Members of the Reserve Corps were primarily men who were too old or too young to be conscripted or who were otherwise ineligible for regular service, such as discharged or disabled former soldiers. The Reserve Corps units were essentially home guards who performed duties such as acting as guards or herding cattle so that men in regular units were available for combat. Generally speaking, the men in a company all came from a specific parish, but it was not unusual to find more than one parish represented in a company. On a few occasions, the men were engaged in fighting Jayhawkers in south Louisiana.