Ron,

I agree that it was unusual for militia to have privately purchased artillery, but during the ACW some volunteer units were apparently equipped this way. Watson's Battery in Louisianna was outfitted with six bronze pieces by Gus Watson at a cost of $40-60,000 (with horse teams, harness, carriages, limbers, uniforms, etc.) I've wondered if there were many other examples. And in territorial days I wonder how often cannon were purchased and brought along by well-to-do early leaders.

From what I've gathered, the Northeast and "Old Northwest" no longer had much need of militia by the time of the ACW and their militia systems were dormant. But in the South and West the state militia seem to have been called up regularly for a few days of drill. They also seem to have been involved in many disputes (e.g. Indian wars, Missouri militia vs. Kansas in the 1850's or the Missouri militia vs. Mormons within the state earlier.) In some of these they were more thugs/lynchmobs often answering to the governor or local political leaders. One might even make some comparisons to "tribal warlords" since central authority was sometimes so removed.

There were a number of various expeditions by battalion or regiment-sized "paramilitary" or militia organizations in the pre-war period. Texan militia operating on their own hook had gotten themselves into serious fixes in Mexico and in the New Mexico territory. It seems to have been a wild and wooly time.

An interesting twist on the militia constitutional aspect is that Missouri's May 1861 Military Bill outlawed existing militia, to be replaced with the Missouri State Guard controlled by the secessionist governor. This was primarily aimed at the Republican stronghold of St. Louis which had very active unionist German militia who thwarted efforts by the official State militia to take over the strategic St. Louis arsenal. Missouri's state legislature even stripped St. Louis of control of their own police. Good luck figuring out local/state/federal priority with respect to the 2nd Amendment with those sort of shenanigans going on--a state divided against itself, and against the nation, but not representing the neutral majority in either case. Lincoln in effect Federalized the Missouri Home Guard and other unionist volunteers, bypassing the problematic governor and the handpicked militia officers and arming the unionists from Federal stores. (Keep in mind that the democratically elected Missouri State Convention had rejected secession earlier...that will get one's head spinning. The Governor was secessionist, the legislature was Southern and secessionist leaning, but the people of the state wanted to stay out of it on average and didn't elect a *single* outright secessionist candidate to the convention.)