The Missouri Home Guard was unlike the Home Guard organization in any other state.  It was controlled by the national government, as opposed to the state government, and existed only for a few months.  Closely related to (and sometimes considered a part of) the United States Reserve Corps (USRC), the Home Guard was a major component of the Federal force that bore the brunt of the fighting in Missouri in the first months of the war.

     Despite the key role it played, records are sparse on the Home Guard.  One post-war Congressional report stated it consisted of 241 companies, 6 regiments, and 22 battalions, a partial listing of which appears below.  This inventory is nowhere near complete, and the names of large numbers of units that were formed seem to have been forever lost to history.  Those that have been identified seem, in large part, to be the consequence of members of the individual units having taken a small amount of time to compile a roster of the troops in their commands.   

     An observant reader will note a discrepancy between the number of regiments the Congressional report listed and the number named on this chart.  This appears to be the result of battalion-sized units being listed as regiments in some primary sources. 

     Brief notes are sometimes included below regarding the units and/or their commanding officers.  This is not to slight any other men or units that went on to do noteworthy deeds—it is merely the consequence of having had specific information very close at hand as this list was being drawn up.