The History of the 16th Infantry Regiment

The year 1861 marked the beginning of the greatest crisis in United States history.  That year America was confronted with that most terrible of all conflicts – Civil War. Among the nine new infantry regiments authorized by President Abraham Lincoln  to meet the needs of the Regular Army to address this great emergency was the 11th U.S. Infantry Regiment (today’s 16th Infantry). Organized on 3 May 1861 at Fort Independence, Massachusetts, the regiment was initially commanded for one day by Colonel Montgomery C. Meigs, the future, and outstanding, Quartermaster General who would soon manage the massive logistics efforts of the Union Army throughout the rest of the war.  Meigs was soon followed by other capable leaders, most notably, Lt. Col. Delancey Floyd-Jones, who would lead the regiment through all its major battles until just after Gettysburg.  During the four bloody years that followed, the regiment took part in some of the hardest-fought battles of the war, including Gaines Mill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. While assigned to the 2nd Division, V Corps, the regiment fought one of its most desperate battles at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On 2 July 1863, fighting from a position between the infamous "Wheatfield" and a battle-scarred rock outcroppings known as the "Devil's Den," the regiment lost 50 percent of its effective strength in a heroic stand to hold back Lieutenant General James Longstreets' Confederates. By the spring of 1865, few of those sworn in at Fort Independence in 1861 were left to take part in regiment's last wartime task in the conflict, when it assigned to help disarm Lee's weary Confederates at Appomattox in April 1865. During the Civil War actions, two of the regiment's members, Lt. John Patterson and Captain James M. Cutts, earned the regiment's first Medals of Honor.

1865-1898

After the Civil War the 11th Infantry served with the army of occupation in Richmond, Virginia.  It was the primary security force for the former Confederate capital until February 1869 when it was ordered west to new Reconstruction duties in Mississippi and Tennessee.  Just after its arrival, the 11th Infantry completed its consolidation with the 34th Infantry on 3 April 1869 and was redesignated the 16th Infantry, a designation it has held ever since.  Colonel Galusha Pennypacker, holder of the Medal of Honor and youngest general officer to ever serve as such in the US Army, became the consolidated regiment’s first commander.  Pennypacker would hold the command for fourteen years, longer than any other in the regiment’s history. The 16th Infantry remained in the South at various locations on Reconstruction duty until 1877, when it was called farther west to participate in the Indian campaigns. Westward expansion continued to cause friction and conflict with the Indians, so the regiment was sent to posts in Kansas and Oklahoma.  The headquarters was established for the first time at Fort Riley with which it was to have a long-term association.  During this period several companies served in the campaigns against the Ute and Cheyenne Indians and but saw little actual combat. The regiment then moved down to Texas in 1880.  While the Lone Star State, soldiers of the 16th Infantry served in the campaigns against Victorio’s Apaches in New Mexico and guarded various posts and patrol stations throughout west Texas. Company K provided the guards to escort Geronimo into captivity at Fort Pickens, Florida, 1886.  At Pine Ridge in 1890-91, the regiment participated in the "Wounded Knee" campaign helping to finally bring to an end the many wars with various Indian tribes in the west.  Finally, the US Army’s long and arduous task of keeping open the westward road to America's expansion was complete.