Militia unit names

[tripax]

I’m not sure where to post this: here, history, or modding. I’m interested in adding more unit names (as flavor) to the game. I’ve started a discussion in the modding forum about the larger project, and following are notes about proposed names for militia units.

For militia units, names are especially needed for CSA: KY, TN, USA: KS, MD, ME, NH, RI, VT. Note that in some of these states, the number of unit names is greater than the forcepool, but if militia upgrade to regular infantry, these states will run out more quickly since there is not much slack. In KS I can add units from states that aren't represented (Neb, Dakotas, etc). In the other states it is often harder, as my normal source (google/wikipedia) doesn't give many other militia units from these states. For instance, the militia force pool for CSA Kentucky is 27, but there are only 6 unit names. I have just started, but I haven't seen many names for militia forces in KY (or the other 6). One option would be to use West Virginia militia units for KY. But other than KS, I it doesn't make very much sense to allow militia units from one state to be recruited in another. Let me know if you have any ideas.

[RebelYell]

For militia units, names are especially needed for CSA: KY, TN, USA: KS, MD, ME, NH, RI, VT. Note that in some of these states, the number of unit names is greater than the forcepool, but if militia upgrade to regular infantry, these states will run out more quickly since there is not much slack. In KS I can add units from states that aren't represented (Neb, Dakotas, etc). In the other states it is often harder, as my normal source (google/wikipedia) doesn't give many other militia units from these states. For instance, the militia force pool for CSA Kentucky is 27, but there are only 6 unit names. I have just started, but I haven't seen many names for militia forces in KY (or the other 6). One option would be to use West Virginia militia units for KY. But other than KS, I it doesn't make very much sense to allow militia units from one state to be recruited in another. Let me know if you have any ideas.

And this is a major problem for CSA and one reason Union gets an advantage striking the coastal areas.
They could maybe convert to conscript level but should keep their out of state penalty.
This is naturally something to get trough to the dev team.

[tripax]

And this is a major problem for CSA and one reason Union gets an advantage striking the coastal areas.
They could maybe convert to conscript level but should keep their out of state penalty.
This is naturally something to get trough to the dev team.

Yeah, there are some balance issues to work on.

For Kentucky, I'm pretty sure there are just way more elements recruitable in Kentucky than is historical. One reason is that in the game, it is possible for Kentucky to join the Confederacy, and second it is much more likely that the Confederacy maintains a substantial, secure presence in Kentucky from which to recruit - even if the State goes Union - than in the actual war. For this reason, I propose that we use numbered units that didn't actually exist to fill out the needed names for militia and infantry recruitable in Kentucky. Let me know what you think.

There were also about a dozen small cavalry units recruited in Kentucky for the CSA. Here is a list:
Buckner’s Guard First Organization [KY], Buckne’s Guard Second Organization [KY], Buckner’s Guides [KY], Bolin’s Independent Cavalry [KY], Jester and Trousdal’s Independent Cavalry [KY], Murphy’s Independent Cavalry [KY], Meltons Independent Cavalry [KY], Jenkin’s Independent Company Mounted Infantry [KY], Beck’s Partisan Rangers [KY], Fields’ Partisan Rangers [KY], Thorton’s Company A Fifth Regiment Cavalry [KY], Woodward’s Cavalry [KY], Blackburn Guards [KY]

I think we can put these in as confederate militia as well. If given the opportunity, their organizers might well have recruited infantry units, so I think it would be plausable, for instance, to have Buckners 1st Kentucky Militia. This would lessent the number of numbered militia units we would have to make up.

[tripax]

For Tennessee I just want to add a few:
Blair's Company (Local Defense Troops), McLin's Company, Volunteers (Local Defense Troops), Miller's Company, (Local Defense Troops), Park's Company (Local Defense Troops), Sullivan County Reserves (Local Defense Troops), Harman's Regiment, Nashville (Hawkins') Battalion, Capt. Sowell's Detachment, Capt. Spencer's Co., Capt. Tackitt's Co.

Also Mississippi could use some:
Blythe's Battalion, Gillenland's Battalion, Grace's Company, Maxwell's Company, Patton's Company, Red's Company, Stricklin's Company, Yerger's Company

And Missouri:
Dorsey's Regiment, Douglas' Regiment, Parsons' Regiment, Phelan's Regiment, Thompson's Command

[tripax]

I don't see much about Union militia forces in the north. Most of the action took place elsewhere, so militia call ups were much more limited in the north. Obviously Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Ohio were exceptions, due to raids in those states. Also there were militia units separate from regular infantry (which may have been called volunteer or militia in some states) in Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. In states where militia existed, I will use unit names of units I can find first. After that I will use numbered militia units, starting with 1st state militia, or something like that. In Indiana, militia were called "legion", but I don't find particular names, so those units could be called, for instance, "1st Indiana Legion Militia". In Illinois, infantry unit numbering began at 7, but cavalry renumbering began at 1, so militia numbers will begin at 1. I'm leaving militia off here, and will come back later. Let me know if there are named Ohio militia or militia from other states. Below are the links to the Union militia units I'm planning on using.

PA - https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Pennsylvania_Civil_War_Union_Infantry_Units
KS - https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Kansas_Civil_War_Union_Units_1st_through_22nd
ME - https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Maine_in_the_Civil_War
MA - https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Massachusetts_Civil_War_Union_Infantry_Units
NH - https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/New_Hampshire_Civil_War_Union_Militia_Units
OH - http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/OHBUTLER/2005-06/1119293429
IN - http://www.in.gov/history/3993.htm

[tripax]

While playing, I'm pretty unhappy with naming militia units without numbers, such as "Oxford Guards" in Ohio or whatever. I'm going to work harder to figure out what each state might have named its milita units. So for instance, Indiana militia would follow the pattern, "1st Indiana Legion", Kentucky would have the Union "1st Kentucky Home Guard" and the Confederate "1st Kentucky State Guard" (here the justification is that the neutral Kentucky State Guard troops seemed to defect to the south, and the Union Kentucky militia was called Home Guard and State Guard. Where there are state militia units named after organizers/commanders (rather than counties/cities), I'll still include those names as flavor. But having the units numbered feels much more appealing to me while playing.