Thanks for the assistance. Of all my posts on that board, here's my best candidate for the one that may have offended you most:

http://history-sites.com/mb/cw/gacwmb/index.cgi?read=4205

My purpose in that post mustn't have been clear, so please pardon the explanation.

People frequently ask questions about an ancestor who served in the Home Guards. Most imagine that militia companies did battle with the Yankees, but in reality they chased deserters and conscripts through the woods and hills.

On April 29, 2005, I tried to provide a detailed, unromantic view of actual Home Guard activities, rope and all. In most counties they don't seem to have bothered much about questioning prisoners on their political sympathies. I've heard more than one descendant of a Confederate soldier say that home guards hung their ancestor despite a legitimate furlough paper in his hand.

Explaining what happened in Southern communities is one thing; taking sides in behalf of evil-doers is another. And before anyone else gets angry with me, no -- I'm not saying all Home Guards were evil-doers. If anything in that post or another implies personal advocacy of anyone's murder, please explain it to me.