Here are a few other brief thoughts about State Guards and making difficult choices that might be lost in my other long, rambling post.

1) By early 1864 a veteran Federal cavalryman usually possessed far better arms and equipment than other soldiers, North and South. He was more than a match for a poorly mounted, indifferently armed Confederate trooper. A company of Sherman's cavalrymen could have dispersed a battalion of State Guards in less than ten minutes.

2) If a man was in reasonable physical condition, the Confederate army accepted volunteers who were really boys or old men. A boy or old man would have gotten better arms than the State Guard possessed (shotguns and cast-off smoothbores at best), and had the benefit of being led by officers who knew how to lead and avoid unreasonable exposure. Plus veterans in the ranks would have offered advice that migh help them survive.

On the other hand, most State Guard officers had little or no military training or experience. In a combat situation they would've made mistakes which led to their men being captured by the enemy and sent to prison camp, a virtual death sentence. Or they might order a foolish attack which resulted in senseless death or disability. Either way, Sherman's army would not have been slowed by one minute.

3) Soldiers in the army worried about their families at home. If they knew that a father and younger brothers were available to move women and children to safety, they'd be far less likely to desert and do it themselves. Letters written home by Confederate soldiers frequently express this.

Your remarks about the State Guards made me think about their situation in April-May 1864. Sometimes men have to make a choice when doing the right thing isn't perfectly clear.

In the next to last scene in "No Country For Old Men" (2007), the Texas sheriff played by Tommy Lee Jones asks tells his uncle, a retired Texas Ranger, that he feels "overmatched" by the thugs he's having to face. The retired Ranger played by Barry Corbin reminds his nephew that things haven't changed much -- there will always be thugs and they aren't any worse today than they were years ago.

"What you got ain't nothing new. This country is hard on people. You can't stop what's coming, It ain't all waiting on you. That's vanity."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uo94DSTzdc

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