The Missouri Home Guard

This detailed history of the Missouri Home Guard explains how Governor Frederick Gardner reacted to the deployment of the National Guard into federal service once the United States declared war on Germany in 1917. As twenty-six other states did during World War I, Missouri established a Home Guard to take over the functions of the absent National Guard. This Home Guard was an entirely volunteer organization that took on the duties of providing introductory military training for draftable men, protectingcrucial infrastructure from potential enemy activities, and maintaining law and order during labor activism. The Home Guard also functioned to preserve patriotism and reduce opposition to the war, sometimes going so far as to police the behavior of German-Americans who appeared disloyal to state and country--