The 17th Infantry Regiment is a United States Armyinfantry 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
Civil War
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 ColonelJames 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
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 ArkansasCivilian 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]
Afghanistan
The 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment (1-17) suffered the highest casualty rate of any US infantry battalion in the War in Afghanistan. The battalion took over the Arghandab and Lower Shah Wali Kot districts from Canadian troops which had strong working relationships with US Navy Construction Battalion ("SeaBee") and private security forces at Forward Operating Base Frontenac, but arrived without maps and dismissed advice from the outgoing Canadians because they felt Canada was "just another country that wasn't fighting." Their disregard for coordination led to multiple IED strikes and vehicle rollovers in areas the battalion was warned about, resulting in 22 killed and many injured.[2]
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Coat of arms
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.[3][4]
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 pattée, 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.
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
Philip Egner, bandmaster of the regiment during the Spanish–American War, later composed the West Point fight song, "On, Brave Old Army Team".
References
^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.
^Maloney, Sean M. The Canadian Army in Afghanistan: Volume II, Part 2: Counter-Insurgency in Kandahar
^Blair, Clay (1997). The Forgotten War. Times Books. p. 616. ISBN0812916700.
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