Tag: 2nd US Infantry

Wikipedia says: The 2nd Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment in the United States Army that has served for more than two hundred years. It was constituted on 12 April 1808 as the 6th Infantry and consolidated with 4 other regiments in 1815 to form the present unit.

Although the original 2nd Infantry Regiment was constituted in March 1791 and fought in the Miami Indian Campaign and the War of 1812 at Fort Bowyer in Alabama its history and lineage is not a part of the present regiment. That regiment became part of the 1st Infantry through the consolidations of 1815. For the history about the original 2d Infantry Regiment please refer to the page for the 1st Infantry Regiment.

At the end of the War of 1812, an act of Congress dated 3 March 1815 reduced the size of the Regular Army to a maximum of 10,000 men. Eight infantry regiments, one rifle regiment and an artillery regiment was formed from the remains of the 46 existing regiments, while the cavalry was eliminated. This was done with no regard for the traditions of the existing regiments. The old regiments which happened to be closest together were pooled to form new regiments and the numbers assigned the regiments were based on the seniority of the colonels commanding them.

In accordance with the act, on 17 May 1815 a new 2nd US Infantry was created by the consolidation of the 6th, 16th, 22nd, 23rd, and 32nd Regiments of Infantry, all then located in upper New York and Vermont. The date of organization of the present 2nd Infantry is that of the original 6th Infantry, 12 April 1808. The regiment’s headquarters was in the cantonment at Sackett’s Harbor. Colonel Hugh Brady became the regiment’s commanding officer with Henry Leavenworth as major and Ninian Pinkney as lieutenant-colonel.:415 The regimental number was “2” because Brady was the second most senior regimental commander in the United States Army. Colonel Brady was in command of the 22nd Infantry at the time of the consolidation and, though he served in several other commands and reached the rank of major general, he remained colonel commandant of the 2nd Infantry Regiment from his residence in Detroit until his death on 15 April 1851.

The War Department ruled that the present 2nd Infantry bear upon its colors the campaign honors of the regiments consolidated into its organization. Thus, the colors bear the campaign streamers for Canada, Chippawa and Lundy’s Lane, even though it did not participate in any of the battles in Canada during the War of 1812. The present 2nd Infantry also bears the two battle honors earned by the original/old 2nd Infantry for the Miami Campaign (1790-1795) and Alabama 1814.

During the Civil War the 2nd Infantry fought in the early Battle of Wilson’s Creek in Missouri and the first Battle of Bull Run. The regiment was assigned to the Army of the Potomac and fought in engagements such as Manassas, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. By June 1864 the commissioned and enlisted strength of the regiment had reached such a low figure, less than 100 men, that at the request of the regimental commander the remaining enlisted men were transferred to Company C, and that company was given a full complement of officers and non-commissioned officers. From then until December 1864 the entire regiment consisted of just Company C. On 18 April 1869 the 2nd Infantry was consolidated with the 16th Infantry and the consolidated unit was designated as the 2nd Infantry.

The 2nd Infantry bears nine battle honors from the Southern Campaign through its 1869 consolidation with the 16th Infantry. These honors were earned by the 16th Infantry: Atlanta, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Georgia 1864, Kentucky 1862, Mississippi 1862, Murfreesboro, Shiloh, and Tennessee 1863.