7th Cavalry Regiment

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The 7th US Cavalry Regiment (7th US Cavalry Regiment) is a regiment of the Army of the United States of America . It was erected in 1866. The unofficial name is "Garryowen". The 7th US Cavalry Regiment was deployed on the frontier after its formation in the west . It was used in the Caribbean and the Philippines until World War II . In the Second World War it was used in the Pacific theater of war and remained as an occupying force in Japan after the end of the war . It took part in the Korean and Vietnam War and has been used in the Middle East since the 1990s .

Internal association badge
Battle of the Little Bighorn by Allison & Kurz
Wounded Knee Massacre: Members of the 7th US Cavalry Regiment fire on Sioux
7th Cavalry Regiment landing on Leyte Island October 20, 1944
Landing of members of the 7th Cavalry Regiment in Ia Drang (Vietnam 1965)
7th Cavalry Regiment sniper in Iraq (2007)

It came into the public eye through its defeat in the Battle of Little Bighorn and 14 years later through the Wounded Knee massacre . In Korea, it was involved in the Nogeun-ri massacre . Operating as the 7th US Air Cavalry Regiment, it was involved in the battle in the Ia Drang Valley , which was picked up by the media in the film We Were Heroes , among others .

Indian Wars

The 7th US Cavalry Regiment was set up on July 28, 1866 in Fort Riley , Kansas along with the 8th, 9th and 10th US Cavalry Regiments. The regiment consisted of twelve companies . Battalions were formed from different companies depending on the situation. Each company consisted of four officers , 15 non-commissioned officers and 72 men . The armament initially consisted of Civil War stocks, the Spencer carbine and various revolvers . From 1873 the repeating rifles were replaced by single-shot Springfield Model 1873 and the soldiers were equipped with the Colt Single Action Army .

From 1866 to 1871 the regiment was stationed at Fort Riley and took part in various operations in the Indian Wars. The first operation with which the regiment went public was the attack on Washita , which it carried out under the leadership of Custer on November 27, 1868.

From 1871 to 1873, the regiment was during Reconstruction as a kind of police force in seven states of the former Confederacy mostly in platoon strength deployed . It supported the tax and judicial authorities, especially in cases of evasion ( illegal distillery ) and the apprehension of members of the Ku Klux Klan .

In 1873 the regiment was transferred to Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory (now North Dakota ). George A. Custer led the regiment until his death in 1876. In 1873 the regiment secured construction work for the Northern Pacific Railway Company , and in 1874 it conducted an exploration into the Black Hills , where gold was discovered. In 1875 the regiment secured a site survey for the railroad company through the Yellowstone Valley . In all expeditions, especially the last, there were repeated clashes with Indians. From September 1874 to the beginning of 1876 six companies were subordinate to the Defense Division of Golf and deployed in Alabama and Louisiana . In the spring of 1876, the regiment took part in the US government's Great Sioux War as part of Brigadier General Alfred Terry's attack column. Five companies were completely wiped out in the Battle of Little Bighorn , including their commander, George Armstrong Custer.

The regiment was then temporarily released from field service; the companies reorganized. The US Congress decided in 1877 to increase the size of each cavalry company to 100 men. However, this number of employees was seldom reached. The regiment was still stationed at Fort Abraham Lincoln and repeatedly took part with parts in various campaigns against Indians (e.g. Nez Percé War 1877).

In 1882 the regiment was transferred to Fort Meade , now South Dakota. In 1883 the companies of the cavalry regiments were officially renamed Troops. In the following years the regiment was often deployed by company in different forts of the frontier and protected trade routes and railway lines. It was also used to put down local Indian revolts. In 1890 the "L" and "M" companies were dissolved and the number of crews in the remaining companies was reduced to 44. Just one year later, the "L" company made up of Indian scouts was reorganized. This structure existed until 1897.

In December 1890, the regiment was commissioned to disarm approximately 300 Sioux who were in the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and to bring them back to their assigned reservations; any resistance should be ruthlessly broken. On December 29, 1890, a shot was fired during the disarmament; the soldiers then opened fire on armed and unarmed Indians, including women and children. The Wounded Knee massacre killed around 250 mostly defenseless Indians. The regiment lost three officers, eleven non-commissioned officers and 29 men.

Time until World War II

From 1895 to 1899 the regiment was stationed in Fort Bayard , New Mexico and Fort Sill , Indian Territory . In 1898 the two companies dissolved in 1890 were set up again. Each company was now 104, the regiment 1262 soldiers. In 1899 the size of the companies was increased to 100 men each.

After the occupation of Cuba after the Spanish-American War , the regiment was stationed in Cuba from 1899 to 1902 as part of the occupation forces. Until 1904 it was stationed on the grounds of the Chickamauga National Park .

From 1904 to 1907 and from 1910 to 1915 it was used as part of the occupation forces in the Philippines. For the duration of the second stay it was named "Colonial" regiment. In the intervening years, the regiment was again stationed at Fort Riley. After returning to the United States, it secured parts of the Mexican border . In 1916/1917 it was used against attacks by the Villistas Pancho Villas during the Mexican expedition . During this campaign, it carried out the last cavalry attack by a unit of the US Army when attacking Guerrero on March 29, 1916.

During the First World War, the regiment in Fort Bliss , Texas was subordinated to the 15th U.S. Cavalry Division in December 1917. Since there were no opportunities to use mounted cavalry in France, the regiment stayed in the USA. On September 13, 1921, the regiment became part of the newly established 1st US Cavalry Division . In the 1920s and 1930s, the regiment was repeatedly used in border guards on the Mexican border. During the Great Depression began to reclassify the cavalry regiments, as mounted troops had not been proven to date in the First World War. The 7th US Cavalry Regiment was retained as a mounted unit, primarily for reasons of tradition. Until October 1941 the regiment took part in maneuvers of the division and the 3rd Army on horseback.

Second World War

At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II , the 1st Cavalry Division was undergoing large-scale restructuring and was participating in a number of major U.S. maneuvers in Louisiana that tested new tactics. As part of the reorganization, the anti-tank and machine gun troops were disbanded as independent units and placed under the cavalry regiments. The regiment was sent to the Pacific War along with the division . On June 26, 1943, the regiment in San Francisco was embarked for Australia, which it reached on July 11. Combat exercises followed. The regiment then took part in the Battle of New Guinea .


Web links

Commons : 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

literature

  • Edward Daily: "Skirmish" Red, White and Blue: The History of the 7th US Cavalry, 1945-1953 . Turner, Paducah (KY) 1992, ISBN 1-56311-088-1
  • Dietmar Kuegler: Fort Abraham Lincoln . In: Magazine for American Studies, Issue 3, 2007
  • Cozzens, P. Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars, 1865-1890 (Stackpole Books, 2004) ISBN 0-8117-0080-1
  • Hatch, T. The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life of George Armstrong Custer (Stackpole Books, 2002) ISBN 0-8117-0477-7
  • Hutton, PA Phil Sheridan and His Army ( University of Oklahoma , 1999) ISBN 0-8061-3188-8

Remarks

  1. ^ Special Designation List. US ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, May 7, 2015, accessed July 3, 2016 .
  2. Establishment of four additional cavalry regiments. US ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, September 10, 2001, accessed July 4, 2016 (Army Lineage Service: History of the Organization of the Armor and Cavalry, pp. 19f).
  3. Arming the cavalry regiments. US ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, September 10, 2001, accessed July 4, 2016 (Army Lineage Service: History of the Organization of the Armor and Cavalry, pp. 24f).
  4. Use during reconstruction. US ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, November 12, 2015, accessed July 4, 2016 (Seventh Regiment of Cavalry, p. 255).
  5. ^ War Department. 7th Cavalry Regiment. 9/21/1866-9/18/1947. Organization Authority Record. The US National Archives and Records Administration, accessed July 6, 2016 (English, operations of the regiment in Dakota Territory ).
  6. Assumption 1874–1876. US ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, November 12, 2015, accessed July 4, 2016 (Seventh Regiment of Cavalry, p. 257).
  7. Extent of the cavalry regiments. US ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, September 10, 2001, accessed July 9, 2016 (Army Lineage Service: History of the Organization of the Armor and Cavalry, p. 23).
  8. Relocation to Ft. Meade. US ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, November 12, 2015, accessed July 9, 2016 (Seventh Regiment of Cavalry, p. 263).
  9. Companies are now called Troops. US ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, September 10, 2001, accessed July 9, 2016 (Army Lineage Service: History of the Organization of the Armor and Cavalry, p. 20).
  10. Use on the frontier. US ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, November 12, 2015, accessed July 15, 2016 (English, Seventh Regiment of Cavalry, p. 263f).
  11. Extent of the cavalry regiments. US ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, September 10, 2001, accessed July 9, 2016 (Army Lineage Service: History of the Organization of the Armor and Cavalry, p. 23f).
  12. ^ Losses at Wounded Knee. University of Nebraska – Lincoln, 2011, accessed July 15, 2016 (Encyclopedia of the Great Plains - Wounded Knee Massacre).
  13. ^ Losses at Wounded Knee. Genealogy.com, January 26, 2003, accessed July 15, 2016 (US Army Casualties at Wounded Knee).
  14. Extent of the cavalry regiments. US ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, September 10, 2001, accessed July 9, 2016 (Army Lineage Service: History of the Organization of the Armor and Cavalry, p. 30f).
  15. ↑ Used between 1895 and 1916. The US National Archives and Records Administration, accessed July 17, 2016 (English, War Department. 7th Cavalry Regiment. 9/21 / 1866-9 / 18/1947).