Home Guard ( Union ) In the American Civil War the Home Guard or Home Guards were local militia raised from Union loyalists . Missouri . In Missouri after the start of the Civil War there were several competing organizations attempting to either take the state out of the Union or keep the state within it . Home Guard companies and regiments were raised by Union supporters , particularly German - Americans to oppose the secessionist paramilitary Minutemen , secessionist elements in the official Missouri Volunteer Militia and eventually the secessionist Missouri State Guard . Many of the Home Guard regiments in the St . Louis area were raised from pre - existing Wide Awakes , a Republican Party organization established during the 1860 election , and from members of the German Turnverein cultural organization . St . Louis Unionists were mustered into Federal service in April 1861 . Five regiments were designated the 1st - 5th Missouri Volunteers and five additional regiments were created as the United States Reserve Corps . The second group were commonly referred to as the ( St . Louis ) Home Guard , and their creation was criticized as these regiments exceeded the requirement for Missouri volunteers under the Militia Act of 1792 . During the Price - Harney Truce Governor Claiborne Jackson and Missouri State Guard commander Major General Sterling Price demanded that the 1st - 5th U . S . R . C . be disbanded as illegal organizations . ( These regiments continued to serve though the Missouri Secession Crisis , later being converted into three - year regiments . ) Once actual hostilities began in the state in June 1861 , Union loyalists as Home Guard units in areas outside of St . Louis were organized and mobilized by Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon to oppose Sterling Price ' s Missouri State Guard which was forming at the same time . One of these units , the Benton County Home Guards , was defeated by a battalion of Missouri State Guards at the Battle of Cole Camp . In late 1861 and early 1862 the three - month service Home Guard were replaced by Unionist militia regiments including the new Missouri State Militia ( Union ) as well as the compulsory Enrolled Missouri Militia in July 1862 and the Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia formed later . One particularly famous Home Guard militia was that of Columbia , Missouri . In 1864 , it was rumored that Confederate General Sterling Price was planning on turning his march through Missouri towards the staunchly pro - Union town . Columbia had value not only as a stronghold of pro - Union thought , but served as home to a garrison of Union troops and prison located in the library and main academic building at the University of Missouri . Worried about Price ' s raid and concerned about the presence of bushwhackers in the surrounding areas of pro - Confederate Boone County , ninety men assembled a militia named the " Missouri Tigers " . The brigade stockpiled weapons , kept watch , set up a warning bell for the town , and even dug a moat around the city courthouse . The University of Missouri ' s athletic programs are named in honor of the militia . Iowa . Iowa Home Guard companies provided border defense along the Missouri border during the Civil War . During the Battle of Athens , Missouri , Iowa Home Guard companies on the other side of the Des Moines River protected the supply depots . Kentucky . The Kentucky Home Guard participated in the Battle of Barbourville , Kentucky in September 1861 as well as the Battle of Camp Wildcat and many other skirmishes . Indian Territory . Union volunteer infantry regiments known as the Indian Home Guard were recruited from the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory . Although the tribal leadership had supported the Confederacy , many of the tribal members did not .