24th Infantry Regiment
segregated combat formation of the United States Army
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.
History
The 24th Infantry Regiment (one of the Buffalo Soldier regiments) was organized on 1 November 1869 from the 38th U.S. Infantry Regiment (formed 24 July 1866) and the 41st U.S. Infantry Regiment (formed 27 July 1866). All the enlisted soldiers were black, either veterans of the 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, fighting Native Americans, protecting roadways against bandits, and guarding the border between the United States and Mexico.
Medal of Honor:
Wham Paymaster Robbery, Arizona Territory 11 May 1889
Sergeant Benjamin Brown, Corporal Isaiah Mays
Black Seminole: United States Scouts, Canyon Blanco, Staked Plains, Texas (Red River War)
Private Adam Paine
Black Seminole: United States Scouts, Pecos Texas 25 April 1875
Sergeant John Ward, trumpeter Isaac Payne, private Pompey Factor
Spanish–American War
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 Gatling Gun Detachment, units of the 24th Infantry accompanied by elements of the 6th and 13th Infantry Regiments, assaulted and seized the Spanish-held blockhouse and trench system atop San Juan Hill.
Vancouver Barracks
Company B arrived on 3 April 1899 at Vancouver Barracks, the first African American regiment to serve as part of the garrison there.
“24th Infantry Regiment” enters the record as segregated combat formation of the United States Army. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what 24th, Infantry and Regiment can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “24th Infantry Regiment” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.