterling Price and the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard. Following the Confederate defeat at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in March 1862, Price and his command were ordered east of the Mississippi River and Union control of Missouri seemed assured. At that time, the relatively low level of guerrilla activity was regarded as more of an annoyance than a threat. Nevertheless, civil and military authorities felt the number of Union troops in the state was insufficient to engage in conventional operations and deal with the guerrilla problem.

A few months later Missouri was rocked by a violent upsurge of irregular activity. Guerrilla bands of every size and description, sometimes operating in conjunction with small Confederate forces based in Arkansas, swarmed out of the woods and swamps and attacked towns and railroads, carried off horses and weapons, and killed Unionist civilians by the hundreds. They even engaged and defeated small Union forces at Independence (August 11, 1862) and Lone Jack (August 15-16, 1862) in the western part of the state. Governor Hamilton R. Gamble and the new Union commander, Brig. Gen. John M. Schofield, responded to this unexpected challenge by requiring every able-bodied Missourian to take a stringent loyalty oath and to join a new paramilitary organization. The Enrolled Missouri Militia included every adult male in the state. It was a home guard similar to the militias of the colonial and revolutionary era, and was intended to serve as both a local defense force against guerrillas and a source of support for the Missouri State Militia.

The Missouri State Militia had been established the previous November by Gamble and the Abraham Lincoln administration. Despite its name, the Missouri State Militia was a full-time military organization armed, equipped, and paid by the United States government. It was indistinguishable from other Union forces except that it was controlled by Missouri authorities and limited to service in that state, though on occasion Missouri State Militia troops ventured into Arkansas or Kansas. Continue reading »