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6 unusual facts about Missouri State Guard


Etna, Missouri

On July 21, 1861, the 1st Northeast Missouri Home Guards under Colonel David Moore with assistance of additional units from Iowa and Illinois attacked pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard (MSG) forces at Etna.

Florida, Missouri

Brigadier General Thomas A. Harris of the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard had established his headquarters at Florida in June, and by early July he had nearly five hundred troops in the immediate vicinity under his command.

McNeill's Rangers

In 1861, McNeill — a native of western Virginia — had formed and commanded a company in the Missouri State Guard.

Missouri State Guard

The final version of the act approved on May 14 authorized the Governor of Missouri, Claiborne Fox Jackson, to disband the old Missouri Volunteer Militia and reform it as the Missouri State Guard to resist "invasion" by the Union Army and "rebellion" (by Missourians who had enlisted in the Federal forces).

Price–Harney Truce

The Price–Harney Truce was a document signed on May 21, 1861 between United States Army General William S. Harney (Commander of the U.S. Army's Western Department) and Missouri State Guard commander Sterling Price at the beginning of the American Civil War.

In the aftermath of the riot, the Missouri State Legislature enacted the governor's "Military Bill" replacing the Missouri State Militia with a new Missouri State Guard.


7th Missouri Volunteer Infantry

In addition, Irish Americans were strong participants in the pre-war Missouri Volunteer Militia, and many resented the May 10, 1861 Federal arrest of the Militia for suspected secession activity.

Battle of Dry Wood Creek

The Missouri State Guard troops were successful in their campaign to force the Union Army to abandon southwestern Missouri and to concentrate on holding the Missouri Valley.

Boonville, Missouri

Union forces defeated a small and poorly equipped force of the Missouri State Guard in the first Battle of Boonville.

Claiborne Fox Jackson

On May 3, 1861, Jackson ordered the Missouri Volunteer Militia to assemble at various encampments throughout Missouri, including St. Louis for six days of training.

Clever, Missouri

On August 2, 1861, the Battle of Dug Springs pitted the Union forces of General Nathaniel Lyon against the numerically superior combined Confederate forces of General Benjamin McCulloch, Arkansas State Troops under General Nicholas Bartlett Pearce, and Missouri State Guard under General (and Missouri Governor) Sterling Price.

Given Campbell

When tension over secession increased, Campbell enlisted in the 2nd Regiment Missouri Volunteer Militia under Col. John S. Bowen.

Thomas Caute Reynolds

Following the Camp Jackson Affair, when Union military troops and civilians clashed over the arrest of the Missouri Volunteer Militia, Price, Jackson, and Reynolds met on May 14, 1861, to discuss strategy.


see also

Jeff Thompson

M. Jeff Thompson (1826–1876), brigadier general in the Missouri State Guard during the American Civil War