The 12th Infantry Regiment is a unit of the United States Army. The 12th Infantry has fought in seven wars from the Civil War to the War in Afghanistan (2001-2021) and has been awarded four Presidential Unit Citations, six Valorous Unit Awards, a Joint Meritorious Unit Award, two citations in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army, three Republic of Vietnam Crosses of Gallantry, the Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal First Class, eight Meritorious Unit Commendation, and the Belgian Fourragere. In 2021, both 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment reorganized as Stryker Battalions under 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. From 2023 to 2024, both Battalions completed a rotation to the Republic of Korea as a part of 2nd SBCT, Korea Rotational Force 13.

History

Civil War Less than a month after the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina, the 12th Infantry Regiment was constituted 3 May 1861 in the Regular Army as the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry. It was organized 20 October 1861 at Fort Hamilton in New York. The battalion saw extensive combat during the Civil War, participating in twelve campaigns with the Army of the Potomac.

During the Peninsula Campaign, the 12th Infantry distinguished itself in its first combat action at the Battle of Gaines' Mill in June 1862, while sustaining fifty percent casualties. The regiment also participated in such historic battles as Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and six additional campaigns culminating with the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia, from late summer 1864 through April 1865 and the war's end.

During the war it suffered a total of 319 fatalities; 8 officers and 118 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, and another 3 officers and 190 enlisted men who died from accident or disease.Fox, William F., Lt.-Col., 'Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865', Albany, N.Y., 1889, p. 521.

Indian Wars

The battalion was reorganized and redesignated as the 12th Infantry Regiment on 7 December 1866. In April 1869, having been ordered to the Presidio of San Francisco, California, the regiment entrained at Omaha, Nebraska, on the Union Pacific Railroad portion of the not yet finished transcontinental railroad; rode to Corinne, Utah; detrained and marched to the Central Pacific railhead; and re-entrained to complete the journey to Sacramento, California. In the 1870s, the regiment took part in three campaigns of the Indian Wars; against the Modoc tribe in California during 1872–1873, against the Bannocks in the Northwest in 1878, and against the Sioux at Pine Ridge, South Dakota from 1890 to 1891. During these campaigns, six soldiers performed acts deemed worthy of the Medal of Honor.

Spanish–American War and Philippine–American War During the Spanish–American War, the 12th Infantry was sent to Cuba, in June 1898, and participated in the storming of the Spanish fortress in the Battle of El Caney, where the 12th had the distinction of capturing the Spanish colors.

At the conclusion of the War with Spain, the regiment was immediately deployed in February 1899 to the Philippine Islands to reinforce other Army units fighting elements of the Filipino Army that resisted the United States after they defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Manila. There, the regiment participated in three campaigns (Malolos, Tarlac, and Luzon 1899) of what was to be known as the Philippine–American War and then served as garrison troops, not returning to the United States until 1912.

Garrison duty Deployed along the Mexican border, the regiment repulsed Villista harassing attacks during the Battle of Nogales in 1915. On 17 December 1917 the 12th Infantry was assigned to the 8th Division at Camp Fremont, California, but was not sent overseas in World War I. In August 1918 most of the regiment volunteered for duty in Siberia and the regiment was skeletonized until replacements were received and trained. As part of the 15th Infantry Brigade, the regiment moved to its pre-embarkation staging location at Camp Mills, New York, between 23 October and 31 October 1918, but entrained while quarantined at Camp Fremont for Spanish influenza. After its arrival, the regiment remained in strict quarantine until after its convoy had sailed, and was not released until 11 November, the day the armistice ended the war.

Interwar period

The 12th Infantry was stationed at Camp George G. Meade, Maryland, as of June 1919 as a separate regiment. The 2nd Battalion was transferred in January 1921 to Camp Lee, Virginia. The regiment was designated as a training center regiment on 27 July 1921 and assigned to the Third Corps Area Training Center. The 2nd Battalion was inactivated on 12 October 1921 at Camp George G. Meade. The 3rd Battalion was transferred in June 1922 to Fort Washington, Maryland. The regiment was reorganized as a combat regiment on 11 September 1922 upon the inactivation of the Third Corps Area Training Center. The regiment, less the 3rd Battalion, was transferred on 30 September 1922 to Fort Howard, Maryland. The regiment was assigned to the 8th Division on 24 March 1923. The 2nd Battalion was organized 30 March 1926 with Organized Reserve personnel as a Regular Army Inactive (RAI) unit with headquarters at Fort Howard. The regiment temporarily transferred on 7 May 1926 to Camp Anthony Wayne, Pennsylvania, and participated in the Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia until 11 December 1926. It was relieved from the 8th Division on 15 August 1927 and assigned to the 4th Division. It participated in the inaugural parades of President Herbert Hoover on 4 March 1929 and President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 4 March 1933. In 1932, the unit, along with the 3rd Cavalry regiment (led by then Major George S. Patton), engaged in the forced removal of WWI veterans who had camped in protest for the bonuses they were promised for their World War I service. The overall commander was Douglas MacArthur who declared the peaceful assembly an, "Attempt to overthrow the government." He sent Patton and Dwight Eisenhower's units in and the resulting chaos injured dozens and left at least one person dead. 3rd Battalion established the first Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in the United States near Edinburg, Virginia, on 17 April 1933. The regiment was relieved from the 4th Division on 1 October 1933 and reassigned to the 8th Division. From 1934 to 1935, Laurence Halstead commanded the regiment and the post at Fort Howard, Maryland. Assigned Reserve officers conducted summer training with the regiment at Fort Howard. The primary ROTC "feeder" school for new Reserve lieutenants for the regiment was Pennsylvania State College. The 3rd Battalion was transferred on 27 June 1939 to Arlington Cantonment, Virginia. The regiment, less the 3rd Battalion, was transferred on 3 September 1940 to Arlington Cantonment. The entire regiment was transferred on 12 June 1941 to Fort Dix, New Jersey. It was relieved from the 8th Division on 10 October and assigned to the 4th Division, and transferred on 24 October to Fort Benning, Georgia.

World War II The 12th Infantry Regiment was reorganized as a motorized infantry regiment on 29 September 1942. Less than a year later, on 1 August 1943, the 12th was reorganized as a standard infantry regiment when the 4th Division was converted from motorized back to dismounted infantry. The regiment along with the rest of the 4th Infantry Division arrived in England on 29 January 1944. On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the 12th Infantry saw its first action of the war when, as part of the 4th Infantry Division, it spearheaded the assault landing on Utah Beach under the command of Colonel Russell "Red" Reeder. Between 9 and 12 August 1944, the regiment helped defeat the Germans in Operation Lüttich. The regiment fought in five European campaigns through France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. The 12th Infantry was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for valor in action at Luxembourg during the Battle of the Bulge. The regiment was also awarded the Belgian Fourragere. After Germany's surrender, the 12th Infantry, along with the 4th Infantry Division, returned to the United States on 12 July 1945 and was inactivated 27 February 1946 at Camp Butner, North Carolina. During this time famed author J. D. Salinger served with the unit.

Cold War On 15 July 1947, the 12th Infantry Regiment was reactivated as a training regiment when 4th Infantry Division was given the mission of basic training at Fort Ord, California. In July 1951, the 4th Division was returned to line status and rotated to Germany as part of Operation Gyroscope. In 1956, the Division returned to the United States and was stationed at Fort Lewis (Washington).

In 1957, the Army decided that in the era of battlefield atomic weapons, tactical infantry regiments were obsolete. To preserve the historic infantry regiments the Army set up the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) whereby the line companies of a regiment would form new elements of the regiment. The 12th Infantry was selected as one of the historic regiments to be preserved. On 1 August 1957, Company A was redesignated and activated as Headquarters Company, 1st Battle Group, 12th Infantry (with organic companies of the battle group constituted and activated) and assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. Company B formed the 2nd Battle Group, 12th Infantry assigned in Germany to the 8th Infantry Division until 1959 when it was reassigned to the 1st Infantry Division also in Germany. Company C was allocated to the Army Reserves and formed the 3rd Battle Group, 12th Infantry assigned to the 79th Infantry Division.

By the time the Berlin Wall went up in August 1961, the 2nd Battle Group, 12th Infantry along with the rest of the 1st Infantry Division had been transferred back to Fort Riley, Kansas. To reinforce NATO, the 1st Division was directed to begin Operation Long Trust whereby the individual battle groups were rotated on temporary duty to West Germany. In July 1962, the 2nd Battle Group, 12th Infantry was airlifted to West Germany where it undertook several months of tactical training and testing at Wildflecken, West Germany. It was then ordered to proceed to Berlin overland through East Germany using the Helmstedt-Berlin autobahn to test the Warsaw Pact's willingness to allow NATO forces to continue to use it. Arriving without incident in Berlin to reinforce the U.S. Army's Berlin Brigade, the 2nd Battle Group was quartered at Andrews and McNair Barracks. Because of the ongoing Cuban Missile Crisis, the battle group was almost on constant alert in October 1962.

In 1963, the Army concluded that the battle group was not the answer and reorganized the infantry and airborne divisions into a quasi-regimental structure of three brigades of three infantry battalions each. Consequently, on 1 October 1963, the 2nd Battle Group, 12th Infantry was reorganized and redesignated as the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry and reassigned to the 4th Infantry Division at [Fort Lewis], Washington and eventually joined the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 12th Infantry at Fort Carson, Colorado.

Vietnam