Confederate Home Guard

The Home Guard of the several states of the Confederacy during the American Civil War included all able-bodied white males between the ages of 18 and 50 who were exempt from Confederate service, excepting only the governor and other officials. The Home Guard replaced the militia whose members had volunteered or been conscripted into service in the Confederate Army.

Citizens of some states also formed Unionist Home Guard units. For example, in Kentucky, the Home Guard consisted of Unionist men; Confederate sympathizers in the state, led by Simon Bolivar Buckner, formed militia groups known as the State Guard.