As soon as a sufficient number of men are recruited for a company to entitle them to a commissioned officer, as provided by General Orders, No. 61, War Department (Adjutant-General's Office), series of 1861, they will be placed on duty. Commanding officers of these companies will make, through subdistrict commanders, all reports required by Army Regulations and existing orders. These companies will act solely under the orders of subdistrict, district, or department commanders, as the exigencies of the service may require, and their officers will be held to a strict personal accountability for the discipline, drill, and efficiency of the men, and for unauthorized depredations of any kind committed by them. All efficient officers of United States Volunteers or Missouri State Militia whose term of service is expiring or who have been honorably discharged or mustered out, and who desire commissions in these companies, will make immediate application therefor through the proper channels, and subdistrict and district commanders will indorse their approval or disapproval, from their knowledge or information, stating the services of the applicant, his qualifications, and ability to command implicit obedience from his men, and the reputation of his former company for discipline. The indorsement of the district inspector as to the latter, if the applicant has served in the district, will be required. District and subdistrict commanders have control of the organization of these companies, and will give them proper attention and see that they are placed upon an efficient footing in all respects. By command of Major-General Dodge: J. W. BARNES, Assistant Adjutant-General. On February 5, 1865, instructions were given to the commanding officer of the District of Rolla as follows: HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, St. Louis, February 5, 1865. COMMANDING OFFICER DISTRICT OF ROLLA, Mo. SIR: Your attention is called to the orders of the governor of the State and from these headquarters in relation to raising volunteer militia for service in certain counties. In recommending officers great care must be observed and none recommended except they are of good character, habits, etc., and good disciplinarians. The frequent unauthorized depredations committed by troops must be stopped, and in the organization of these companies we must put men at the head of them who Ican and will control their men. Officers will be held strictly accountable for all unauthorized depredations committed by their men, no matter upon whom committed. If you have good officers under you in the Missouri State Militia whose term of service is about expiring, and who desire to take command in some of these companies, they can be assigned to duty in recruiting them, and applications can be made for their commissions. Old soldiers will, as far as possible, be selected in recommending for commissions. The men as fast as recruited will be rendezvoused at such point in the county as you may designate. They will be armed as provided in General Orders, No. 28, current series, from these headquarters. All their spare time will be occupied in drilling and perfecting themselves as soldiers. You will report weekly the progress made in the district and subdistricts in organizing these companies. By command of Major-General Dodge: J. W. BARNES, Assistant Adjutant-General. [Official records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. XLVIII, Part I, p. 750.] It will be observed that these companies were organized for active. service, under United States officers, "for the purpose of repressing lawlessness and to secure safety of life and property to all good citizens, and to strengthen the hands of legal justice by enabling the officers of the law to execute its processes and judgments," that they were to be clothed and subsisted by the General Government and armed, equipped, and paid by the State, any deficiency in arms or equipments to be supplied by the United States; and that their officers were to be commissioned by the governor of the State upon the recommendation of the commanding general of the Department of the Missouri. Detailed reports of their operations are lacking, but it is known that they remained on duty from the time of their organization until relieved, in June and July, 1865, under orders from the department commander, and, as reported by the adjutant-general of the State (annual report of 1865, p. 700)," they were generally engaged in guarding posts and lines of communication, doing escort duty and hunting guerrillas and bushwhackers." They are, according to the same authority, "deserving of the thanks of all well-disposed and loyal citizens for their prompt suppression of lawlessness which had been so fearfully prevalent throughout the State." The status of these troops was that of militia of the State of Missouri, which, though serving under United States officers, was not accepted into the military service of the United States. The State was reimbursed under the act of April 17, 1866 (14 Stat. L., p. 38), for the expenses incurred in their organization and service. The adjutant-general of the State reports that fifty-eight companies were "placed in the field," but upon investigation sixty-one companies have been identified as having had an organized existence under the provisions of State General Orders, No. 3 "and the extensions thereof." MISSOURI MILITIA, ORGANIZED UNDER AN ORDI- The Missouri militia act of February 10, 1865, required an immediate enrollment of all of the militia of the State, and an ordinance of the State convention, adopted April 8, 1865, required that as soon as enrolled the militia should be organized into "platoons, companies, regiments, and brigades." The work of organization was prosecuted with such success that at the close of the year 1865 there were organized or in process of organization eighty-four regiments and six battalions. It does not appear, however, that any portion of this militia force was called into active service, either of the State or the United States, during the civil war. S. Doc. 412- -7 97 UNITED STATES RESERVE CORPS, THREE MONTHS' SERVICE. On April 30, 1861, while Captain Lyon was engaged in the organization of the Missouri militia under the President's call of April 15, 1861, he was directed by the President to enroll in the military service of the United States the loyal citizens of St. Louis and vicinity, not exceeding, with those before enlisted, 10,000 men, for the purpose of maintaining the authority of the United States and for the protection of the peaceable inhabitants of the State of Missouri, and, if necessary, to proclaim martial law in the city of St. Louis. This additional force was to be discharged, in whole or in part, as soon as there should appear to Captain Lyon and his advisers to be no danger of an attempt of the enemy to take possession of the city of St. Louis, or to put the city under the control of a combination hostile to the Government of the United States. Following is a copy of his instructions: Capt. NATHANIEL LYON, Commanding Department of the West. WAR DEPARTMENT, April 30, 1861. SIR: The President of the United States directs that you enroll in the military service of the United States the loyal citizens of St. Louis and vicinity, not exceeding, with those heretofore enlisted, 10,000 in number, for the purpose of maintaining the authority of the United States; for the protection of the peaceable inhabitants of Missouri; and you will, if deemed necessary for that purpose by yourself and by Messrs. Oliver T. Filly, John How, James O. Broadhead, Samuel T. Glover, J. Wilzie, and Francis P. Blair, jr., proclaim martial law in the city of St. Louis. The additional force hereby authorized shall be discharged, in part or in whole, if enlisted, as soon as it appears to you and the gentlemen above named that there is no danger of an attempt on the part of the enemies of the Government to take military possession of the city of St. Louis, or put the city in the control of a combination against the Government of the United States; and while such additional force remains in the service the same shall be governed by the Rules and Articles of War, and such special regulations as you may prescribe. I shall like the force heretofore directed to be enrolled to be under your command. The arms and other military stores in the St. Louis Arsenal not needed for the forces of the United States in Missouri must be removed to Springfield, or some other safe place of deposit in the State of Illinois, as speedily as practicable, by the ordnance officer in charge at St. Louis. [Indorsements.] It is revolutionary times and therefore I do not object to the irregularity of this. W. S. [WINFIELD SCOTT.] Approved, April 30, 1861. Colonel Thomas will make this order. A. LINCOLN. SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War. [Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. I, p. 675.] Under this authority Captain Lyon at once proceeded to the organi zation of the military force designated by him the United States Reserve Corps, Missouri Volunteers. This force, consisting of five regiments of infantry and one company of cavalry, was completed within a few days and was mustered into the military service of the United States to serve three months. The company and regimental officers were elected and were mustered into service without commissions. Capt. T. W. Sweeny, Second United States Infantry, was elected brigadier-general, and on May 20, 1861, was assigned to the command of the brigade in an order of which the following is a copy: HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE WEST, SPECIAL ORDERS, } No. 62. St. Louis, Mo., May 20, 1861. Capt. T. W. Sweeny, Second Infantry, is assigned to the command of the United States Reserve Corps raised in the city of St. Louis, to which corps the company of recruits now under the charge of Captain Sweeny is attached for guard duty. By order of Brigadier-General Harney: S. WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant-General. [Book No. 87, Departments of the West and Western, p. 296.] Captain Sweeny assumed command of the United States Reserve Corps on May 22, 1861, and on May 28, 1861, he announced the officers of his staff. On June 1, 1861, General Lyon reported to the War Department as follows: Brig. Gen. L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General, Washington. ST. LOUIS ARSENAL, June 1, 1861. SIR: On the 15th ultimo I had the honor to inclose to you an official copy of an order issued by me, announcing my appointment of several officers upon the volunteer brigade staff of the First Brigade, Missouri Three Months' Volunteers, which appointments, in the absence of instructions upon the subject, were made by me in accordance with the laws of the State of Missouri, and referred to the Department for its action. I have now the honor to inclose an order issued by Capt. T. W. Sweeny, Second Infantry, under similar circumstances, he having been elected brigadier-general of the United States Reserve Corps of Missouri Volunteers and assigned to that command by Brigadier-General Harney, late commander of the Department of the West, as heretofore reported. I would respectfully remark, in connection with this subject, that these officers would have been commissioned by the governor of this State under these appointments and with the rank by them fixed had he been loyal enough to call for volunteers under the first proclamation of the President, and that in my action in the premises I desired to give them the same positions, respectively, which they would have held had the call been made by the governor, supposing that this action would be acceptable to the General Government. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, N. LYON, Brigadier-General of Volunteers, Commanding. SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 13. [Inclosure.] HEADQUARTERS BRIGADE, U. S. R. C., The following appointments are hereby made on the brigade staff of the United States Reserve Corps, viz: Assistant adjutant-general, Lieut. Col. Josiah W. Bissell; quartermaster, Maj. James O. Broadhead; paymaster, Maj. J. K. Mills; commissary, Maj. Nathaniel Constable; aide-de-camp, Maj. Thomas Burgh. [137 L., A. G. O., 1861.] T. W. SWEENY, Captain, Second Infantry, Commanding U. S. R. C. The United States Reserve Corps, including the brigadier-general and staff, was mustered into the United States service as militia under |