definitions

[lhsnj]

With the release of Cold Mountain, we encountered some new questions at a living history our unit did this weekend. And while there are other threads going on about what defines hardcore, progressive, mainstream.. etc.. etc..

Have others encountered the questions regarding bushwhackers, home guard and partisan rangers?

How have others defined them?
I used the following to explain them to the spectator who was asking because she didn't quite understand in the movie what was going on.

Bushwhacker: may or may not have an affiliation with Union or Confederate. May or may not be a criminial using the war as a chance to create havoc and pillage and kill. Might have been more prevalant in the mountain regions where the war pitted neighbor against neighbor.

Home guard: usually affiliated with the Confederate side, similiar to the minutemen of old as they were the ones who would be called out should the "enemy" approach. Typically infantry. May consist mostly of old men, young boys and soldiers who have been discharged due to wounds or such. Example: the small rag tag force that met the advancing Federals outside of Petersburg in 1864.

Partisan Ranger. usually affiliated with the Confederate side, might have a unit designation. Most likely mounted. Tended to wreck havoc on the Federal supply lines or troops. Most closely resembles regular troops. Example: Mosby's Rangers.

These are just my own definitions based on some things I have read or seen portrayed.

Just curious if others have been getting more questions about these things since the release of "Cold Mountain" or even "Ride with the Devil".
The mountain war (NC, TN, KY) area seems to be one that is not covered. I have been rereading the series by Cameron Judd. It focuses on the struggle in the mountains.

[1stMaine]

Re: definitions

Comrade,

I would respectfully refer you to the following book, which may well answer your many questions regarding irregular and militia forces.

Trotter, William R. - Bushwackers: The Civil War in North Carolina - The Mountains

I would also encourage you to read his two other works dealing with the war in North Carolina, which I have listed below, as they contain much valuable information.

Ironclads & Columbiads: The Civil War in North Carolina - The Coast

Silk Flags & Cold Steel: The Piedmont

Respects,

[Jonah Barleycorn]

Re: definitions

Home guard: usually affiliated with the Confederate side, similiar to the minutemen of old as they were the ones who would be called out should the "enemy" approach. Typically infantry. May consist mostly of old men, young boys and soldiers who have been discharged due to wounds or such. Example: the small rag tag force that met the advancing Federals outside of Petersburg in 1864.

Out here in Missouri, Home Guard refers to the local Federal militia types operating in and around the state. Moreover, a large portion of them were mounted in order to provide for swift and speedy reaction. These were well and able bodied individuals, and not the sterotypical old man/young boy/legless--armless invalid.

The confederate, or yet better described, southern sympathizers were refered to as State Guards. This is as it applies to Missouri. Other geographical areas may differ.



Bully,

[billwatson]

Re: definitions

"Voices from Cemetery Hill," Allen Speer

Here's another book on the North Carolina internal war, Yadkin county, published about six years ago. It's fascinating -- how would you like to be elected sheriff, as a staunch Unionist, and find yourself legally obligated to enforce Confederate conscription law?
I lived for several years in the neighborhood where this all happened and the subject is still regarded as best left undiscussed by a great many local people. The memory of the bitterness lingers, even if the reasons for it have become somewhat obscure.

http://www.lmc.edu/jspeer/allen.html

In neighboring Wilkes County, there was an incident in the summer of 1865 in which returning Confederates took up arms briefly to stamp out a gang of marauders that had set up what amounted to a fiefdom southwest of Wilkesborough. The marauders were described as a mixed bag of confederate and union deserters plus local neer do wells and outlaws. it's in local histories, but nowhere else that I've seen.

[TheGrayGhost]

Re: definitions

"Home guard: usually affiliated with the Confederate side, similiar to the minutemen of old as they were the ones who would be called out should the "enemy" approach. Typically infantry. May consist mostly of old men, young boys and soldiers who have been discharged due to wounds or such. Example: the small rag tag force that met the advancing Federals outside of Petersburg in 1864."

***

"Home Guard"....and various other names-...."State Troops"....."Militia"....."Local Defense Troops"
These organizations were also a refuge for those avoiding service with the Confederate Army.

***

To be more specific-

State Troops were volunteers.

Militia were conscripted.

Local Defense Troops were usually workmen of some factory organized for it's defense.

Tom Chance

[Hank Trent]

Re: definitions

Some Partisan Ranger groups were operating under the official Confederate Partisan Ranger Act, in effect from 1862-1864. Here's a web page on that angle: http://www.mygen.com/users/outlaw/csa.html

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net