24th Infantry Regiment (United States): Difference between revisions

| current_commander = 1st Battalion - LTC RyanThad OcchuizzoWescott

The '''24th Infantry Regiment''' is a unit of the [[United States Army]], active from 1869 until 1951, and since 1995. Before its original dissolution in 1951, it was primarily made up of African- American soldiers.

The 24th Infantry Regiment (one of the [[Buffalo Soldier]] regiments) was organized on 1 November 1869 from the [[38th United States Colored Infantry Regiment|38th U.S. (Colored) Infantry Regiment]] (formed 24 July 1866) and the [[41st Infantry Regiment (United States)|41st U.S. (Colored) Infantry Regiment]] (formed 27 July 1866).<ref name="BowersMacGarrigle1997">{{cite book|author1=William T. Bowers|author2=George L. MacGarrigle|author3=William M. Hammond|title=Black Soldier, White Army: The 24th Infantry Regiment in Korea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s5smqFkTmcIC|date=May 1997|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=978-0-7881-3990-1}}</ref>{{rp|5}} All the enlisted soldiers were black, either veterans of the [[United States Colored Troops|U.S. Colored Troops]] or [[freedmen]]. From its activation until 1898, the 24th Infantry served throughout the Western United States. Its missions included garrisoning frontier posts, battlingfighting AmericanNative IndiansAmericans, protecting roadways against bandits, guarding the border between the United States and Mexico.

**Private [[Adam PaynePaine]]

The year 1898 saw the 24th Infantry deployed to Cuba as part of the U.S. Expeditionary Force in the [[Spanish–American War]]. Elements of the 24th participated in the storming of the Spanish El Viso fortress in the [[Battle of El Caney]]. At the climactic [[Battle of San Juan Hill]] under the command of [[Emerson H. Liscum]], supported by intensive fire from the [[John Henry Parker (Generalgeneral)|Gatling Gun Detachment]], units of the 24th Infantry accompanied by elements of the [[6th Infantry Regiment (United States)|6th]] and [[13th Infantry Regiment (United States)|13th]] Infantry Regiments, assaulted and seized the Spanish-held blockhouse and trench system atop San Juan Hill.

Company B arrived on 3 April 1899 at [[Vancouver Barracks &ndash;]], the first African American regiment to serve as part of the garrison there.

In 1899 the regiment deployed to the [[Philippine IslandsPhilippines]] to help suppress a guerrilla movement in the [[Philippine–American War]]. The regiment returned to the Islands in 1905, 1907, and 1911. Though the 24th fought a number of battles in the Philippines, one of the most notable occurred on 7 December 1899, when nine soldiers from the regiment routed 100 guerrillas from their trenches. Notable commanders during this period included [[Medal of Honor]] recipient Colonel [[Henry Blanchard Freeman]] and Colonel [[Charles L. Hodges]], who commanded in the Philippines in 1907 and retired as a major general in 1911.<ref name="Ontario">{{cite book |author=The Military Secretary's Office |date=1906 |title=Official Army Register |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gtscAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA616 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=U.S. Department of War |page=616 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

In 1916 the 24th Infantry guarded the [[Mexico–United States border]] to keep the [[Mexican Revolution]] from spilling onto U.S. soil. When it did, the 24th joined the "[[Pancho Villa Expedition|Punitive Expedition]]" under [[General Pershing]] and entered Mexico to fight [[Pancho Villa]]'s forces. In 1919, rebels and troops of the Mexican government fought in [[Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua|Ciudad Juárez]], [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], which borders the U.S. city of [[El Paso, Texas]]. The 24th Infantry crossed over again to engage the rebels, ensuring that no violence erupted across the U.S. border.

The [[Houston Riot (1917)|Houston Riot of 1917]] was a mutiny by 156 black soldiers of the 24th Infantry;<ref name= PVAMU>{{cite web| url= https://www.pvamu.edu/tiphc/research-projects/the-1917-houston-riotscamp-logan-mutiny/| title= The 1917 Houston Riots/Camp Logan Mutiny | website= pvamu.edu| publisher= [[Prairie View A&M University]] | date= | access-date= February 16, 2021}}</ref> it has been called the Camp Logan Riots. Sergeant Vida Henry of I Company, 3rd Battalion led about 150 black soldiers in a two-hour march on [[Houston]] because they had suffered racial discrimination in the city. The soldiers were met by local policemen and a great crowd of Houston residents, who had armed themselves. When the soldiers killed Captain J. W. Mattes of the [[Illinois National Guard]] (after mistaking him for a local policeman), the battalion fell into disarray. In their two-hour march on the city, the battalion killed 15 whites, some armed, including four policemen, a white child<ref name= PVAMU /> and seriously wounded 12 others, one of whom, a policeman, subsequently died. Five black soldiers were killed. Two were accidentally shot by their own men, one in camp and the other on San Felipe Street.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}} The rioters were tried at three courts-martial. Nineteen men were executed by hanging, and 63 were given life sentences.<ref name= PVAMU />

At the start of World War II, the 24th Infantry was stationed at [[Fort Benning]] as school troops for the [[United States Army Infantry School|Infantry School]]. They participated in the [[Carolina Maneuvers]] of October – December 1941. During World War II, the 24th Infantry fought in the [[Pacific Ocean theater of World War II|South Pacific Theatre]] as a separate regiment. Deploying on 4 April 1942 from the [[San Francisco Port of Embarkation]], the regiment arrived on [[Efate]] in the [[New Hebrides Islands]] on 4 May 1942.<ref>The 24th Infantry Division Association website, POB 7, Flourtown, PA</ref> A Company was sent to Espirto Santo to clear jungle with the

The regiment departed [[Saipan]] and [[Tinian]] on 9 July 1945, and arrived on the [[Kerama Islands]] off [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] on 29 July 1945. At the end of the war, the 24th took the surrender of forces on the island of Aka-shima, the first formal surrender of a Japanese Imperial Army garrison. The regiment remained on Okinawa through 1946.

The 24th Infantry was reactivated in 1995 and assigned to the 1st Brigade, [[25th Infantry Division (United States)|25th Infantry Division]] in [[Fort Lewis (Washington)|Fort Lewis]], [[Washington (U.S. state)|Washington]]. The regiment served in the [[Iraq War]] from 2004 to 2005, and was decorated for its service. In 2006, during a re-organization of the Army, the regiment was re-flagged; however, the 1st Battalion was not included, and so it alone retains the regimental designation and carries on its legacy. It is now part of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, [[11th Airborne Division (United States)|11th Airborne Division]] at [[Fort Wainwright]], [[Alaska]].

*Redesignated 1 October 2005 as the 24th Infantry Regiment<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/inf/0024in.htm | title=Lineage And Honors Information 24th Infantry Regiment (Deuce Four) | publisher=U.S. Army Center of Military History | date=20 November 2007 | access-date=4 August 2012 | archive-date=21 September 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921123552/http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/inf/0024in.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>

*[http://www.history.army.mil/reference/Finding%20Aids/24th%20Inf.htm Index of Research Collection for the 24th Infantry Regiment] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010021056/http://www.history.army.mil/reference/Finding%20Aids/24th%20Inf.htm |date=10 October 2010 }} at the [[United States Army Center of Military History]]