The First American Regiment (also known as Harmar's Regiment, The United States Regiment, The Regiment of Infantry, 1st Sub-legion, 1st Regiment of Infantry and 1st Infantry Regiment) was the first peacetime regular army infantry unit authorized by the Confederation Congress after the American Revolutionary War. Organized in August 1784, it served primarily on the early American frontier west of the Appalachian Mountains. In 1815, following the end of the War of 1812, it was consolidated with several other regiments to form the 3rd Infantry Regiment.
After the conclusion of the American Revolution in 1783, Congress ordered the Continental Army to disband, and General George Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief. [1] A Congressional committee under Alexander Hamilton sought opinions on a permanent armed force. Washington submitted his "Sentiments on a Peace Establishment," which called for only a small force, only a 2,631 man regiment to guard the western frontier and the borders with Canada and Spanish Florida. [2] Economic constraints forced the new nation to rely heavily on militia. [3]
While the bulk of the Continental Army was disbanded by the end of 1783, Jackson's Continental Regiment, commanded by Colonel Henry Jackson, and an artillery company under Brevet Major John Doughty remained in service. On June 2, 1784, Congress reissued the disbandment order under the principle that "standing armies in time of peace are inconsistent with the principles of republican government, dangerous to the liberties of a free people, and generally converted into destructive engines for establishing despotism." [4] Jackson's regiment was disbanded later that month, and Doughty's battery was retained at West Point guarding artillery and ammunition.
On June 3, 1784, Congress passed a new resolution: [5]
Resolved, That the Secretary at War take order for forming the said troops when assembled, into one regiment, to consist of eight companies of infantry, and two of artillery, arming and equipping them in a soldier-like manner: and that he be authorised to direct their destination and operations, subject to the order of Congress, and of the Committee of the states in the recess of Congress.
Thomas Mifflin, the president of Congress, named his former aide, Josiah Harmar, to be the commander of the new regiment, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Harmar was commissioned as the regiment's "lieutenant colonel commandant" on August 12, 1784. The regiment was used primarily to man frontier outposts and guard against Native American attacks. Doughty's company became the 2d Continental Artillery Regiment. The regiment's first posting was to Fort McIntosh in Beaver, Pennsylvania. Half of the regiment's enlisted and non-commissioned officers were born outside the United States. [6]
In 1786, Secretary of War Henry Knox ordered Colonel Harmar to the outpost village of Vincennes to restore order. The Kentucky militia, which had been left behind by George Rogers Clark to help defend Vincennes but had become a lawless mob, fled at the approach of the regiment. Harmar left 100 regulars under the command of Major Jean François Hamtramck to build a new fort and conduct operations deep within the Ohio Country.
The First American Regiment was renamed the Regiment of Infantry on September 29, 1789, when the United States Army was formally instituted under the Constitution of the United States. [7] In 1790, Harmar – who had been breveted as a brigadier general in 1787 – led 320 regulars and over 1,000 militia on the disastrous Harmar campaign in October 1790. The Regiment of Infantry suffered over 70 casualties.
An act of Congress on March 3, 1791, reorganized the U.S. Army to have two regiments of infantry under the command of Major General Arthur St. Clair. As a result, the regiment was designated as the 1st Infantry Regiment with Harmar retained as its commanding officer. [8] It comprised the main force of regulars under St. Clair in the campaign to destroy Kekionga, a large Miami village central to the Northwestern Confederacy of Native American nations. For a brief time, the First American Regiment was commanded by Major John Hamtramck—a French Canadian immigrant—and his second-in-command, Major David Ziegler—a German immigrant. [9]
While on campaign, the 1st Infantry under Hamtramck was sent to find an overdue supply train. The supplies were never found, but as the infantry marched to rejoin the main force on November 4, 1791, gunfire was heard. Native Americans under Miami Chief Little Turtle had attacked in what came to be known as St. Clair's defeat, the worst loss to American Indians by the United States Army in history. Survivors broke through Little Turtle's lines and warned Hamtramck, who fell back to Fort Jefferson instead of covering the retreat.
In response to St. Clair's defeat, the Army was reorganized in 1792 as the Legion of the United States under Major General Anthony Wayne. The First Infantry became the infantry component of the 1st Sub-Legion, commanded by Hamtramck, who was promoted to lieutenant colonel commandant. Under Wayne's leadership, the Legion trained extensively before marching north to meet the Native American confederacy that had defeated St. Clair. The Legion was victorious at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. The trading post at Kekionga was rebuilt and named Fort Wayne and was garrisoned by the First Sub-Legion under Hamtramck. William Henry Harrison, later to become the 9th President of the United States, was a junior officer in the 1st Sub-Legion. [7]
In October 1796, the Legion of the United States reverted to being named the United States Army, and the 1st Sub-Legion was designated as the 1st Infantry Regiment. In 1803, Captain Meriwether Lewis of the 1st Infantry was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson to command the Corps of Discovery which conducted the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore newly acquired territories of the United States. During the War of 1812, the 1st Infantry served in Upper Canada (Ontario province) and saw action at the battles of Chippawa and Lundy's Lane and the Siege of Fort Erie.
In October 1815, the 1st Infantry was consolidated with the 5th, 17th, 19th, and the 28th Infantry regiments to form the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard). The 3rd Infantry, with its roots in the First Infantry Regiment, dating back to 1784, is recognized as the oldest regular army regiment in the United States Army.
Major General Arthur St. Clair was a Scottish-American soldier and politician. Born in Thurso, Scotland, he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in Pennsylvania, where he held local office. During the American Revolutionary War, he rose to the rank of major general in the Continental Army, but lost his command after a controversial retreat from Fort Ticonderoga.
Josiah Harmar was an officer in the United States Army during the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War. He was the senior officer in the Army for six years and seven months.
Jean-François Hamtramck (1756–1803) was a New France-born man who served as an officer in the US Army during the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War. In the Revolution, he participated in the Invasion of Quebec, the Sullivan Expedition, and the Siege of Yorktown. In the history of United States expansion into the Northwest Territory, Hamtramck is connected to 18th century forts at modern Midwest cities such as Steubenville, Vincennes, Fort Wayne, and Detroit. The city of Hamtramck, Michigan is named for him.
The Northwest Indian War (1785–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern Confederacy. The United States Army considers it the first of the American Indian Wars.
The 3rd United States Infantry Regiment is a regiment of the United States Army. It currently has three active battalions, and is readily identified by its nickname, The Old Guard, as well as Escort to the President. The regimental motto is Noli Me Tangere. The regiment is a major unit of the Military District of Washington (MDW). The 3rd Infantry is the oldest regiment still active in the Regular Army, having been first organized as the First American Regiment in 1784. It has been the official ceremonial unit of the U.S. Army since 1948.
The Legion of the United States was a reorganization and extension of the United States Army from 1792 to 1796 under the command of Major General Anthony Wayne. It represented a political shift in the new United States, which had recently adopted the United States Constitution. The new Congressional and Executive branches authorized a standing army composed of professional soldiers rather than relying on state militias.
The Regular Army of the United States succeeded the Continental Army as the country's permanent, professional land-based military force. In modern times, the professional core of the United States Army continues to be called the Regular Army. From the time of the American Revolution until after the Spanish–American War, state militias and volunteer regiments organized by the states supported the smaller Regular Army of the United States. These volunteer regiments came to be called United States Volunteers (USV) in contrast to the Regular United States Army (USA). During the American Civil War, about 97 percent of the Union Army was United States Volunteers.
The 1st Infantry Regiment is a regiment of the United States Army that draws its lineage from a line of post American Revolutionary War units and is credited with thirty-nine campaign streamers. The 1st Battalion, 1st Infantry is assigned as support to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and to furnish the enlisted garrison for the academy and the Stewart Army Subpost. 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment is an infantry component serving with the 2nd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Washington.
David Ziegler was a German immigrant to the United States who served in the U.S. military and became the first mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio.
John Doughty was an American military officer who briefly served as the senior officer of the United States Army in 1784. Holding the rank of major at the time, he bears the distinction of being the lowest ranked individual ever to serve as the senior most United States Army officer.
During the American Revolutionary War, the New York Provincial Company of Artillery was created by the New York Provincial Congress in 1776 to defend New York City from British attack.
The Harmar campaign was an attempt by the United States Army to subdue confederated Native Americans nations in the Northwest Territory that were seen as hostile in Autumn 1790. The campaign was led by General Josiah Harmar and is considered a significant campaign of the Northwest Indian War. The campaign ended with a series of battles on 19–22 October 1790 near the Fort Miami and Miami village of Kekionga. These were all overwhelming victories for the Native Americans and are sometimes collectively referred to as Harmar's Defeat.
1st American Regiment, also known as Jackson's Continental Regiment of 1783–1784, was the last unit in the Continental Army, retained after the close of the American Revolutionary War. This regiment, under the command of Colonel Henry Jackson of Massachusetts, was not the same unit as Jackson's Additional Continental Regiment of 1777, which had become the 16th Massachusetts Regiment in 1780 and had been disbanded in 1781. Equally, this regiment should not be confused with the First American Regiment of 1784–1791, which was originally commanded by Colonel Josiah Harmar, has remained in service to the present, and is now the 3d United States Infantry Regiment.
The history of the United States Army began in 1775, as part of the United States Armed Forces. The Army's main responsibility has been in fighting land battles and military occupation. The Corps of Engineers also has a major role in controlling rivers inside the United States. The Continental Army was founded in response to a need for professional soldiers in the American Revolutionary War to fight the invading British Army. Until the 1940s, the Army was relatively small in peacetime. In 1947, the Air Force became completely independent of the Army Air Forces. The Army was under the control of the War Department until 1947, and since then the Defense Department. The U.S. Army fought the Indian Wars of the 1790s, the War of 1812 (1812–15), Mexican–American War (1846–48), American Civil War (1861–65), American Indian Wars, Spanish–American War (1898), World War I (1917–18), World War II (1941–45), Korean War (1950–53) and Vietnam War (1965–71). Following the Cold War's end in 1991, Army has focused primarily on Western Asia, and also took part in the 1991 Gulf War and war in Iraq, and the war in Afghanistan.
Thomas Humphrey Cushing was an officer in the Continental Army, and later the United States Army. A veteran of the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, he attained the rank of brigadier general. He later served as collector of customs for the Port of New London, Connecticut.
St. Clair's defeat, also known as the Battle of the Wabash, the Battle of Wabash River or the Battle of a Thousand Slain, was a battle fought on 4 November 1791 in the Northwest Territory of the United States. The U.S. Army faced the Western Confederacy of Native Americans, as part of the Northwest Indian War. It was "the most decisive defeat in the history of the American military" and its largest defeat ever by Native Americans.
Thomas Butler (1748–1805) was a Continental Army officer from Pennsylvania during the American Revolution. He was commissioned in the United States Army after the Revolution and rose to the rank of colonel.
Thomas Hunt (1754—1808) was an American military officer who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and later served in the United States Army where he rose to the rank of colonel and served until his death.
Colonel Jacob Kingsbury (1756–1837) was a career officer in the United States Army. He was one of the few U.S. Army officers who was a veteran of both the American Revolution and the War of 1812. He was a Federalist.
In the early years of the Republic, the United States Army experimented with a number of different artillery formations. For a time, the Artillery Branch and Engineer Branch were combined. Unit designations did not yet contain the terms "Field Artillery" or "Coast Artillery," although units so designated, as well those of the air defense artillery, would eventually trace their lineage and honors to some of the early formations.