Majority of the Virginia State Militia units faded out quickly after the first months of the war. Most men had joined regular state units for the war. Small Home Guards and Local Defense units mostly made up of men not subject to conscription, took up some of the local slack. Virginia later established "Partisan Rangers" and "Virginia State Line" troops as authorized organizations created and operating basicly behind the Federal occupied areas of Western Virginia. These typically operated independently on their own accord in that region. Unfortunately it was discovered that these organizations also tended to attract theives and bandits just as much if not moreso... and were quickly noted to be preying on enemy and Southern loyalist equally... Some of these groups were causing more damage and fear than the Federal Cavalry was... So Virginia soon disbanded these organizations. Since both those that operated officially or as outlaws, they commonly operated in small bands... Due to the style and forte of the warfare they waged Federal authorities frequently would refer to all of them as guerillas and/or bushwackers... Which at that period of time was not viewed much different than common outlaws or pirates, and highly despised.

Also since most of these units (even the authorized ones) were operating independently mostly as part of the state forces, rather than any regualar force as part of the Confederate central government military, their records if any werent usually to be found included in any of the usual offical compiled records. Many of these groups never bothered to forward rosters or reports of any kind. Even if they had most all of those records were destroyed in the Richmond evauation fire in April 1865. State service records if they did exist for most that might have served officially in these units were forever lost, and only sparce incomplete fragments remain at best.

Frederick