The 17th Infantry Regiment is a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

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 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, 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 Infantry Regiment served in the

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confede ...

, in Sykes' Division of the 5th Army Corps. Its badge was a white cross patee. During the Battle of Fredericksburg, the 17th 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

sharpshooter A sharpshooter is one who is highly proficient at firing firearms or other projectile weapons accurately. Military units composed of sharpshooters were important factors in 19th-century combat. Along with " marksman" and "expert", "sharpshooter" ...

s." On the second day of the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

, the 17th Infantry regiment, commanded by

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

James Durrell Greene, fought in tough hand-to-hand combat in the Wheatfield. The 17th US Infantry lost 24 KIA and 125 WIA/MIA in this engagement.

Coat of arms

A buffalo, displayed on the 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. The shield is blue, as it is the color of the infantry. The crest is a

sea lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

taken from the Spanish Arms of

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

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 A cross pattée, cross patty or cross paty, also known as a cross formy or cross formée (french: croix pattée, german: Tatzenkreuz), is a type of Christian cross with arms that are narrow at the centre, and often flared in a curve or straight ...

, 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

;

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...

* Private George Berg, Company C * Private Oscar Brookin, Company C *

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

Ulysses G. Buzzard, Company C * Private Thomas J. Graves, Company C *

First Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a ...

Benjamin F. Hardaway * Corporal Norman W. Ressler, Company D * Second Lieutenant Charles DuVal Roberts * Corporal Warren J. Shepherd, Company D * Private Bruno Wende, Company C ;

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

* Private First Class Leonard C. Brostrom, Company F * Private First Class John F. Thorson, Company G ;

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

* Private Charles H. Barker, Company K * Captain Raymond Harvey, Company C * Corporal Einar H. Ingman Jr., Company E * Private First Class Anthony T. Kahoʻohanohano, Company H * Corporal William F. Lyell, Company F * Private First Class Joseph C. Rodriguez, Company F * First Lieutenant Richard Thomas Shea, Company A

Lineage

* Constituted 3 May 1861 in the Regular Army as the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry * Organized 6 July 1861 at

Fort Preble Fort Preble was a military fort in South Portland, Maine, United States, built in 1808 and progressively added to through 1906. The fort was active during all major wars from the War of 1812 through World War II. The fort was deactivated in 1950 ...

, 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 Fort McIntosh was a U.S. Army base in Laredo, Webb County, Texas, from 1849 to 1946. Fort McIntosh was established on 3 March 1849 by the 1st US Infantry, under the command of Lt. E.L. Viele, to guard the Texas frontier at the site of a strategi ...

; 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 Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay of the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, m ...

, California) * Relieved 1 July 1957 from assignment to the 7th Infantry Division and reorganized as a

parent regiment The Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS), was the method of assigning unit designations to units of some of the combat arms branches of the United States Army, including Infantry, Special Forces, Field Artillery, and Armor, from 1957 to 1981. A ...

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 * (4th Battalion inactivated 1993) * 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 2nd Battalion 37th Armored Regiment)

Campaign participation credit

* Civil War: Peninsula; Manassas;

Antietam The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union G ...

; Fredericksburg; Chancellorsville; Gettysburg; Wilderness; Spotsylvania;

Cold Harbor The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought during the American Civil War near Mechanicsville, Virginia, from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3. It was one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S ...

; Petersburg; Virginia 1862; Virginia 1863 * Indian Wars: Little Big Horn; Pine Ridge;

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

1872 * War with Spain: Santiago *

Philippine Insurrection The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

; Malolos; San Isidro; Tarlac;

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

;

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

1899; Luzon 1900 *

Mexican Expedition The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the p ...

: Mexico 1916-1917 *

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...

(with arrowhead); Eastern Mandates (with arrowhead);

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

;

Ryukyus The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

(with arrowhead); Occupation of Korea *

: UN Defensive; UN Offensive; CCF Intervention; First UN Counteroffensive; CCF Spring Offensive; UN Summer-Fall Offensive; Second Korean Winter; Korea, Summer-Fall 1952; Third Korean Winter; Korea, Summer 1953 *

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

: Counteroffensive, Phase VII; Consolidation I; Consolidation II; Cease-Fire * Armed Forces Expeditions:

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

(with arrowhead) * Operation Iraqi Freedom: August 2005 to December 2006 Mosul and Baghdad * Operation Enduring Freedom: July 2009 to July 2010 Kandahar Province, Afghanistan; May 2012 to May 2013 * Operation Freedom's Sentinel: January 2017 to October 2017 Laghman and Nangarhar Provinces, Afghanistan * War on Terrorism: Campaigns to be determined

Unit awards

United States Navy Presidential Unit Citation ribbon

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.

References

External links

17th Infantry Regiment Association's website

17th Infantry Regiment at unitpages.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:017 0017 Military units and formations of the United States in the Indian Wars 1861 establishments in the United States United States Regular Army Civil War units and formations United States Army units and formations in the Korean War Military units and formations established in 1861