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20th Infantry Regiment (United States)

military unit

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ4630761 ↗
Source-derived summary

The 20th Infantry Regiment ("Sykes' Regulars") is a United States Army infantry regiment. Currently only the 5th Battalion of the 20th Infantry still exists. Stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and part of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, 5-20 Infantry was one of the original battalions selected to take part in the testing and fielding of the U.S. Army's then-new Stryker vehicle.

History

Creation

The regiment was organized on 6 June 1862 at Fort Independence (Massachusetts), as the 2nd Battalion of the 11th Infantry, one of the nine "three-battalion" regiments of regulars, each battalion containing eight companies of infantry, in contrast to the original ten regular regiments of infantry, which were organized on the traditional ten-company line. The 20th Infantry was first led by General George Sykes in the Battle of Bull Run.

Following the US Civil War, the Army was reorganized by Congress in July 1866, and the 11th was divided into three regiments, each battalion receiving two additional companies and being organized along traditional lines. The 1st Battalion retained the designation of the 11th Infantry, while the 2nd Battalion became the 20th Infantry and the 3rd Battalion the 29th Infantry.

In 1869 the Regiment was headquartered at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, with two companies at Fort Ripley.

Interwar period

The 20th Infantry was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, as of June 1919 as a separate regiment. It was transferred on 1 July 1919 to Fort Crook, Nebraska.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “20th Infantry Regiment (United States)” is military unit. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through 20th, Infantry and Regiment, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1862, 1866, 1869, 1919—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1862-01-01. For this dossier, 20th, Infantry and Regiment is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “military unit” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4630761. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1862, 1866, 1869 and 1919.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Search vocabulary
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  2. Expand the search: follow 20th Infantry Regiment (United States) primary sources, 20th Infantry Regiment (United States) archive and 20th research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “20th Infantry Regiment (United States)” 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.