133rd Engineer Battalion
The 133rd Engineer Battalion is a military engineering unit of the Maine Army National Guard.
The battalion is among the oldest units in the organization, with lineage tracing back to nineteenth-century militia formations in the state.
The unit consists of horizontal and vertical construction companies, a combat engineer company, a forward support company, a survey and design detachment, and a headquarters company.
History
The 133rd Engineer Battalion is the oldest unit in the Maine Army National Guard and has campaign credit for the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Informally known as "Maine's Regiment", the 133rd traces its beginnings back to the formation of the Cumberland County Regiment of the Massachusetts Militia in 1760 and its subordinate element, the Portland Light Infantry, in 1804. The Portland Light Infantry manned the defenses around Portland, such as Forts Preble and Scammell, to prevent a British attack in 1814 during the War of 1812.Other militia units flooded into Portland that year, responding to a British invasion from the north that had seized Bangor and Castine. The British had taken control of portions of Maine and re-established the Crown colony of New Ireland. In 1814, several thousand British troops assembled in Castine, with seven ships of the line, intent on taking Portland. However, after a few skirmishes on the outskirts of town with American militia units, the British decided that an attack would be too costly and cancelled the invasion.
Civil War
When the U.S. Civil War began in 1861, the Portland Light Infantry was designated as Company A of the 1st Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a 90-day regiment, and marched to Virginia. However, it was not engaged in the Battle of Bull Run. The 1st Maine was mustered out of service on 5 August 1861.Many members of the 1st Maine Volunteer Infantry reenlisted as members of the 10th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment when it was formed in October 1861. It fought at the battles of Cedar Mountain and Antietam in 1862. Most enlistments in the 10th Maine expired on 8 May 1863, except for 3 companies of "three year men," who were retained in service as the 10th Maine Battalion. The 10th Maine Battalion served as the Provost Guard for the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Gettysburg. The 29th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment was mustered into service on 17 December 1863 and was transferred to the southern theater, fighting in Louisiana in the Red River Campaign from March to May 1864 and then in Virginia from July 1864 to April 1865. On 29 May 1864, the 10th Maine Battalion was consolidated with the 29th Maine, thus establishing continuity with the 10th Maine Regiment and the 1st Maine Regiment. The 29th Maine served on occupation duty in South Carolina, starting in June 1865 and was mustered out of service on 21 June 1866.
The 2nd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment was called into service at the same time as the 1st and saw action during the Seven Days Battles, 2nd Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. The regiment's enlistments ran up in 1863, but about half the unit had signed papers to serve for the three years, so they were amalgamated into the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
In 1862, the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment was raised from the Brewer area. The 20th would become one of the most well known units in the Civil War. The regiment saw limited action at Antietam but participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg, where they were part of the assault element that aimed to take the Confederate defenses on the high ground. The 20th sustained heavy casualties and was pinned down for over twenty-four hours under enemy fire in the cold December weather. They were positioned on the far left of the Union line at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 and sustained multiple enemy attacks until the regiment had nearly run out of ammunition. They had been ordered to hold to the last man, and the regimental commander, Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain, gave the order, "Bayonet, Forward!", knowing that he could not withdraw or the enemy would outflank the Union forces. The bayonet charge by the Mainers took the Confederates by surprise and ended their attacks entirely. For his actions, Colonel Chamberlain was awarded the Medal of Honor. The 20th would serve until the end of the war, fighting with distinction in the savage battles through Virginia, such as the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Petersburg. The 133rd Engineer Battalion carries on the lineage and traditions of the 20th Maine.
1865-1916
At the end of the war, the soldiers returned to their civilian lives. Many kept up their military experience by membership in the 1st Maine Volunteer Militia, organized in 1873. The 1st Maine Volunteer Militia had companies in Portland, Augusta, Skowhegan, Auburn, Norway, Bangor, Belfast, Hampden, and Old Town, laying out the footprint for the future 133rd Engineer Battalion. In 1893, the Maine Volunteer Militia was redesignated as the Maine National Guard, and the 1st Maine Volunteer Militia was designated the 1st Maine Infantry. The 2nd Maine Infantry was also brought under the Maine National Guard when it was formed from the Maine Volunteer Militia in 1893.In May 1898, the 1st Maine Infantry was mobilized as the 1st Maine Volunteer Infantry for service in the Spanish–American War. It served stateside and was mustered out of service on 13 December 1898.
In 1909, the 1st Maine Volunteer Militia reorganized and redesignated as the Maine Coast Artillery Corps, eventually forming thirteen numbered companies with batteries stationed from Bath to Kittery. In 1917, it was mobilized to protect the Maine coast, manning coast defenses, primarily near Portland. In December 1917, four of the companies were combined with Regular Army companies to form the 54th Artillery and deployed to France, where they fought on the Marne and the Meuse-Argonne Campaigns. The remaining companies remained in Maine until they were demobilized in December 1918.
Pancho Villa Expedition and World War I
The 2nd Maine Infantry was called into service in 1916 for service on the Texas border during the Pancho Villa Expedition, and then again in 1917 for World War I. There it was combined with a unit from New Hampshire to become the 103rd U.S. Infantry, which was one of the four infantry regiments in the 26th Division. They served on the front lines in France, taking part in the battles of Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, Saint-Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Ile de France, and Lorraine. One soldier, Private First Class George Dilboy, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in single-handedly overrunning a German machine gun position.Interwar period
103rd Infantry
The 103rd Infantry arrived at the port of Boston on 6 April 1919 on the troopship USS America and was demobilized on 28 April 1919 at Camp Devens, Massachusetts. Per the National Defense Act of 1920, it was reconstituted in the National Guard in 1921, assigned to the 43rd Division, and allotted to Maine. It was reorganized on 22 November 1921 at Farmington, Maine, by consolidation of the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Regiments, Maine National Guard and designated as the 171st Infantry. It was redesignated as the 103rd Infantry on 31 December 1921. The regimental headquarters was relocated in 1922 to Portland, Maine. The regiment conducted annual summer training most years at Camp Keyes, Maine, and some years at Camp Devens, Massachusetts or Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont. The 103rd Infantry was inducted into active federal service at home stations on 24 February 1941 and moved to Camp Blanding, Florida, where it arrived on 13 March 1941.240th Coast Artillery
The 54th Artillery Regiment, Coast Artillery Corps, was demobilized on 13 March 1919. Coast artillery units were reorganized in the Maine National Guard in 1920–21 with old and new coast defense companies. The companies were designated as the 1st Coast Defense Command, Coast Artillery Corps, Maine National Guard, on 15 May 1922, and assigned to the Harbor Defenses of Portland. The eight National Guard coast defense command headquarters constituted after World War I were, in effect, regimental headquarters for their assigned batteries in their harbor defenses, but their role in mobilization remained unclear. A regimental organization was later formally effected in National Guard coast artillery units, and Maine's 1st Coast Defense Command. became the regimental headquarters of the 240th Artillery Regiment, Coast Artillery Corps, which was organized and federally recognized on 11 July 1922, and redesignated as the 240th on 17 September 1923. It was intended to be organized as a 12-battery regiment. Again redesignated on 14 May 1924 as the 240th Coast Artillery Regiment, the regiment, or elements thereof, was called up to perform the following state duties: two batteries for relief duties in connection with a major fire in Thurston, Maine, 15–17 September 1924; Batteries C and H for fighting a forest fire in Sagadahoc County, Maine, 3–13 September 1926. Reorganized in 1931 from 12 to 9 batteries and organized as follows; 1st Battalion as harbor defense; 2nd Battalion as 155mm gun, tractor drawn; 3rd Battalion as antiaircraft. Relieved from the Harbor Defenses of Portland on 1 October 1933 and assigned to the General Headquarters Reserve. Reassigned to the Harbor Defenses of Portland in 1938. Conducted annual summer training at Fort Williams, Maine, 1921–40. Inducted into federal service at home stations on 16 September 1940 at Portland, and transferred to Fort McKinley, Maine, arriving there on 23 September 1940, where it assumed the mission of manning batteries in the Harbor Defenses of Portland.World War II
As the United States prepared to enter World War II, the 240th Coast Artillery was mobilized to defend Portland on 16 September 1940. On 7 October 1944, the regiment was re-organized into the 185th and 186th Coast Artillery Battalions. On 1 April 1945, the two battalions were consolidated into the Harbor Defenses of Portland, which was inactivated in June 1946.During World War II, the 103rd Infantry, as an element of the 43rd Infantry Division, served in the Pacific theater, fighting in the battles of Guadalcanal, North Solomons, New Guinea, and Luzon, helping General MacArthur liberate the Philippines. They were the first unit to reach the Ipo Dam, which controlled the water supply for Manila, a crucial step in liberating the city.