Posted 11 years ago
airhead247
(8 items)
I'm trying to get a date for this Nat'l Guard badge-seems c. Civil War, but possible post- another flea mkt find, haven't found a duplicate, but have seen one with the same enameled number pinned into the center. The NG was the common name for state militias, don't think it became Federal till WWI...but I can be corrected! Thanks, Philip
Not CW era-- later.
National Guard or State units can be mobilized and put under Federal control. It has happened in every conflict and continues today.
scott
I agree with Scott about the dating. The earliest usage of “National Guard” by a militia that I can find was 1825, but many of them started using the term toward the end of the 19th century, well after the Civil War. The modern National Guard wasn’t organized as such until 1903.
In the 19th century, the various state militias were organized and paid for by the state, and governors controlled how and when they would be used. The Dick Militia Act of 1903 authorized federal funding for the state militias as part of the National Guard, in exchange for uniform training standards and the ability of the president to “federalize” the Guard for national defense under limited circumstances.
My personal guess – and it’s only a guess – is that your piece predates 1903 to a time when many of the militias were more social than professional, and uniform items often owed more to the creativity of commander than conformity with the regular army.