When the bloodiest war in American history was over, the defeated Confederates stacked their arms and started for home. The former militiamen in the Union Army, except those who intended to make the Army their career, were eager to do the same. The Union Army shrank from 1,000,516 officers and men in May, 1865, to 199,553 seven months later.
After long years of war, most of these Union veterans wanted nothing more than a complete return to civilian life. And the communities to which the veterans returned had had their fill of flags, parades, speeches, and recruiters. Thus there was no rush to revive the prewar volunteer militia units from which so much of the Union Army was formed.
In the former Confederacy the situation was different. The southern militia units were quickly reformed; one of their main duties was to enforce the "Black Codes" which the reorganized state governments had passed to assure the legal inferiority of former slaves. The "Radical" Republicans, who dominated the House and Senate after Lincoln's death, were determined to change the situation in the conquered South. Many Radicals were abolitionists, committed to full equality for blacks. Others cared little about the former slaves, but wanted the South to suffer for firing the first shots of the war.
Black Militia in the South The Radicals triumphed politically. They came within one vote of impeaching President Andrew Johnson, and after Ulysses S. Grant's election in 1868, they embarked on a program to "reconstruct" the South. The Radical Congress suspended the southern states' right to organize their militias; militia rights were returned only when a state was firmly under the control of an acceptable Radical Republican government.
The militia units formed under these governments included many former slaves, to the horror of most white Southerners. Ex-Confederates organized vigilante groups (the ancestors of the Ku Klux Klan) to terrorize both black and white sympathizers of Reconstruction.
The sporadic violence which often resulted did not abate until 1876, when Reconstruction officially ended. The Republican militia units in the South were promptly disbanded, although black units were to survive in the Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia militias. In the North, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, and the District of Columbia had black militia units. Despite the difficulties of serving in a segregated Army, some of these black units would go on to earn impressive combat records.
With Reconstruction lifted, the South's prewar volunteer militia was free to reorganize. Interest in the volunteer militia was also rising in the North, especially in the tradition-rich states of the New England and mid-Atlantic regions. Many Army veterans grew nostalgic for camp life and camaraderie, and men who had been too young for the Civil War enjoyed the days-long militia encampments, which frequently became social occasions for entire towns and counties.
Strike-Breaking in the North In many Northern and Western states, the post-war militia found itself with a new, if quasi-military, mission: keeping order during the strikes and labor unrest which accompanied the nation's rapid industrialization. The Regular Army might be called to quell large disturbances, but usually the burden fell on the militia. Many men did not like the duty, and, if they sympathized with the strikers, whole units sometimes refused orders to fire.
Historians still debate this period of the National Guard's history. Some claim that the militia during these years became the private police force of "Big Business." Others blame the strikers' troubles on their leaders and organizers, who tended to be too politically and socially radical for the times.
The presence of strikes and labor unrest did cause the state governments to reexamine their need for a well-equipped and trained militia, and between 1881 and 1892 every state revised its military code to provide for an organized force. Most called their state militia the "National Guard," following New York's example. However, financial support was lacking in some states, and many members had to supply their own uniforms and equipment.
Nevertheless, the Guard grew during this period. Its growth even encompassed the Naval Militia, the beginning of today's Naval and Marine Corps Reserves. Between 1880 and 1900 some 19 states created their own naval forces. Only New York's survives today as a federally-recognized force, but during the Spanish-American War the states sent thousands of sailors for service on United States Navy ships.
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