Regiment • Constituted 3 May 1861 in the Regular Army as the 2nd Battalion,
13th Infantry Regiment. Organized 15 May 1865 at
Camp Dennison, Ohio. Reorganized and redesignated 21 September 1866 as the 22d Infantry Regiment. Consolidated 1–31 May 1869 with the
31st Infantry Regiment (see ANNEX), and consolidated unit designated as the 22d Infantry Regiment. • Assigned 24 March 1923 to the 4th Division (later redesignated as the
4th Infantry Division). 1st Battalion inactivated 30 June 1927 at
Fort McPherson, Georgia and reactivated 1 June 1940 at
Fort McClellan, Alabama). • Inactivated 1 March 1946 at
Camp Butner, North Carolina. • Activated 15 July 1947 at
Fort Ord, California for assignment to Germany in the
German occupation. Sent to Fort Benning, and subsequently shipped to Bremerhaven, Germany in 1951. 2d Battalion went to Schweinfurt, Germany. • Relieved 1 April 1957 from assignment to the
4th Infantry Division and reorganized as a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System. ANNEX • Constituted 3 May 1861 in the Regular Army as the 3d Battalion,
13th Infantry Regiment. Organized in December 1865 at
Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. Reorganized and redesignated 21 September 1866 as the
31st Infantry Regiment. Consolidated 1–31 May 1869 with the 22d Infantry and consolidated unit designated as the 22d Infantry Regiment.
Indian Wars After the American Civil War and garrison duty in the East, the regiment was transferred to the Northern Plains and served in frontier forts. The regiment's efforts included keeping civilians out of the
Black Hills of
Dakota Territory that had been ceded to the
Lakota Sioux in the
Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. In 1869, the 22d Infantry was involved in actions at the
Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in
South Dakota. After 1870, the
United States Army allowed
Black Seminoles from
Mexico to serve as
army scouts for the
United States. These scouts were formally attached to the 22nd, but often served independently. The Seminole Negro Indian Scouts fought in the Texas Indian Wars of the 1870s. The scouts were well known for their tracking abilities and feats of endurance. Four of the 22nd Infantry's Seminole Scouts were awarded the
Medal of Honor. After the Texas Indian Wars, the scouts remained stationed at Fort Clark in
Brackettville, Texas. On 8 January 1877, Companies E, and F of the 22d Infantry fought at the
Battle of Wolf Mountain on the
Tongue River in
Montana Territory, and on 7 May 1877, Companies E, F, and G were present at the Battle of Little Muddy Creek. In 1888 the 22d Infantry's regiment headquarters was moved to
Fort Keogh, Montana, and would remain there until 1896. In December 1890, and January 1891, the regiment participated in repressing the
Ghost Dance on the Sioux Reservation in
South Dakota, and in 1891, and 1892 patrolled throughout
Montana.
Spanish–American War The 22d Infantry Regiment fought at
Santiago 3 to 17 July 1898. One of the regimental officers,
Captain Edward O. Ord, (son of Major General
Edward Otho Cresap Ord and for whom
Fort Ord was named) remained in Cuba for nine months as interpreter on the staff of General
Alexander R. Lawton while the rest of the regiment prepared for service in the Philippines.
Philippine–American War By 1900 the 22d Regiment was en route piecemeal to the Philippines when the
Philippine–American War broke out. They participated in battles in Manila, Luzon, Malolos, San Isidro then other battles during the
Moro Rebellion on
Mindanao and Jolo. On March 18, 1899, two companies of the regiment were ambushed by Filipino insurgents. After receiving exaggerated reports of the ambush which claimed that the regiments had been wiped out, the
2nd Oregon Volunteer Infantry Regiment was ordered to kill all Filipinos in a district between the mouth of
San Mateo River and the lake. By 1905, the regiment had returned to garrison duty in the San Francisco region. From June 1908 to August 1910 the 22nd Infantry was posted to Alaska to maintain the Alaskan telegraph line between Fairbanks and Nome. This posting would be one of the last large-scale presence of Army troops since the 1898 gold rush and before the telegraph was replaced with a series of wireless stations. The regiment deployed about two companies each to Fort Seward in Haines, Fort Liscomb in Valdez, Fort St. Michael in St. Michael, Fort Davis in Nome, Fort Gibbon in Tanana, and Fort Egbert in Eagle.
World War I From the Presidio, the regiment was called to Mexican border in Arizona during the Mexican Punitive Expedition in early 1916. While not joining in the pursuit of Pancho Villa, they guarded the border region around Douglas, Arizona, and maintained the peace in that area during their time there. While still in Douglas, Arizona, the 22nd Regiment was set for a return deployment to the Philippines, but orders directed it to the East Coast at
Fort Jay on
Governors Island in New York, New York, quietly arriving there by train and ferry on 2 April 1917. Just days later, in the early morning of 6 April 1917, just moments after the declaration of war against Germany, the regiment boarded Coast Guard cutters and seized German owned freighters, passenger ships and shipping terminals along the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey and in New York Harbor. Theirs was the first American military action to be taken in World War I. The docks and piers seized in Hoboken were the basis of the
New York Port of Embarkation from where tens of thousands of troops would depart to France, with the German cruise ships serving as troop transports. The regiment was the largest organized combat-ready Army presence in New York City during the war where it was engaged in homeland protection duties: guarding tunnels, bridges, rail lines and other important transportation infrastructure that moved troops and material for the war to the city and port. One battalion was also posted to Washington, D.C. as the primary Army presence in that city, where they also protected vital transportation and military infrastructure.
Interwar period The 22nd Infantry was stationed at Fort Jay as of June 1919 as a separate regiment. It provided guards for
the subtreasury building at
Wall and
Nassau Streets after the 16 September 1920
Wall Street bombing by a Marxist dissident. The 2nd Battalion was transferred in 1921 to
Fort Niagara, New York. The 3rd Battalion was transferred to
Fort Ontario, New York. The entire regiment was transferred on 14 June 1922 to
Fort McPherson,
Georgia, and assigned to the 4th Division on 24 March 1923. The 3rd Battalion was transferred on 27 May 1927 to
Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. The 1st Battalion was inactivated 30 June 1927 at Fort McPherson. Company M was awarded the Edwin Howard Clark trophy for machine gun marksmanship for 1931. In April 1933, the regiment assumed command and control of
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) District B, Fourth
Corps Area. The regiment assumed command and control of CCC District D, Fourth Corps Area in May 1935 from the
69th Coast Artillery. The 3rd Battalion was transferred on 28 May 1935 to
Fort McClellan,
Alabama. Assigned Reserve officers conducted summer training with the regiment at Fort McClellan. The entire regiment was transferred in July 1940 to Fort McClellan, and was transferred 21 February 1941 to
Fort Benning, Georgia.
World War II The 22nd then moved to
Camp Gordon, Georgia on 27 December 1941, where it was reorganized under a "motorized"
table of organization and equipment (TO&E) on 9 September 1942. The regiment moved to
Fort Dix, New Jersey on 16 April 1943, where it was reorganized under a regular infantry TO&E on 1 August 1943. The regiment continued to train for combat, moving on to
Camp Gordon Johnston,
Florida on 28 September 1943, and to
Fort Jackson, South Carolina on 1 December 1943. 22nd IR subsequently got its Port Call orders, and staged at
Camp Kilmer, New Jersey on 8 January 1944 until it shipped out from the
New York Port of Embarkation on 18 January 1944. in
Schnee Eifel, Germany, 18 September 1944 The regiment arrived in England on 29 January 1944, settled in near
Plymouth, England, and started preparations to assault
Utah Beach. The regiment assaulted
Utah Beach on 6 June 1944, as part of
VII Corps in the D-Day Invasion and arrived in the vicinity of
Ravenoville, Normandy, by the end of D-day. It then participated in the Cherbourg Peninsula operation while attached to
2nd Armored Division from 19 July through 2 August 1944. The regiment then returned to 4th Infantry Division and headed for Belgium as part of the
Operation Cobra, moved into Belgium on 6 September 1944, and entered Germany on 11 September 1944. On 14 September its 3d Battalion broke through the Siegfried Line near
Buchet, but neither the regiment nor other formations of 4th Division were able to exploit a success because of rough terrain lacking good roads, bad weather hampering air and artillery support and several other causes. These developments were described by
Ernest Hemingway in his article
War in the Siegfried Line. The regiment was attached to
83rd Infantry Division between 3–7 December 1944, and then returned to 4th Infantry Division in
Luxembourg on 12 December 1944. The 22d then moved to Belgium on 28 January 1945, and re-entered Germany on 7 February 1945, where it remained on mop-up and occupation until 12 July 1945, when it returned to the New York POE, and moved to its temporary home at
Camp Butner, North Carolina while the regiment trained for movement to Japan; however, the war in the Pacific terminated, and the regiment remained at Camp Butner until it was inactivated on 5 March 1946. == 1st Battalion ==