thing the Missouri State Militia have found work enough to do within the boundaries which the terms of their enlistment prescribed. Since their formation there has been no fight or skirmish of any importance in which they have not participated. The fights of Kirksville, Moore's Mill, Lone Jack, Springfield, Hartville, Cape Girardeau, and scores of others in which they have been engaged bear witness to their bravery and endurance. In the late raid made by the rebel Shelby into this State, almost the only troops that could come up with him, and which finally routed him and drove him from our borders, were the class of which I am now writing. To give even a condensed report of all their movements and actions would require more time than I have now at my disposal. And in his report of 1864 the State adjutant-general said (p. 28): The operations of this force during the past year have been mainly confined to the limits of the State, although portions thereof have been occasionally employed in expeditions beyond its southern and western borders. During the most of the time its regiments have been, each of them, widely scattered, frequently with not more than a single company at any one point. The great extent of country which was, necessarily, to be protected by military occupation has compelled such a disposition, and it was not until the raid of the rebel forces under Price transpired, during the past autumn, that anything like a general concentration of regiments could be perfected. During that raid some seven of the ten regiments were brought together and rendered eminent service, when thus concentrated, in expelling an invasion which was so boastingly commenced and so ingloriously ended." By a resolution of Congress, approved July 13, 1868, the Missouri State Militia was placed on "an equal footing with the volunteers as to bounties." The text of this resolution is as follows: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the troops recognized in an act entitled "An act making appropriations for completing the defenses of Washington, and for other purposes,' approved February thirteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, be, and are hereby, considered as placed on an equal footing with the volunteers as to bounties, and that all laws relating to bounties be applicable to them, as to other volunteers. Approved, July 13, 1868. [15 Stat. L., p. 256.] * * * * * A pensionable status under the general law was given to the surviving officers and enlisted men of the Missouri State Militia and the heirs of those deceased by a provision of section 8 of the act approved March 3, 1873, entitled "An act to revise, consolidate, and amend the laws relating to pensions." The clause referred to reads as follows: SEC. 8. * That the provisions of this act are hereby extended to and made to embrace the officers and privates of the Missouri State Militia, disabled by reason of injury received or disease contracted in the line of duty while such militia was cooperating with United States forces, and the widow or children of any such person dying of injury received or disease contracted under the circumstances herein set forth shall be entitled to the benefits of this act: Provided, That the pensions on account of such militia shall not commence prior to the date of the passage of this act. That the provisions of this section shall be so interpreted as to apply to the widows, child, or children of officers and privates of the Missouri State Militia * * * if the husband or father was wounded or contracted the disease of which he died while in the service of the Government of the United States. The provisions of the pension act of June 27, 1890, were subsequently extended to the members of the Missouri State Militia and their representatives. This was done by a joint resolution approved February 15, 1895, entitled "Joint resolution to restore the status of the Missouri Militia who served during the late war." Following is a copy of so much of the resolution as relates to the Missouri State Militia: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of the act of June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety, be, and are hereby, extended to include the officers and privates of the Missouri State Militia * * who served ninety days during the late * war of the rebellion and were honorably discharged, and to the widows and minor children of such persons. The provisions of this act shall include all such persons now on the pension rolls or who may hereafter apply to be admitted thereto." Approved, February 15, 1895. [28 Stat. L., p. 970.] In considering the status of the Missouri State Militia it is to be borne in mind that in the order of the War Department (General Orders, No. 96, of 1861) authorizing their employment they are referred to as "force of State militia" organized "to cooperate with the troops in the service of the United States" in a limited field of service; that they were mustered into the service of the State of Missouri by State officers; that the oath administered to them at the time of muster in was that they should "honestly and faithfully serve the State of Missouri;" that the President and the War Department conceded to the governor of the State the right to accept resignations and remove officers; that it was determined by the Secretary of War, concurring in the opinion of the Solicitor of the War Department, that they were "militia of the State of Missouri and not a part of the regular or volunteer forces of the United States," and, therefore, not entitled to the service bounty, and that special legislation by Congress was necessary to give to the members of the force the bounties and pensions payable to volunteers in the. military service of the United States. But it is also to be considered that the act of February 13, 1862, by implication, recognized the Missouri State Militia as being then in the military service of the United States; that until December, 1862, when the President recognized the authority of the governor to remove officers, it was uniformly held by the War Department that this militia force was in the United States service; that the War Department authorized the enlistment of members of the force as veteran volunteers, a privilege, generally extended only to those who had served the United States; that after the ruling of 1864 that the Missouri State Militia was not a part of the regular or volunteer forces of the United States the War Department exercised the authority to determine when their service should terminate, and directed that they should be mustered out under the same regulations that were applied to the "muster out and discharge of other troops from the service of the United States." And in this connection it is to be stated that on January 30, 1865, the Provost-Marshal-General, in a letter authorizing the governor of Missouri to organize additional regiments for the volunteer service, excluded from enlistment in the new regiments members of the "Missouri State Militia or other troops already in the service of the United States;" that the Missouri State Militia were, in fact, mustered out of service by United States officers, and that their muster-out rolls report them as having been mustered out of the United States service; that the rolls of the several organizations were received and filed in the War Department like those of volunteers in the United States service; that these rolls were always reported from by the Adjutant-General's Office to the accounting officers of the Government precisely in the form and manner observed in the preparation of reports from the rolls of troops regularly mustered into the United States military service; that the remuster and desertion laws applicable to officers and enlisted men in the military service of the United States and the act providing for the furnishing of certificates in lieu of lost discharges were applied to the Missouri State Militia precisely as if that force had been regularly in the military service of the United States, and, finally, that the practice of the Adjutant-General's Office with respect to these troops has been continued by the Record and Pension Office, its propriety not having been called in question. It is evident from the foregoing that the peculiar military force known as the Missouri State Militia was not technically in the military service of the United States, and the practice inaugurated in the Adjutant-General's Office of treating it as a volunteer force in that service is doubtless open to criticism, but it is to be stated that the reports furnished from the rolls contained the information required in the adjudication of claims arising under the special legislation providing for the payment of bounties and pensions, and that the application of the remuster and other laws applicable to the volunteer forces has an equitable, if not a strictly legal foundation. However, regardless of the propriety of the action of the War Department with regard to this force, it would seem that it is now, after the lapse of more than a third of a century, too late to change the existing practice, and the Missouri State Militia has therefore been scheduled in this paper among the troops recognized as having been in the military service of the United States. As already stated in this paper, the "Missouri State Militia," which originally aggregated 13,000 men, was reduced by special authority of Congress to a maximum of 10,000. The force as originally organized included 14 regiments, 3 battalions, and 1 independent company of cavalry, 2 batteries of light artillery, 1 regiment of infantry, and 1 company of sappers and miners. ENROLLED MISSOURI MILITIA. ORGANIZATION, STRENGTH, DISBANDMENT. During the early summer of 1862 a movement was set on foot by the enemies of the Government having for its object the systematic organization of guerrilla bands throughout the State of Missouri. This movement became so formidable that it was determined by the State authorities to take stringent measures for the suppression of existing disorders. Accordingly Brig. Gen. John M. Schofield, the commander of the Missouri State Militia and also the United States military commander of the District of Missouri, was authorized to organize the entire militia force of the State for the purpose of putting down marauders and defending the peaceable citizens of the State. This was done in orders from State headquarters, of which the following is a copy: SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 101. HEADQUARTERS STATE OF MISSOURI, The existence of numerous bands of guerrillas in different parts of the State, who are engaged in robbing and murdering peaceable citizens for no other cause than that such citizens are loyal to the Government under which they have always lived, renders it necessary that the most stringent measures be adopted to punish all such crimes and to destroy such bands. Brig. Gen. John M. Schofield, in command of the Missouri State Militia, is hereby authorized to organize the entire militia of the State into companies, regiments, and brigades, and to order into active service such portions of the force thus organized as he may judge necessary for the purpose of putting down all marauders and defending the peaceable citizens of the State. H. R. GAMBLE, Governor of the State of Missouri. [Annual Report Adjutant-General of Missouri, 1863, p. 19.] On the same day, July 22, 1862, pursuant to the authority thus conferred upon him, General Schofield issued the following: GENERAL ORDERS, No. 19. } HEADQUARTERS MISSOURI STATE MILITIA, An immediate organization of all the militia of Missouri is hereby ordered, for the purpose of exterminating the guerrillas that infest our State. Every able-bodied man capable of bearing arms and subject to military duty is hereby ordered to repair, without delay, to the nearest military post and report for duty to the commanding officer. Every man will bring with him whatever arms he may have or can procure, and a good horse if he has one. All arms and ammunition of whatever kind and wherever found, not in the hands of the loyal militia, will be taken possession of by the latter and used for the public defense. Those who have no arms and can not procure them in the above manner will be supplied as quickly as possible by the ordnance department. The militiamen who shall assemble at any post will be immediately enrolled and organized into companies, elect their officers, and be sworn into service, in accordance with the militia laws of the State, under the immediate superintendence of the commanding officer of the post. The militia thus organized will be governed by the Articles of War and Army Regulations, and will be subject to do duty under the orders of the commanding officers of the post where they enrolled, or such other officers of the United States troops or Missouri Militia, regularly mustered into service, as may be assigned to their command. Commanding officers will report from day to day, by telegraph when practicable, the progress of enrollment at their posts and the number of arms required. Six days after the date of this order are allowed for every man fit for military duty to report to the commanding officer of the nearest military post and be enrolled. All persons so enrolled will be regarded as belonging to the active militia of the State until further orders. The commanding officer of a post, or any higher commander, is authorized to give furloughs to such men of this militia force as can not be absent from their ordinary business without serious detriment or such as are not needed for present service. Such leaves of absence will in no case be for a longer period than ten days, and may be revoked at any time or renewed at their expiration at the discretion of the officer granting them. The same strict discipline and obedience to orders will be enforced among the militia in service under this order as among other troops, and commanding officers will be held strictly responsible for all unauthorized acts of the men. The enrollment and organization of the militia of St. Louis will be under the general direction of Col. Lewis Merrill, commanding St. Louis Division, who will establish rendezvous, appoint enrolling officers, and make such regulations as he shall deem necessary. By order of Brigadier-General Schofield: C. W. MARSH, Assistant Adjutant-General. [Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. XIII, p. 506.] On the 24th of July an order was issued by General Schofield providing for the organization into separate corps of the employees of the United States, State and city governments, and of railroad and transportation companies and other corporations. Following is a copy of the order: GENERAL ORDERS, HEADQUARTERS MISSOURI STATE MILITIA, All persons in the employ of the United States, State, or city governments will be enrolled and organized by the chiefs of their respective departments, and will act under the orders of their respective chiefs. All railroad and transportation companies, and other corporations employing large numbers of men, will organize their employees into distinct corps, under their respective chiefs. The chiefs of such companies, corporations, and departments of government not now in the military service of the State or of the United States will report to an authorized enrolling officer and be themselves sworn into service, when they will proceed to enroll and organize the men under their control. All voluntary organizations of the loyal militia which may be perfected before the expiration of the time specified for enrollment in General Orders, No. 19, and present their muster rolls to the superintendent of enrollment in St. Louis or the nearest enrolling officer will be recognized and received as such. It is desirable that such voluntary organizations shall, as far as possible, embrace all the men subject to militia duty belonging to the same business firms located in close proximity to each other, so that a certain portion of the members of such organizations may be called into active service at any time without interrupting their ordinary business. By order of Brigadier-General Schofield: [Ibid., pp. 508, 509.] C. W. MARSH, Assistant Adjutant-General. In conformity with this order, special orders were issued by Col. Lewis Merrill, commanding the St. Louis Division, for the organization of the employees of certain transfer, express, and railroad companies, as follows: SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 48. HEADQUARTERS ST. LOUIS DIVISION, The officers and employees of the St. Louis Transfer Company and of the Adams, American, and United States express companies will be enrolled in a special trans S. Doc. 412- -4 |