Kirby, I should have known you would have the answer :>) I guess my assumption about the MSM being primarily an "in state" organization vs a US Volunteer organization is still true. It was the "immediate defense of the state" phrase that I seemed to miss. The folks of So. ILL certainly felt the impact of the war in Missouri but it would be easier to accept the "invasion" of a Confederate state such as Arkansas or the Indian territory vs a Union state such as Illinois. I just wondered if the cross border venture was not expressly ordered by higher command levels so as to provide "plausible deniability", certainly not unheard of even during the Civil War.

John R