The 14th Infantry Regiment ("Golden Dragons" ) is a United States Army light infantry regiment. It has served in the American Civil War, Boxer Rebellion, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Operation Restore Hope, Operation Uphold Democracy, Operation Joint Guard, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Gothic Serpent, Operation New Dawn, Operation Resolute Support, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 14th Infantry Regiment did not take part in combat during World War I. It has also conducted peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in the Sinai Peninsula, Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, Bosnia, and Kosovo.
Only the 2nd Battalion of the 14th Infantry Regiment is currently active, assigned to 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York.
History
Civil War, 1861–66
In May 1861, President Abraham Lincoln called for the creation of nine additional Regular Army infantry regiments in preparation for the looming civil war. These regiments were designated the 11th through the 19th Infantry and organized as "three-battalion" regiments, 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 14th Infantry Regiment was organized on 3 May 1861 at Fort Trumbull, Connecticut, in two battalions with the third added in April 1862. Part of the Army of the Potomac, the regiment saw its first combat action in the Peninsula Campaign 17 May 1862. The regiment was assigned to 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 5th Corps, Army of the Potomac and fought at Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, The Wilderness and Petersburg.
In recognition of the regiment's heroic performance of duty during twelve of the bloodiest campaigns of the American Civil War, General George Meade, awarded the 14th Infantry Regiment the place of honor at the "Right of the Line" in the Grand Review of the Armies in Washington, DC at the end of the war. This is where the regiment takes its motto "The Right of the Line".
Following the Civil War, the Army was reorganized by Congress in July 1866, and the 14th 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 14th Infantry, while the 2nd Battalion became the 23rd Infantry and the 3rd Battalion the 32nd Infantry.
Indian Wars, 1866–78
The regiment was sent to the Presidio of San Francisco following the Civil War and from there line companies were posted to locations in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington. The regiment took part in two Indian campaigns and detachments were in two other campaigns (including the 1866-1868 Snake War) but not in sufficient strength to entitle the regiment as a whole to participation credit.
Campaign participation credit during this time includes Arizona 1866; Wyoming 1874; Little Big Horn 1876; Bannocks 1878.
Arizona, 1866–1869
Five companies from the regiment (Campanies B, C, D, F, and G) fought the Apaches in 1866 in Arizona. After three years of service in deserts of the Southwest, the regiment was sent to the South for Reconstruction duty beginning in July 1869.
Wyoming, 1870–1874
The threat of an Indian war in the Dakotas caused the regiment to be moved back to the frontier in April 1870, first to Fort Randall, then to Fort Sedgwick, and finally to Fort Laramie in March 1871. In 1874, three companies from the regiment (Companies D, F, and G) operated against Indian tribes raiding ranches and mines in the Wyoming territory. On February 9, 1874, a soldier from the regiment, 1st Lt. Levi H. Robinson, was killed during a skirmish with Indians north of Fort Laramie. He is the namesake of Fort Robinson in Nebraska.
Great Sioux War, 1876–1877
A total of six companies from the regiment participated in the Great Sioux War.
Soon after the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876, four companies from the regiment (Companies B, C, F, and I) participated in a punitive expedition. They departed Fort Douglas, Utah, by train, arrived at Medicine Bow, Wyoming, on June 25, and then marched overland to join General Crook’s column at Goose Creek. This expedition is noteworthy as it included the infamous Horsemeat March, one of the most grueling marches in American military history, and the Battle of Slim Buttes.