The Missouri State Guard was organized almost literally on the run in the summer of 1861. It was never a united command. The State Guard Act was passed by the Missouri General Assembly in May 1861. It divided the state’s counties into nine military districts, the armed force of each district being organized as divisions.
Organization
First Military District/1st Division: the counties of the boot heel region of southeastern Missouri. Second Military District/2nd Division: the counties of northeastern Missouri along the Illinois border. Third Military District/3rd Division and the Fourth Military District/4th Division: the counties of north central Missouri lying between the Missouri River and the Iowa border. Fifth Military District/5th Division: the counties of northwestern Missouri, north of present day Kansas City. Sixth Military District/6th Division: the state capital at Jefferson City and the counties of central Missouri. Seventh Military District/7th Division: the counties of the Ozark region in the south central part of the state. Eighth Military District/8th Division: the counties of western and southwestern Missouri near the Kansas border. Ninth Military District/9th Division: the St. Louis area and adjacent counties.
Mobilization
Although some volunteer units had been activated in the spring, statewide mobilization of the Missouri State Guard began in June 1861, under the threat of imminent Federal intervention by troops under the command of Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon.
On June 12, Governor Claiborne Jackson called for 50,000 volunteers. Over the next few weeks men responded to the call around the state but no more than about ten percent of Jackson’s request was realized before Lyon’s advance interfered with the call up by penetrating deep into the state and seizing Jefferson City and the Missouri River corridor, thus cutting off most of the 2nd and 5th Divisions. Simultaneously another Union force under then Colonel Franz Sigel advanced into the southern part of the state cutting off the 1st Division and, for a short time, the 7th Division as well.
Campaigns
In spite of these Union maneuvers, most of the units then assembled of the State Guard’s 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th Divisions managed to rendezvous in southwest Missouri in late July, where they were joined by the troops of the 7th Division from the Ozarks. Not long after, these combined state forces under Major General Sterling Price joined with Confederate forces under Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch and defeated Lyon and Sigel at Wilson’s Creek.
Afterwards, Price advanced northward and captured Lexington, temporarily gaining control of the Missouri River between Lexington and Independence and allowing those elements of the Guard that had been cut off north of the river to cross and join his army. Price’s victories attracted a large number of recruits. At this point the Missouri State Guard appears to have reached its maximum size of about 20,000 men, including General M. Jeff Thompson’s 1st Division, which served independently in the southeast portion of the state.
Unsupported by McCulloch, Price was forced to withdraw south but tenaciously maintained himself in southwest Missouri until February 1862, when he was forced to withdraw his army from the state by a new Federal advance under Major General Samuel Curtis.
The End of the Missouri State Guard
The State Guard was never officially disbanded, but by September 1862 most Guardsmen had either enlisted in Confederate organizations or gone home at the expirations of their state enlistments. It has been estimated that the total number of men who served in the Missouri State Guard during its active existence may have reached as many as 40,000 men.
Sources:
Richard C. Peterson, James E. McGhee, Kip A. Lindberg, Keith I. Daleen. Sterling Price's Lieutenant's, A Guide to the Officers and Organizations of the Missouri State Guard, 1861-1865. Missouri, 1995.
John Glendower Westover. Evolution of the Missouri militia into the National Guard of Missouri, 1804-1919. Missouri Military History series, Volume I, Missouri Society for Military History, Jefferson City, MO, 2005.
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