Most of the Union soldiers from the Greenland Gap area (in what is now Grant County) mustered in on 28 August 1861 as members of one of several Home Guard Companies. The Home Guard troops had first been activated many years prior to the Civil War period. At the time of the Great Conflict, the Ranger Units (Confederate) were activated to stimulate interest in the defense of the South and its values. The Home Guard troops were then re-activated to prevent, if possible, general support of the Southern cause and to provide an avenue for those having sympathies with the North to give service to the Union. Most citizens of what is now Hardy County supported the Ranger units and those of what is now Grant County supported the Home Guard units. As is many times the case, some attempted to straddle the fence and support both causes. John and Betsy (Walker) Tucker's son John Jr., for example, is said to have straddled the fence and was shot dead by a bushwhacker near Martin as a protest to failure to support one side exclusively. One of the most famed of the local Home Guard units was that commanded by Daniel C.M. Shell, who served as Captain. He was assisted by the following other officers: Benjamin S. McDonald, First Lieutenant; John R. Dolly, Second Lieutenant; James H. Dolly, First Sergeant; Jarrison Funk, Second Sergeant; Aaron H. Day, Third Sergeant; Jesse May, Fourth Sergeant; John C. Shell, First Corporal; Adam Yokum, Third Corporal; and Israel May, Fourth Corporal. Later, Captain Shell was requested to enter the service of the Federal Government, and he and most of his troops followed the call. They were converted to Company I, Seventh Regiment Infantry on 3 December 1861. They fought valiantly at Antietam, where Captain Shell was killed in a bloodbath along a number of his troops. Also, a number of them were wounded at Antietam. A comparison of names from Captain Shell's Home Guard troops with those of Company I will show some discrepancies. Gary Tucker