3rd Missouri US Reserve Corps Infantry Regiment
The 3rd Missouri US Reserve Corps Infantry Regiment evolved from one of several unofficial pro-Unionist militia units formed semi-secretly in St. Louis in the early months of 1861 by Congressman Francis Preston Blair Jr. and other Unionist activists. The organization that would become the Third U.S.R.C was largely composed of ethnic Germans, who were generally opposed to slavery and strongly supportive of the Unionist cause. 20 percent of the men of the regiment were "native" U.S. citizens. Although initially without any official standing, beginning on April 22, 1861, the Unionist regiments Blair helped organize were sworn into Federal service at the St. Louis Arsenal by Captain John Schofield acting on the authority of President Lincoln. The first four regiments were considered to be the regiments of Missouri Volunteers called for under President Lincoln's April 15, 1861, call for 75,000 volunteers. So many St. Louis Unionists mustered to volunteer, that after consultation with G ...
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