Montana Territory Volunteer Militia
military unit
The Montana Territory Volunteer Militia was a Militia organized in Montana Territory in 1867 as a result of increased incidents with Native Americans.
History
With sharply increased settlement in Montana Territory at the end of the American Civil War, incidents with Native Americans on Montana's Benton Road and the Bozeman Trail increased dramatically. On May 4, 1867, G. S. Townsend of the U.S. War Department wrote to the acting Territorial Governor of Montana Thomas Francis Meagher on behalf of the U. S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton concerning raising a Montana Territorial Militia:
"In answer to your telegram of April (28) twenty eight in relation to Indian invasion, I am instructed by the Sec'y. of War to inform you that authority has been given by this department to Liet. Genl. Sherman, to call out, organize, officer, arm and subsist such militia force in Montana Territory as he deems necessary for the protection of that Territory, against hostile Indians. Any suggestion you make to Genl. Sherman at St. Louis on matter relating to this subject, will receive his attention. Acknowledge receipt."
By the end of April 1867, a volunteer militia of 80 men had already been organized, and by the end of May, that number had grown to 150, consisting mostly of mounted horsemen.
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This entry incorporates text from “Montana Territory Volunteer Militia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.