Carol, The Enrolled Missouri Militia units (over 80 regiments of them across MO) were basically home guard outfits that activated as units only if there was danger present in the form of Rebel bushwhackers, Confederate recruiters, or incursions of Confederate regular outfits up from Arkansas. All the EMM's activated individuals to guard the unit's armory (usually kept in the county courthouse), guard other important infrastructure such as local railroad facilities if any were nearby and the records of the county government, assist the local provost marshal office (which functioned as a sort of secret police since civil law broke down in most of MO during the war), and like duties. These individuals were activated even if the rest of the local unit remained inactive and the other members remained at their civilian pursuits. The eleven or so regiments of Provisional EMM were formed by detailing the more reliable officers and companies of the local Enrolled Missouri Militia outfits into a sort of "super EMM" in early 1863 that remained on active duty all the time across a larger region with companies in the larger towns, but capable of coming together quickly in case of Rebel threat. As I recall from my reading, the only EMM units that qualified for Federal pensions were four regiments that activated and fought against Confederate General Marmaduke's January 1863 southwest Missouri raid. If I remember correctly, those four regiments of the 80 or so were the only ones federalized and therefore the only ones qualified for pensions. The others were only state outfits--Missouri's emergency army, if you will. Some of them were never even paid for their active duty time, much less get pensions. The EMM concept was Missouri's desperate answer to protecting itself while the Federal authorities pulled most Federal troops out of the state to fight the war somewhere else. During 1863 the 1st and 2nd Provisional EMM regiments operated across northeast Missouri anticipating the same wholesale Confederate behind-Yankee-lines recruiting and fighting that ripped the northeast part of the state apart during 1862. This did not happen to the extent expected, largely due to the exhausting nature of the 1862 season and also the presence of the Provisional EMM regiments spread all over the map. Most of the Rebel recruiting and guerrilla activity during 1863 was along the Missouri River counties and to a lesser extent along the northeast MO counties that abut the Mississippi River. One very large exception to this general overview was the aggressive and wily recruiting command led by Confederate Sidney Drake Jackman of Howard County. Jackman operated mostly out of Howard and Boone Counties for nearly all of 1863 under the very noses of the Prov EMM. Some of his captains operated as far north as Linn and Randolph Counties and as far east as Callaway and Montgomery Counties. Colonel Jackman succeeded by having his recruiting command "fly under the radar" or keeping a low profile--unlike the violent, town-raiding recruiters of the 1862 season. Jackman also kept operating by undermining the 1st and 2nd Prov EMM through individual intimidations and by recruiting large number of them into his organization. This, plus an ongoing political battle for state supremacy by the northern moderates against the northern radicals wrecked the Provisional EMM, especially in northeast MO. By the end of 1863 the Prov EMM apparatus was junked and all the men and units detailed into it reverted back to their former EMM units and status. That may explain Special Order # 63 in your ancestors' record. That special order was issued by the regimental headquarters of the 2nd Provisional EMM (Harrison was the regiment's executive officer) inactivating the unit under orders from the State organization which was being broken down at that time. The former Enrolled Missouri Militia units continued for the rest of the war, and many did good service when needed. (Some did not.) By the way, elements of the 1st and 2nd Prov EMM regiments did considerable patrolling and saw some action during 1863. Bruce Nichols

Thank you for the excellent and informative answer. Your help is greatly appreciated. Carol >