Military unit
The
17th Infantry Regiment
is a
United States Army
infantry regiment
. An earlier regiment designated the 17th Infantry Regiment was organized on 11 January 1812, but it was consolidated with four other regiments as the
3rd Infantry
in the post-war reorganization of the army following the
War of 1812
, due to the shattering losses it sustained at
the River Raisin
. The current 17th Infantry was constituted as the 17th Regiment of Infantry on 3 May 1861.
History
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Civil War
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The 17th U.S. Infantry Regiment served in the
Army of the Potomac
, in Sykes' Division of the
5th Army Corps
. Its badge was a white cross patee.
During the
Battle of Fredericksburg
, the 17th U.S. Infantry suffered heavy losses in the assault on
Robert E. Lee
's Confederates entrenched behind a stone wall. "For one entire day, (December 14) the men of the 17th lay flat on their faces eighty yards in front of the famous stone
wall
, behind which the enemy was posted in large numbers and any movement on their part was sure to draw the fire of rebel
sharpshooters
."
On the second day of the
Battle of Gettysburg
, the 17th U.S. Infantry Regiment, commanded by
Colonel
James Durrell Greene
, fought in tough hand-to-hand combat in the "Wheatfield." The 17th US Infantry lost 24 men killed and 125 wounded or missing in this engagement.
Interwar period
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The 7th Infantry was stationed at
Camp Meade
,
Maryland
as of July 1919 as a separate regiment. It was transferred on 8 October 1920 to
Fort McIntosh, Texas
. It was designated as a training center regiment on 27 July 1921 and was assigned to the Eighth
Corps Area
Training Center; the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were inactivated on 1 October 1921 at Fort McIntosh. The regiment was transferred on 5 November 1921 to
Fort Sam Houston
, Texas. When Corps Area Training Center activities began to end in mid-1922, the regiment, minus the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, was transferred on 20 June 1922 to
Fort Crook
,
Nebraska
; the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were reactivated on 24 June 1922 at Fort Crook when the regiment was relieved of training center duties and reorganized into a combat regiment. The 7th Infantry was assigned to the 7th Division on 24 March 1923. The 2nd Battalion was transferred on 23 June 1926 to
Fort Des Moines
,
Iowa
. It was relieved from the 7th Division on 15 August 1927 and assigned to the
6th Division
. The 2nd Battalion was inactivated on 31 October 1929 at Fort Des Moines. The 3rd Battalion was transferred on 10 September 1931 to
Fort Leavenworth
,
Kansas
. In April 1933, the regiment assumed command and control of the Nebraska and
Arkansas
Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC) Districts and portions of the
South Dakota
CCC District in February 1936. The regiment was relieved from the 6th Division on 1 October 1933 and reassigned to the 7th Division. The 2nd Battalion was reactivated 1 July 1940 at Camp Ord, California, and the regiment, less the 2nd Battalion, was transferred on 10 September 1940 to Camp Ord. Assigned Reserve officers conducted summer training with active elements of the regiment at Fort Crook.
[1]
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Coat of arms
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A buffalo, displayed on a shield below the stone wall, represents the regiment's history in the Korean war. The "Buffalo" nickname was adopted at the suggestion of the 17th Regiment's commander in the Korean War,
Col. William W. "Buffalo Bill" Quinn
.
[2]
[3]
The shield is blue, as it is the color of the infantry.
The crest is a
sea lion
taken from the Spanish Arms of
Manila
to represent the fighting for that city in 1898.
The five-bastioned fort, shown on the blue shield above and to the right of the stone wall, was the badge of the 5th Army Corps in Cuba in 1898.
The two
arrows
represent the
Indian
campaigns the 17th Regiment participated in.
The 17th Infantry Regiment was in the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War in Sykes' Division of the 5th Army Corps, the badge of which was a white
Cross pattee
, which is embodied in the coat of arms and shown on the blue field above and to the left of the stone wall.
At Fredericksburg the 17th suffered heavy losses in the assault on the famous stone wall, "For one entire day, (December 14) the men of the 17th lay flat on their faces eighty yards in front of the famous stone wall, behind which the enemy was posted in large numbers and any movement on their part was sure to draw the fire of rebel sharpshooters.
Medal of Honor recipients
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- Spanish?American War
- World War II
- Korean War
Lineage
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- Constituted 3 May 1861 in the Regular Army as the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry
- Organized 6 July 1861 at
Fort Preble
, Maine
- Reorganized and redesignated 13 December 1866 as the 17th Infantry
- Consolidated 1 June 1869 with the
44th Infantry
, Veteran Reserve Corps (constituted 21 September 1866), and consolidated unit designated as the 17th Infantry
- Assigned 5 July 1918 to the
11th Division
- (2d and 3d Battalions inactivated 1 October 1921 at
Fort McIntosh, Texas
; activated 24 June 1922 at
Fort Crook
, Nebraska)
- Relieved 24 March 1923 from assignment to the 11th Division and assigned to the
7th Division
- Relieved 15 August 1927 from assignment to the 7th Division and assigned to the
6th Division
- (2d Battalion inactivated 31 October 1929 at
Fort Des Moines
, Iowa)
- Relieved 1 October 1933 from assignment to the 6th Division and assigned to the 7th Division (later redesignated as the 7th Infantry Division)
- (2d Battalion activated 1 July 1940 at
Camp Ord
, California)
- Relieved 1 July 1957 from assignment to the 7th Infantry Division and reorganized as a
parent regiment
under the
Combat Arms Regimental System
- (4th Battalion activated 1984)
- 1986 - 1st and 2nd Battalions re-activated at Fort Richardson, AK as part of the 1st Brigade, 6th Infantry Division (Light).
- Withdrawn 16 November 1986 from the Combat Arms Regimental System and reorganized under the United States Army Regimental System
- (3rd and 4th Battalion inactivated 1993 at Ft. Ord, CA)
- Redesignated 1 October 2005 as the 17th Infantry Regiment
- (4th Battalion activated in Jan 2011 at Fort Bliss TX under 1st Brigade
1st Armored Division
)
- 4th Battalion de-activated in June 2019 at Fort Bliss TX under 1st Brigade 1st Armored Division (reflagged as 2d Battalion
37th Armored Regiment
)
Campaign participation credit
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[3]
Unit awards
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A Company, 1-17 IN, received the
Presidential Unit Citation (Navy)
for actions in support of Operation Helmand Spider in Marjah during
Operation Enduring Freedom
09-11.
See also
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References
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- ^
Clay, Steven E. (2010).
U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 1. The Arms: Major Commands and Infantry Organizations, 1919-41
. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press. p. 372-373.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
Blair, Clay (1997).
The Forgotten War
. Times Books. p. 616.
ISBN
0812916700
.
- ^
a
b
"17th Infantry Regimental History - HONORS AND LINEAGE"
. 17th Infantry Regiment Association
. Retrieved
6 June
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
"17th Infantry Regiment"
. U.S. Army Center of Military History. 13 June 2014. Archived from
the original
on 21 September 2012
. Retrieved
13 July
2012
.
This article incorporates
public domain material
from websites or documents of the
United States Army Center of Military History
.
External links
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