Alan J. Pitts
home guards
Thu Feb 22 15:55:54 2001


In a previous exchange I mentioned a paper produced for the Alabama Historical Society on a home guard unit (West's) in Shelby County. Contrary to what we might've expected, the home guard was rarely expected to fight Yankees; they were normally raised to preserve law and order in a specific area. This was certainly true of Capt. West's unit, led by a retired field officer from the 2nd Ala. Cav. Regt.

Citizens wrote to Gov. Watts to secure his exemption from the Reserves. They felt it was important to have West at home to lead citizens against deserters who had complete control of parts of the county.

The activities of the home guard were much like that of American troops in Viet Nam: ineffective sweeps of limited areas with limited results; frustration eventually leading to reprisals against civilians suspected of harboring deserters. When the war ended, there were a series of reprisals (hangings) by the deserters directed against specific members of the home guard.

The governor's papers in Montgomery from the war years are full of complaints by citizens from every corner of the state. Today we focus on what happened in the armies and have little interest in what was taking place at home. 'Reign of terror' might be too strong an expression, but it could be unsafe for deserters as well as Confederate soldiers at home on leave. When I interviewed people in Shelby County, several shared stories about ancestors being hung with discharge or furlough papers in their pockets.

There were far more instances of home guards involved in 'shoot-outs' with deserters or conscripts than with the Yankees. I'm hard-pressed to produce an example of real home guards -- what could also be described as 'county reserves' -- in combat with Federal troops. They were expected to provide security for the folks at home and assist the local enrolling officers.

In antebellum times the militia was responsible for patrols to look for runaways and make sure slaves weren't out and about after dark. During the war the home guard was responsible for patrols to look for runaways from the army and making sure that deserters weren't ransacking the farms of decent people. A bit ironic....