9th Cavalry Regiment (United States)
The 9th Cavalry Regiment is a parent cavalry regiment of the United States Army. Historically, it was one of the Army's four segregated African-American regiments and was part of what was known as the Buffalo Soldiers. The regiment saw combat during the Indian and Spanish–American Wars. During Westward Expansion, the regiment provided escort for the early western settlers and maintained peace on the American frontier.
, the 1st Battalion and 4th Squadron serve with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division as a combined arms battalion and an armored reconnaissance squadron, while the 6th Squadron is the armored reconnaissance squadron of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the division. All three units are stationed at Fort Hood.
Formation
The regiment was authorized on 28 July 1866 to become the 9th United States Cavalry Regiment. On 3 August 1866, Major General Philip H. Sheridan, commanding the Military Division of the Gulf, was "authorized to raise, among others, one regiment of colored cavalry to be designated the 9th Regiment of U.S. Cavalry".The regiment was formally organized on 21 September 1866 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and mustered between September 1866 and 31 March 1867. Its first commanding officer was Colonel Edward Hatch. The men enlisted for the usual term of five years and privates received $13 per month, plus room, meals, and clothing. They gained the nickname of "Buffalo Soldiers". The regiment's motto is "We Can, We Will".
The mustering, organized by Maj. Francis Moore, 65th U. S. Colored Infantry, formed the nucleus of the enlisted strength, and was obtained from New Orleans and its vicinity. In the autumn of 1866 recruiting began in Kentucky, and all the men of the 9th were obtained from that state and Louisiana. The horses were obtained at St. Louis, Missouri. About the middle of September all recruits were assembled in New Orleans, where empty cotton presses were used as barracks. An epidemic of cholera caused 29 soldiers' deaths between October and December, with 46 other soldiers deserting by the end of March 1867. The camp was moved to Carrollton, a suburb of New Orleans. Officer positions did not begin to be fully staffed until February 1867. By the end of March 1867, the 9th Cavalry was at nearly full strength with a total of 885 enlisted men, or an average of over 70 to a Troop, and was ordered to San Antonio, Texas, where it arrived early in April for three months of training. However, Troops L and M went directly to their duty station at Brownsville, Texas.
In April 1867, violent altercations between officers and soldiers occurred in Lieutenant Edward Heyl's Troop E and Lieutenant Fred Smith's Troop K near San Antonio as a result of poor morale and poor leadership. Sergeant Harrison Bradford and Lieutenant Seth E. Griffin died and 10 soldiers deserted from E Troop. The men at this point still had not been introduced to the Articles of War, and two soldiers convicted to death were pardoned and restored to duty.
Service
Indian wars
In July 1867 the 9th Cavalry was ordered to western and southwestern Texas, to maintain law and order between the Rio Grande and Concho Rivers along a 630-mile line with seven forts from Fort Clark to Fort Quitman near present-day El Paso. Regimental Headquarters and Troops A, B, E and K, under Col. Hatch, were stationed at Fort Stockton; Troops C, D, F, G, H and I, under Lt. Col. Wesley Merritt were at Fort Davis. Troops L and M under 1st Lt. Hamilton had previously been sent to Brownsville. The 9th remained in Texas for eight years, nearly all of it in the field. While in Texas, the troops battled intermittently with Apaches, Kiowas, and Comanches, escorted mail, and rescued civilians from Native American captivity. On 26 December 1867, K Troop lost three troopers at Fort Lancaster in an encounter with an estimated force of 900 Native Americans and white outlaws.The regiment next went to the New Mexico Military District, which covered parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas, participating in the Apache Wars between 1875 and 1881. Headquarters were at Fort Union. While in New Mexico, their duties included constructing barracks and stables, caring for the horses, scouting for hostile Native Americans, escorting the mail, surveying uncharted land, and constructing roads. That service also included the Battle of Tularosa with Chiricahua Apache warriors led by Victorio in May 1880.
In 1881 the 9th Cavalry was transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas, and to Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in 1885.
On 5 November 1887, Company H, of the 9th Cavalry fought in the Battle of Crow Agency during the Crow War, in Montana.
The regiment also patrolled during the Ghost Dance War with the Sioux about the time of the Wounded Knee Massacre and was the last regiment to leave the Pine Ridge Reservation in the Winter of 1890–1891, after the massacre.
Range wars
The 9th Cavalry Regiment participated in two of the largest range conflicts in the American Old West. Range wars were battles fought between large cattle ranchers against smaller ranchers and farmers who competed for land, water, and livestock in the open range. Many of these conflicts resulted in military intervention to pacify and maintain peace. The 9th Cavalry's participated in the Colfax County War in Colfax County, New Mexico in 1873. Buffalo soldiers were among the units sent, and on one occasion, some of them had a shootout with a group of Texas cowboys in the St. James Hotel. On March 24, 1876, Three soldiers died during the shootout and a few months later one of the cowboys, Davy Crockett, who was involved, was killed by the local sheriffs. One garbled version of the triple shooting had gunfighter Clay Allison shot and killed a black sergeant and four soldiers in a bar where he was drinking. Allison was arrested but released when it could not be proved he had been involved in the shooting.The 9th cavalry had a much larger participation in the fabled Johnson County War in Johnson County, Wyoming. It culminated in a lengthy shootout between local farmers, a band of hired killers, and a sheriff's posse. The 6th Cavalry was ordered in by President Benjamin Harrison to quell the violence and capture the band of hired killers. Soon afterward, the 9th Cavalry was specifically called on to replace the 6th. The 6th Cavalry was swaying under the local political and social pressures and was unable to keep the peace in the tense environment. The Buffalo Soldiers responded within about two weeks from Nebraska, and moved the men to the rail town of Suggs, Wyoming, creating "Camp Bettens" despite a hostile local population. One soldier was killed and two wounded in a gun battle with locals. The 9th Cavalry remained in Wyoming for nearly a year to quell tensions in the area.
In 1886, members of the 9th cavalry constructed a road and telegraph line through Ninemile Canyon in Utah, connecting Fort Duchesne and the Uintah Basin to the region around Price, Utah.
Spanish–American War through WW1
In 1898, the 9th US Cavalry Regiment fought alongside Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders at the battles of Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill. Later, they served as his honor guard during his visit to San Francisco.In 1899 and again in 1904, the 9th Cavalry patrolled Yosemite National Park, joining other soldiers as the first "rangers" of the park system.
Under General John J. Pershing, the regiment fought in the Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa in Mexico in 1916.
West Point
On 23 March 1907, the United States Military Academy Detachment of Cavalry was changed to a "colored" unit. This had been a long time coming. It had been proposed in 1897 at the "Cavalry and Light Artillery School" at Fort Riley that West Point cadets learn their riding skills from the black non-commissioned officers who were considered among the best. The one hundred man detachment from the 9th Cavalry served to teach future officers at West Point riding instruction, mounted drill and cavalry tactics until 1947.Interwar period
The 9th Cavalry was stationed at Camp Stotsenburg, Philippines, as of June 1919. From 3 April 1921 to 11 October 1922, Brigadier General Edward Anderson commanded the regiment. The regiment departed Manila on 12 October 1922 on the troopship USAT Logan and arrived on 11 November 1922 at San Francisco, California. It was transferred to Fort Riley, and arrived there on 15 November 1922. The regiment absorbed just over 200 troopers of the Cavalry School Detachment on 1 December 1922. From 1922 to 1940, the regiment served as the Cavalry School support and demonstration regiment. It was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry Division on 18 August 1933. It supported and supervised the training of the Colored Citizens Military Training Camps at Fort Riley from 1934 to 1936 and in 1938. It was relieved from the 3rd Cavalry Division on 10 October 1940 and assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Division.World War II
The regiment did not end up serving in World War II as a unit, and was transferred to the Mediterranean with the rest of the 2nd Cavalry Division in order to supply soldiers for other units. The regiment was inactivated on 7 March 1944 in North Africa.Cold War
The regiment was redesignated as the 509th Tank Battalion on 20 October 1950 and relieved from its assignment to the 2nd Cavalry Division. The battalion was activated at Camp Polk, Louisiana on 1 November of that year and inactivated at Fort Knox on 10 April 1956. The regiment was reorganized and redesignated as the 9th Cavalry on 1 December 1957, becoming a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System.The 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, 9th Cavalry was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea and activated on 1 November 1957 from the 1st Cavalry Division's 16th Reconnaissance Company as the division reconnaissance squadron. It became 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry on 1 September 1963, and was transferred to Fort Benning on 1 July 1965 without personnel and equipment to become an experimental air cavalry unit, reflagged from the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry of the 11th Air Assault Division. The former 1-9 Cavalry in Korea became 4th Squadron, 7th Cavalry of the 2nd Infantry Division.
The 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron, 9th Cavalry was assigned to the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Carson and activated on 1 December 1957 from its 9th Reconnaissance Company as the division reconnaissance squadron. It was transferred to the 24th Infantry Division and reorganized in Europe on 1 July 1958, stationed at Augsburg. The squadron became the 2nd Squadron, 9th Cavalry on 1 September 1963.
The 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron, 9th Cavalry was assigned to the Army Reserve and activated on 6 April 1959 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the divisional reconnaissance squadron of the 79th Infantry Division. The squadron was inactivated there on 28 February 1963 when the 79th was reduced to a headquarters. It was redesignated as Troop C, 9th Cavalry and reactivated on 1 February 1964 at Bristol with the 157th Infantry Brigade. The troop was moved to Wilkes-Barre on 31 January 1966. The troop continued to serve with the 157th Infantry Brigade until deactivation on 20 August 1995.
The 4th Reconnaissance Squadron, 9th Cavalry was assigned to the Army Reserve and activated on 20 March 1959 at Mansfield, Ohio as the divisional reconnaissance squadron of the 83rd Infantry Division. The squadron became the 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry on 15 April 1963, but was inactivated on 31 December 1965. On 24 November 1967 it was reactivated as a Regular Army unit with the 6th Infantry Division at Fort Campbell. The squadron was reactivated in April, 1986, at Ladd Army Airfield, Hangar 2,Fort Wainwright, Alaska, with the 6th Infantry Division, where it served during the later years of the Cold War.
The 5th Squadron, 9th Cavalry was activated on 21 December 1962 at Fort Ord with the 194th Armored Brigade. 5-9 Cavalry was inactivated there on 4 January 1968, redesignated as Troop E, 9th Cavalry, and simultaneously reactivated at Fort Ord as a nondivisional unit.