Illinois Naval Militia
| Illinois Naval Militia | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1898–1988 2006 (reauthorized) |
| Country |
 United States
|
| Allegiance |
 Illinois
|
| Type | Naval militia |
| Size | c.600 (1917) |
The Illinois Naval Militia was a naval militia created by the Illinois General Assembly in 1893, and finally dissolved in 1988. The naval militia was reauthorized by Governor Rod Blagojevich through an executive order in 2006. As a naval militia it was not part of the Illinois National Guard or National Guard of the United States.
In September 1892 a meeting was called by Lieutenant-Commander B. M. Shaffner, attended by more than 20 graduates of the Naval Academy at Annapolis who were resident in Chicago, which proposed the formation of a State Naval Militia. The following year a bill was finally passed, and approved by Governor Altgeld, which provided for the creation and establishment of the Illinois Naval Militia, to consist of two battalions, each having a maximum strength of 400 men, and a minimum of 140. The 1st Battalion was based in Chicago, and the 2nd Battalion in Moline on the Mississippi. The 1st Battalion initially had 225 men, divided into four divisions, while the 2nd Battalion, had 176 men at its foundation, soon rising to 206.
The 1st Battalion met one evening each week and practiced boat-drill, both sail and oar, and were trained in the use of torpedoes, for which a steam-launch was specially fitted; and in the use of artillery, the cutlass, and small arms. The Navy Department presented the First Battalion with a complete stand of Hotchkiss rifles, cutlasses and revolvers, a Hotchkiss Rotary Gun and a battery of four 3-inch breech-loading field guns. Each summer there was a three-week cruise, for which the Militia was loaned a ship, usually obsolete, by the Navy. Up until 1901 this was usually the USS Michigan.
The officers of the militia were all former naval men, and several were veterans of the Civil War. There was also an associate membership, composed of many of the leading merchants, bankers and professional men of Chicago, including Marshall Field, Lyman J. Gage, and Charles Deering. Further, honorary memberships were awarded to Shelby M. Cullom, J. Frank Aldrich, and Colonel Leroy P. Stewart, Inspector General of the First Brigade of the Illinois National Guard.
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