Compulsory militias

[major bill]

One of the founding concepts of the United States was that the nation would not rely on a large standing army to defend the nation, but instead would rely on all men being part of a beat militia that might be called out when needed. Fairly early most states seen a need to have organized volunteer militia companies that met regularly, well perhaps not so regularly, which would serve as a stabilizing force of at least partly trained civilians around which the state beat militia would form.

The American Revolution has shown some defects in the reliance on militias but the concept of all adult men being the backbone of the nation's defense continued. When the War of 1812 occurred the military usefulness of the militia was show once again and even by that war the concept of every adult man being order off to military service was shown as being dated.

The Mexican American War showed the use of better trained volunteer militia companies with added volunteers who wanted to go. We could argue for pages about how the militia system worked during the Mexican American War but most states in the years following the Mexican American War stopped mandatory militia service and the associated yearly inspections of all local men at militia musters. This often resulted in a small tax placed on all adult men with the money being used to support volunteer militia companies. The local men were happy to not have to maintain arms and equipment and the expense of doing so as well as the bother and expense of the yearly musters. They were a bit less happy with the new tax.

The calling out of the entire state male population or even mandatory call ups in smaller areas was not much seen in the Civil War. No states at the start of the Civil War had the entire adult male population simply called up and sent off to war trained or not trained.

 

[major bill]

I think most of us are glad that the entire adult male population of the states were not called out and sent off to war untrained, unarmed, and unequipped. However some states at the start of the Civil War had much better volunteer militia units around which new recruits could voluntarily enlist than other states.

The Civil War ended the compulsory militia requirements of all adult males once and for all. This was replaced with a much better National Guard and Army Reserve system. However, some states stilled used some type of State Guard up to today. So is the National Guard the true descendent of concept of all adults defending the state, or are theses State Guard units closer to the American tradition of universal service?

This thread was inspired by my purchasing and reading this book.

 

[major bill]

It occurred to me that some on the forum may not fully understand the State Guards. Many, but not all, states have State Guards that can be called out for emergency service. These State Guards differ from state to state but in general are units of volunteers who purchase their own uniforms and such and meet without pay to train. Unlike the paid National Guard, often in the State Guard there is no contract and members may leave at any time.

I will use Mississippi as an example. The Mississippi State Guard has three Security Brigades and they are organized a bit like Military Police units. The following is cut from the Wikipedia article about the Mississippi State Guard.

All new state guardsmen receive military training in the wear and appearance of their uniform, military structure and ranking system, military chain of command, rendering proper honors and respect to those appointed over them.

Guardsmen are required to train in emergency management, by taking courses provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Completion of the FEMA training is necessary to earn the Military Emergency Management Specialist Badge. Members also receive specialized training in the military police occupational specialty.[4]

 

[RobertP]

Not exactly a militia but at all Land Grant Universities two years of ROTC training was compulsory until the late '60s. That included a classroom course and drill once a week. At LSU there was a review once a semester on the parade ground and the Governor was usually there. 5,000 cadets, it was something to see.

 

[major bill]

RobertP this is interesting and not something I had thought of. Was ROTC training required at both Louisiana's Land Grant Colleges ( Southern University and A&M College)?

 

[mofederal]

Missouri had a lot of Militia units, some you could join or enlist,. others gave you no choice. These were the State Guard, Home Guards, Missouri State Militia, Enrolled Missouri Militia, Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia. Some of these were a join or else militia, the EMM especially.

 

[major bill]

Although governors could legally call out all adult males the thought of large groups of unarmed, unequipped, hungry, leaderless roaming mobs usually limited the calling out of the entire male population. Some calls went out in states like Georgia, but even in Georgia they were not expected to engage in traditional combat.

 

[archieclement]

Missouri had a lot of Militia units, some you could join or enlist,. others gave you no choice. These were the State Guard, Home Guards, Missouri State Militia, Enrolled Missouri Militia, Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia. Some of these were a join or else militia, the EMM especially.

Also MVM, They were at Camp Jackson

 

[RobertP]

RobertP this is interesting and not something I had thought of. Was ROTC training required at both Louisiana's Land Grant Colleges ( Southern University and A&M College)?

Yes. Southern U. also in B.R. had ROTC. My company tac officer at Ft. Sill in summer of 1970 was a black Major and instructor at Southern.

 

[RobertP]

RobertP this is interesting and not something I had thought of. Was ROTC training required at both Louisiana's Land Grant Colleges ( Southern University and A&M College)?

Bill, you might find this piece on Southern U. ROTC interesting. A proud history.

http://www.subr.edu/page/452

 

[major bill]

The Michigan legislature during the Civil War provided funds for military instruction at Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) which was our Land Grant college. On a certain level MSU was the only state sponsored Military Academy in Michigan after the Civil War. That said being a cadet there was not mandatory ROTC.

 

[Don Dixon]

After seeing the inadequacies of both the military units raised from the states at the beginning of the Civil War and their officers, Congress included in the Land Grant College Act of 1862 (the Morrill Act) the requirement that states benefiting from the act establish at least one college in the state which taught military tactics, so that there would be men with at least a modicum of military training to provide officers and non-commissioned officers for the militia in the future. As a result, most land grant colleges initially required that all physically able male students take at least two years of training in what became the Reserve Officer Training program (ROTC) until the anti-military hysteria resulting from the Vietnam War; while some schools like Louisiana State University (LSU) Virginia Tech, and Texas A&M operated a cadet program for almost all male students for many years. Pre-WWII LSU graduates referred to LSU as "the Old War Skule," and ROTC was manditory there for freshman and sophmores until 1969.

The current system was created in the Militia Act of 1903 (the Dick Act), which - as amended - created the National Guard and the service military reserves. Everyone who is not in the Guard or Reserves is in the unorganized militia. At its most fundamental level, the draft under the Selective Service System is simply a "calling" by the president of the unorganized militia of the United States (a very simple explanation).

Regards,
Don Dixon

 

[leftyhunter]

It occurred to me that some on the forum may not fully understand the State Guards. Many, but not all, states have State Guards that can be called out for emergency service. These State Guards differ from state to state but in general are units of volunteers who purchase their own uniforms and such and meet without pay to train. Unlike the paid National Guard, often in the State Guard there is no contract and members may leave at any time.

I will use Mississippi as an example. The Mississippi State Guard has three Security Brigades and they are organized a bit like Military Police units. The following is cut from the Wikipedia article about the Mississippi State Guard.

All new state guardsmen receive military training in the wear and appearance of their uniform, military structure and ranking system, military chain of command, rendering proper honors and respect to those appointed over them.

Guardsmen are required to train in emergency management, by taking courses provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Completion of the FEMA training is necessary to earn the Military Emergency Management Specialist Badge. Members also receive specialized training in the military police occupational specialty.[4]

I didn' t know about the State Guards since California doesn't have them. Inteesting that State Guards receive no financial compensation and can be called out at ant time.
Leftyhunter

 

[leftyhunter]

One of the founding concepts of the United States was that the nation would not rely on a large standing army to defend the nation, but instead would rely on all men being part of a beat militia that might be called out when needed. Fairly early most states seen a need to have organized volunteer militia companies that met regularly, well perhaps not so regularly, which would serve as a stabilizing force of at least partly trained civilians around which the state beat militia would form.

The American Revolution has shown some defects in the reliance on militias but the concept of all adult men being the backbone of the nation's defense continued. When the War of 1812 occurred the military usefulness of the militia was show once again and even by that war the concept of every adult man being order off to military service was shown as being dated.

The Mexican American War showed the use of better trained volunteer militia companies with added volunteers who wanted to go. We could argue for pages about how the militia system worked during the Mexican American War but most states in the years following the Mexican American War stopped mandatory militia service and the associated yearly inspections of all local men at militia musters. This often resulted in a small tax placed on all adult men with the money being used to support volunteer militia companies. The local men were happy to not have to maintain arms and equipment and the expense of doing so as well as the bother and expense of the yearly musters. They were a bit less happy with the new tax.

The calling out of the entire state male population or even mandatory call ups in smaller areas was not much seen in the Civil War. No states at the start of the Civil War had the entire adult male population simply called up and sent off to war trained or not trained.

On the other hand Confederate states did seek out all able bodied males to enlist unless they could find an exemption which varied from state to state.
In the Union some men fled to Canada to avoid military service just has their Great Grand Children would.
Leftyhunter

 

[leftyhunter]

One of the founding concepts of the United States was that the nation would not rely on a large standing army to defend the nation, but instead would rely on all men being part of a beat militia that might be called out when needed. Fairly early most states seen a need to have organized volunteer militia companies that met regularly, well perhaps not so regularly, which would serve as a stabilizing force of at least partly trained civilians around which the state beat militia would form.

The American Revolution has shown some defects in the reliance on militias but the concept of all adult men being the backbone of the nation's defense continued. When the War of 1812 occurred the military usefulness of the militia was show once again and even by that war the concept of every adult man being order off to military service was shown as being dated.

The Mexican American War showed the use of better trained volunteer militia companies with added volunteers who wanted to go. We could argue for pages about how the militia system worked during the Mexican American War but most states in the years following the Mexican American War stopped mandatory militia service and the associated yearly inspections of all local men at militia musters. This often resulted in a small tax placed on all adult men with the money being used to support volunteer militia companies. The local men were happy to not have to maintain arms and equipment and the expense of doing so as well as the bother and expense of the yearly musters. They were a bit less happy with the new tax.

The calling out of the entire state male population or even mandatory call ups in smaller areas was not much seen in the Civil War. No states at the start of the Civil War had the entire adult male population simply called up and sent off to war trained or not trained.

Also has history showed especially in the Civil War their are huge caveats in forcing men to fight against their will. The main caveats are desertion,defection ,becoming guerrillas or freelance bandits. Lots of Civil War era examples of the above.
Leftyhunter

 

[leftyhunter]

One of the founding concepts of the United States was that the nation would not rely on a large standing army to defend the nation, but instead would rely on all men being part of a beat militia that might be called out when needed. Fairly early most states seen a need to have organized volunteer militia companies that met regularly, well perhaps not so regularly, which would serve as a stabilizing force of at least partly trained civilians around which the state beat militia would form.

The American Revolution has shown some defects in the reliance on militias but the concept of all adult men being the backbone of the nation's defense continued. When the War of 1812 occurred the military usefulness of the militia was show once again and even by that war the concept of every adult man being order off to military service was shown as being dated.

The Mexican American War showed the use of better trained volunteer militia companies with added volunteers who wanted to go. We could argue for pages about how the militia system worked during the Mexican American War but most states in the years following the Mexican American War stopped mandatory militia service and the associated yearly inspections of all local men at militia musters. This often resulted in a small tax placed on all adult men with the money being used to support volunteer militia companies. The local men were happy to not have to maintain arms and equipment and the expense of doing so as well as the bother and expense of the yearly musters. They were a bit less happy with the new tax.

The calling out of the entire state male population or even mandatory call ups in smaller areas was not much seen in the Civil War. No states at the start of the Civil War had the entire adult male population simply called up and sent off to war trained or not trained.

A major example of a massive failure of the compulsory militia system was the "Paw Paw" militia of Missouri which was a Union militia composed of former pro Confederate Missouri Volunteer Militia.
The Paw Paw oppressed their pro Union neighbors and defected to the Confederate Army when Price invaded Missouri in September 1864. Those,Paw Paw captured by the Union Army soon departed this veil of tears.
Leftyhunter

 

[major bill]

I didn' t know about the State Guards since California doesn't have them. Inteesting that State Guards receive no financial compensation and can be called out at ant time.
Leftyhunter

They are not paid for training but am unsure if they are paid when called out.