the "abhorrence of the rapine, murder, insurrection, pollution and incendiarism which have been plotted by the deluded and vicious of the North, against the chastity, law and prosperity of innocent and unoffending citizens of the South." The Minutemen were the South's unofficial army. Like that of the Wide Awakes, they were expected "to form an armed body of men... whose duty is to arm, equip and drill, and be ready for any emergency that may arise in the present perilous position of Southern States." The fear of the Wide Awakes resulted in Minutemen companies forming all over the South. Like their enemy, they too held torch rallies and wore their own uniforms, complete with an official badge of "a blue rosette... to be worn upon the side of the hat." Wartime activities After Lincoln called out all the militia in April 1861, the Republican Wide Awakes, the Democratic "Douglas Invincibles," and other parade groups volunteered en masse for the Union army. In 1864, reports of political rallies noted the "Northwestern Wide Awakes, the Great Western Light Guard Band, and the 24th Illinois Infantry" at a Chicago meeting. On November 5, the Chicago Union Campaign Committee, the name of Lincoln's party that year, declared: "On Tuesday next the destiny of the American Republic is to be settled. We appeal to Union men. We appeal to merchants to close their stores, manufacturers to permit their clerks and laborers to go to the polls, the Board of Trade to close, the Union Leagues and Wide Awakes to come out. The rebellion must be put down." Defense of St. Louis In early 1861, the Wide Awakes chapter in St. Louis became involved in paramilitary operations at the outbreak of the American Civil War. Aided by Francis Preston Blair, Jr. and Army Captain Nathaniel Lyon, the St. Louis Wide Awakes smuggled armaments into the city and trained secretly in a warehouse. The purpose was to prepare them for defense of the federal St. Louis Arsenal, which Confederate supporters wanted to seize. Lyon employed his political connections through Blair to obtain an appointment as commanding officer over the arsenal. Once he had received his promotion, he promptly moved the St. Louis Wide Awakes into the arsenal under the cover of night. Lyon's Wide Awakes, newly mustered into the Union Army, were used on May 10, 1861 to arrest a division of the Missouri State Militia near