In July of 1862 the provisional government of the State of Missouri with the approval of the Federal Gov't in the form of the Dept. of the Missouri headquarters in St. Louis placed all of the state under mandatory universal military service for all able bodied men with Dept. of the Missouri General Orders Number 19. This was due to the large numbers of guerrilla bands and Confederate recruiters then operating throughout the state which were more than the available Federal and state troops could handle. This began the controversial Enrolled Missouri Militia which operated between summer of 1862 through March 1865 in which ALL able-bodied men were required to enroll at their local designated enrollment center. Those determined not to be disloyal to the Union (there were infamous exceptions to this) were then organized into units as a form of "grassroots" militia. That is, these untrained, poorly equipped local men were formed into "ad hoc" military units to drill occassionally as in colonial times and activated by the state only upon times of emergency in the form of Rebel threat in their area. The rest of the time their rifle-muskets would remain under guard (by some of them) usually in some local government building and the men would go about their civilian pursuits, live at home, continue with their occupations, and etc. The EMM ultimately involved tens of thousands of Missouri men supposedly loyal to the Union across the state in seventy-odd regiments. When there was no local Rebel threat, some of the EMM members were activated to guard the armory, guard other vital local infrastructure such as transportation facilities, assist the local Provost Marshal's office to round up disloyal citizens, perform local patrolling to watch for southern guerrillas and Confederate recruiting units, provide guides for Union Federal and state troops passing through their area, and--on occasion--go fight Rebels in their locality.

That being said, the several regiments of EMM organized in the St. Louis area were not required to do all the stuff I wrote in the preceding paragraph, mainly because there were already varying amounts of Union soldiers in the St. Louis area.

I don't know Colonel Jameson, and because I believe his role with who I presume is your ancestor was merely an enrollment officer I won't go hunting for him. I think Jameson's job was to handle the paperwork, publicize the meeting and enrolling place, and those kind of things. Once the men enrolled they handled things mostly by themselves.

Further, I am not familiar with "Box 63, Reel S771" but I assume that means that Private David Orr's record in on microfilm reel S771 and at one time could be found in "Box 63." One of the other researchers could probably tell you more about what that means.

From what you listed, David Orr responded to the requirement of the General Order by enrolling 13 September 1862 into the new EMM program. namely into the 9th EMM Regiment in the St. Louis area. Generally, the men elected their own officers and since you said David was in Company D, David and his fellow militiamen probably elected Daniel M. Grissom as captain, E. J. Montague as first lieutenant, and George McK Luken as second lieutenant of Company D, effective September 13, 1862--the same day that Mr. Orr enrolled. These men must have demonstrated some leadership potential such as being running a store or being locally known for business acumen, or a veteran of a past war, or having participated in the gold rush, or some such. The colonel of the 9th EMM was then John M. Krum who took the job as of October 1 that year. Krum resigned a year later and somebody else became colonel. Several of the officers of the 9th EMM, like the colonel, resigned in the summer and fall of 1863, but that is another story. All of this I obtained from the State of Missouri, "Annual Report of the Adjutant General of Missouri for the Year Ending December 31, 1863," published in 1864 by the state, on page 399.

I took the liberty of looking up Private David Orr's military service record online at the MO Sec'y of State's Office website at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/soldiers and it says little more than you offered, but it confirms he was in Captain Grissom's Company D, 9th EMM and that Private Orr was ordered on active duty on 13 September 1862, the day he was enrolled by Colonel Jameson. Some other soldiers' records like this state how many days active duty the soldier performed (mostly for pay purposes), but there is no such remark and little else for Private Orr. I will add that there was another record for a Private David K. Orr in California, Moniteau County, in the center of the state. I presume that is not your guy, but another man of the similar name.

Will that do?

Bruce Nichols