7th Cavalry Regiment

The 7th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army cavalry regiment formed in 1866. Its official nickname is "Garryowen", after the Irish air "Garryowen" that was adopted as its march tune. The regiment participated in some of the largest battles of the American Indian Wars, including its famous defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where its commander Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer was killed. The regiment also committed the Wounded Knee Massacre, where more than 250 men, women and children of the Lakota were killed.

The 7th Cavalry became part of the 1st Cavalry Division in the 1920s, it went on to fight in the Pacific Theater of World War II and took part in the Admiralty Islands, Leyte and Luzon campaigns. It later participated several key battles of the Korean War. During the Korean War the unit committed the No Gun Ri massacre, in which between 250 and 300 South Korean refugees were killed, mostly women and children. The unit later participated in the Vietnam War. It distinguished itself in the Gulf War; the Iraq War (US phase, 2003–2011); and in the War in Afghanistan (2001-2021). Its squadrons and battalions served as Combined Arms Battalions or as reconnaissance squadrons for Brigade Combat Teams in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At the end of the American Civil War, the ranks of the Regular cavalry regiments had been depleted by war and disease, as were those of the other Regular regiments. Of the 448 companies of cavalry, infantry, and artillery authorized, 153 were not organized, and few, if any, of these were at full strength. By July 1866 this shortage had somewhat eased since many of the members of the disbanded Volunteer outfits had by then enlisted as Regulars. By that time, however, it became apparent in Washington, D.C. that the Army, even at full strength, was not large enough to perform all its duties. It needed occupation troops for the Reconstruction of the South and it needed to replace the Volunteer regiments still fighting Native Americans in the West. Consequently, on 28 July 1866 Congress authorized 4 additional cavalry regiments and enough infantry companies to reorganize the existing 19 regiments (then under two different internal organizations) into 45 regiments with 10 companies each. After this increase there were 10 regiments of cavalry, 5 of artillery, and 45 of infantry. The new cavalry regiments, numbered 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, were organized under the same tables as the 6 already in existence. A regiment consisted of 12 companies formed into 3 squadrons of 4 companies each. Besides the commanding officer who was a colonel, the regimental staff included 7 officers, 6 enlisted men, a surgeon, and 2 assistant surgeons. Each company was authorized 4 officers, 15 non-commissioned officers, and 72 privates. A civilian veterinarian accompanied the regiment although he was not included in the table of organization.

The 7th Cavalry Regiment was constituted in the Regular Army on 28 July 1866 at Fort Riley, Kansas and organized on 21 September 1866. Andrew J. Smith, a Veteran of the Mexican–American War, who had been a distinguished cavalry leader in the Army of the Tennessee during the Civil War, promoted to colonel, took command of the new regiment. Subsequently, Smith resigned from the US Army and Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis took command of the regiment on May 6, 1869. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer had been serving as second in command of the regiment since July 1866. Neither Smith nor Sturgis served with the regiment in the field, were involved in mostly administrative matters with the regiment, and were in command in name only. Meanwhile, Custer commanded the regiment in the various campaigns against the Native American tribes and during Reconstruction duty in the southern states. Sturgis commanded the regiment until his retirement and Colonel James W. Forsyth took command of the regiment in June 1886. Forsyth commanded the regiment during the controversial Wounded Knee Massacre in December 1890 and he left the regiment in 1894 when Forsyth was promoted to brigadier general.

On 26 November 1868, Custer's Osage scouts located the trail of an Indian war party. Custer's troops followed this trail all day without a break until nightfall, when they rested briefly until there was sufficient moonlight to continue. They followed the trail to Chief Black Kettle's village, where Custer divided his force into four parts, moving each into position so that at first daylight they could simultaneously converge on the village. (Separating his forces into several columns in order to surround the faster Indians before they could flee became one of the 7th Cavalry's standard operating procedures.) At daybreak, the 7th charged as the Regimental band played Garryowen (many of the musicians' lips froze to their instruments), Double Wolf awoke and fired his gun to alert the village; he was among the first to die in the charge. The Cheyenne warriors hurriedly left their lodges to take cover behind trees and in deep ravines. The 7th Cavalry soon controlled the village, but it took longer to quell all remaining resistance.

The Osage, enemies to the Cheyenne, were at war with most of the Plains tribes. The Osage scouts led Custer toward the village, hearing sounds and smelling smoke from the camp long before the soldiers. The Osage did not participate in the initial attack, fearing that the soldiers would mistake them for Cheyenne and shoot them. Instead, they waited behind the color-bearer of the 7th Cavalry on the north side of the river until the village was taken. The Osage rode into the village, where they took scalps and helped the soldiers round up fleeing Cheyenne women and children.

Black Kettle and his wife, Medicine Woman, were shot in the back and killed while fleeing on a pony. Following the capture of Black Kettle's village, Custer was in a precarious position. As the fighting began to subside, he saw large groups of mounted Indians gathering on nearby hilltops and learned that Black Kettle's village was only one of many Indian encampments along the river, where thousands of Indians had gathered. Fearing an attack, he ordered some of his men to take defensive positions while the others seized the Indians' property and horses. They destroyed what they did not want or could not carry, including about 675 ponies and horses. They spared 200 horses to carry prisoners.

Near nightfall, fearing the outlying Indians would find and attack his supply train, Custer began marching his forces toward the other encampments. The surrounding Indians retreated, at which point Custer turned around and returned to his supply train. This engagement would soon be known as the Battle of Washita River.