I would say that Cochran's Six Month Militia was not an Order 107 militia. I spent a lot of time five years ago chasing down this very question. I do know that this unit was also referred to as Cochran's Raiders; as well as Cochran's Six Month Volunteers, Enrolled Missouri Militia; as well as Cochran's Company C, Six Month Volunteer Enrolled Missouri Militia; as well as Company C, EMM, Bollinger County.

This unit was a primary target for Price's men when they made their raid in the fall of 1864.

As Missouri militia units go, this one was pretty unique. It appears to have been perhaps one of four such units, or maybe five such Six Month EMM units. These 1864 Six Month Volunteer Enrolled Missouri Militia units include those of Lt. David Holder, stationed at Hamburg (now New Hamburg, I think); Capt. Adolph Tacke, Cape Girardeau; Capt. Alfred Montgomery, Bloomfield; Capt. John R. Cochran, Dallas (now Marble Hill). And maybe Capt. ---- Denny, duty station unknown.

Cochran's card at the State Archives indicates he enrolled in this unit on April 9, 1863; that he was activated June 13, 1864; and that he was released from duty Feb. 24, 1865.

The 1863 Missouri A.G. Report lists Cochran in command of an unattached EMM company from Bollinger County. It lists an enrollment date of April 9, 1863, for Cochran. With this, we seem to have a link between Cochran's 1863 run-of-the-mill EMM company, and Cochran's not-so-run-of-the-mill 1864 EMM company.

Note that the Provisional Enrolled Militia Companies that had such a high profile in Missouri during 1863 had been, for the most part, disbanded by the end of 1863.

Right now I am thinking that the Special Order 89 to which you refer created some special category of full-time EMM units similar to the PEMM units that had been disbanded the previous year. I am also thinking that a number of Cochran's men were detailed out of not only Cochran's 1863 independent Bollinger County EMM Company, but also out of Company A, 79th EMM, to serve these six month enrollments.

One interesting tidbit is the fact that noted southeast Missouri historian Cyrus A. Peterson, one-time president of the Missouri Historical Society, categorized this unit as being Company C, 79th Enrolled Missouri Militia. Now there are historical references to the unit as being Company C, but always, curiously, as an indepedent company. Why Company C, if it was indepedent?? I believe because it had such a close relationship with the 79th EMM.

I would note that the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis has a roster of Cochran's Six Month Militia in the Erich Pape Papers (A305). Pape was an officer in the 3rd Missouri State Militia Cavalry, but had a future son-in-law, Levi Baxter James, who was in Cochran's Six Month Militia. Twelve-year-old Levi is noted for reportedly being the youngest combatant in Missouri during the Civil War. Cochran's Six Month Militia also had a William Limbaugh in its ranks, who is reportedly related to the the Cape G Limbaughs. Anyway, for someone with the time and inclination, they might obtain this roster and see if it sheds light on the question before us. Perhaps there are notations on it....

Anyway, that is where I stand at the present--that Cochran's was some sort of a 1864 S.O. 89 reincarnation of the defunct 1863 Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia.

And why form new six month militia under S.O. 89 when county militias were operating at that very time under the authority of S.O. 107. For one thing, 107 units were law and order catch the criminals types of units. They were also generally limited to operations in their home counties. I imagine the 89 units were more free-ranging across county-lines, and instead of focusing on going after the criminal element, they were focused on Confederates. There was also maybe a financial element involved--89 unit expenses might be reimbursable by the Federal government, while 107 unit expenses were a lot more problematic because of their nature.

Back in 2002 I communicated with Bruce Nichols on this very same subject. Below is a copy of my Cochran's Six Month Militia theory at that time, which I have not totally discarded. The below was communicated to Bruce on Sept. 3, 2002, and, with minor editing, is reprinted essentially as it was originally sent to him at the time....
------------------------------

I have a handle on the nature of
Cochran's Company. It is very strange indeed.

From a document entitled "Company C, 79th Enrolled Missuri Militia, Six Months Volunteers," Cyrus Peterson Papers, Missouri Historical Society Archives, St. Louis

"...I Albert J. Martin was enrolled in Capt. John R. Cochran's Co. C in six months volunteer State Militia, on the 30th day of July 1864. I was ordered into active service on August 10th, 1864, and during the summer & fall
season we did camp duty and also some scouting after
buswhackers, murderers & horse theives throughout the
countys os south east Missouri, such as Bollinger Co.
& Wayne & Butler & Madison Co., Mo...."

This unit is mentioned several times in Volume
41 of the O.R. As such, it is referred to as a six
month E.M.M. organization. This is what confounded
me.

Now referring to "Organization and Status of
Missouri Troops" (Washington: GPO 1902) 18-20, 227.
This book categorizes Cochran's Independent Company C
as being a six month's militia. The strange thing is,
the six month's militia were formed by a Gov. Hamilton Gamble proclamation in August, 1861. At that time he
authorized raising 42,000 troops of this type. A little over 6000 men were actually raised, and in January 1862 Gamble issued a general order disbanding the units that were created under the initial proclamation.

But I find nothing to counteract the original
Gamble proclamation and wonder if Gov. Willard Hall issued
some sort of order in 1864 authorizing Cochran to
raise a company under the auspices of that original
proclamation. After the war the Federal goverment
reimbursed Missouri for the expenses relating to the
1861 six month militias. Interestingly, and seemingly
supporting my hypothesis here, is the fact that in "Organization and Status of Missouri Troops" Cochran's 1864 six month militia is categorized along with the 1861 six month militias. Consequently, the expenses related to the 1864 Cochran's Company were reimbursed in conjunction with the earlier 1861 six month organizations.

Note these six month organizations were not six
month U.S. Volunteers of the type of Phelps' 1861
regiment, or of the later 47th Mo. Inf. And while
they were "state militia," they were not the M.S.M.
incarnation. Nor were they run-of-the-mill E.M.M.

Also of interest is the fact Albert Martin's
memoir was filed under "Company C, 79th
Enrolled Missouri Militia, Six Months Volunteers."
The Adj. Gen. Report for 1865 does not show it to have
belonged to the 79th EMM. And the "Organization and
Status of Missouri Troops" clearly shows it to have
been an independent company. I suspect Henry Deal of
the 79th EMM exercised nominal control over
company--he seems to have had a relatively high
profile in SEMO during the same time Cochran's Company
existed. Thus the reason for the Martin memoir being
indexed as such, perhaps.

The legal basis for the formation of this unit is
quite curious, but it must have had a legal
foundational basis, otherwise the Federal Government
would not have reimbursed Missouri for the expenses the state incurred in its operation (there was a major post-war commission that was established to determine which Federal Missouri units had an underlying legal basis in their formation, and how much reimbursement Missouri was due for those that were legally formed.)

In case you haven't noticed, I am still scratching my head here regarding this unit.