1st Squadron
"Tiger Squadron"
When the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen was organized pursuant to the act of Congress in 1846, the first companies filled were A, B, C, and D They would not be designated as troops until 1883 and would later make up the core of Tiger Squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment.
Bandit troop (then B Company) is the Regiment's senior troop. It was organized 1 August 1846, and consisted of 1-Captain, 1-1st Lt., 1-2nd Lt. 1-Brevet 2Lt, and 75 enlisted men.
Crazyhorse Troop (then C Company) was organized next on 1 September 1846, with Captain Samuel H. Walker as its commander. He is listed as being ".on detached service at Washington, obtaining equipment and recruits for Company." until 21 May 1847. No doubt the "equipment" he was obtaining was the shipment of 1000 Colt-Walker revolvers he had co-designed with Samuel Colt.
Apache Troop (Company) completed its organization 1 October 1846. Captain William Wing Loring was the first Commander of A Company, and would later become the Regiment's 2nd Colonel, before resigning his commission to serve the Confederacy.
Captain Henry Pope commanded D Company (Dragon Company), which was organized 4 October 1846 with 2 other officers and 61 enlisted
The Regiment's first taste of combat would come in our nation's first international expeditionary war - The Mexican War of 1846-1848.
Crazyhorse Troop would lead General Scott's investment of the City of Vera Cruz. In so doing their first "victory" was the capture of a Mexican supply train of oxen laden with casks of wine.
Apache Troop would suffer the Regiment's first enlisted & officer combat casualties. Private Timothy Cunningham was killed by a cannon ball during the siege of Vera Cruz, Mexico on 11 March 1847. One month later on 18 April 1847, 1LT Thomas Ewell was killed in action at Cerro Gordo. As he died, General Scott knelt by him and "soothed his expiring moments" saying afterwards "Ewell fell sword in hand within the works."
One also needs to note at this time, that on 9 June 1847, a famous frontiersman is appointed as a Lieutenant of Rifles in Company C.
However, because of his rugged independence and plain dealing with friend and foe, he fails to make the grade with Congress, which refuses to confirm his appointment.
Christopher "Kit" Carson is carried on the rolls of Company C from May through December 1847 as " Not joined since appointment". It seems, therefore, that Tiger Squadron would have a claim on Fort Carson nearly 100 years before the post existed.
From Mexico, the Regiment turned to the original purpose for which it was created - service in the west, protecting settlers along the Oregon Trail, and Indian fighting. During the 7-year period between 1853 and 1860, the troopers of what would eventually become Tiger Squadron were involved in no less than 21 engagements with hostile Indians, mainly in New Mexico.
Small encounters with the Indians continued through the start of the Civil War, but the Regiment's focus soon turned to fighting Confederate forces, rather than Indians. The Regiment's companies saw action in New Mexico, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee, particularly in the campaign for Chattanooga as the advance guard for General Sherman's Army.
Returning to the west after the "Late Unpleasantness", the Regiment finds itself once again fighting Indians throughout the western territories. From Arizona to Montana, the Regiment fights Native American warriors to help open the west to settlement. Eight of the Regiment's 23 Medals of Honor will go to members of the troops, which will eventually become Tiger Squadron.
Two are of Particular note: a civilian scout working with Company B, and a corporal of Company A.
William F. Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill was already a celebrity when General Sherman personally urged him to travel from New York City to Fort McPherson, Nebraska in 1872 to return to scouting for the Army. As Chief Scout, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his conduct and professionalism in the action at Loupe Fork, on the South Platte along with three other members of B Company. This action also earned Bandit Troop its Nebraska 1872 silver band.
Corporal Charles Albert Bessey of Apache Troop received the Medal of Honor in 1890 for the action at Elkhorn Creek, W.T. 13 January 1877 in which his small detachment of 4 troopers drove off a much larger raiding party of Indians. His action is the subject of the new Regimental print - "Damn Yes, You Can't Hit Me." Corporal Bessey became the Chief Musician of the Regiment and rose to the rank of Sergeant by the time of his retirement in 1899. He died in 1909 of kidney failure, probably the result of the wound he received 22 years earlier.
In 1898, the Regiment goes into action in Cuba as an element of the Cavalry Division under old "Fighting Joe" Wheeler. Wheeler, once a young Lieutenant of Company A, Mounted Rifles in 1860 and former Major General, C.S.A. is now back in a blue uniform as a MG, US Volunteers, commanding the Cavalry Division in Cuba. During the assault on San Juan Hill, he is heard to cry:" Let's go, Boys! We've got the damn Yankees on the run again." Joe Wheeler is one of only two Confederate Generals buried at Arlington.
With the victory over Spain, the United States acquires the Philippine Islands as part of the treaty. There, in insurrection against the Spanish, are groups of people known as the Moros. Descendants of people from the holy lands displaced during the Crusades, the Moros are fierce fighters and independent. When the United States takes possession of the islands they inherit the Insurrection as well. It is our first taste of guerilla warfare in a jungle setting in the Pacific. 1st Squadron troopers fight, win and die in places with strange names such as Luzon, Pampanga, Balaoang, Asinagan, and Pangasinan.
The Regiment kept a close watch on the Mexican Border from 1908 until the outbreak of World War I in 1917.
The Great War was not to be a cavalry fight. The extensive system of trenches, barbed wire entanglements, widespread use of gas by both sides and the terrible "no man's land" resulting from the advent of the machinegun spell the beginning of the end of the horse cavalry. The 1st Squadron is deployed to Bordeaux and La Rochelle, and other depot areas in France operating remount stations for quartermaster trains and artillery units. Only K Troop of the Regiment will see combat in the Great War.
Following WW-I the First Squadron (A-D) was stationed at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont, while the Second and Third Squadrons were stationed at Fort Myer, VA. It was a time of "Mechanization", as the faithful mounts of the old horse cavalry were supplemented with automobiles, armored cars, and tanks. Gradually, the aroma of horse sweat and leather gave way to the smells of oil and gasoline.
There followed a time of peace and the zenith of the old horse cavalry. As a trooper, your "extracurricular activities" usually involved a horse. You were expected to participate as much as possible in riding events and competitions such as polo matches, fox hunts, horse shows and other equestrian events. All this worked to make you a better-mounted trooper. If you were an officer, you were expected to have some personal mounts, in addition to your assigned mount. In fact, the Army would pay transportation costs for up to six of your personal mounts between PCS stations. Your automobile, however, was your own responsibility.
Now here is where the study of military history gets interesting. Those of us in the field, leave it to the "experts" at the Institute of Heraldry in Washington (perhaps that explains it) to keep it straight. It goes something like this:
The Third Cavalry Regiment was inactivated 15 July 1942 at Ft. Benning, Georgia; its personnel and equipment transferred to 3rd Armored Regiment.
The 3rd Armored Regiment was broken up 20 September 1943 and its elements reorganized and re-designated as follows: 3rd Armored Regiment (less 1st and 3d Battalions, Band, and Maintenance, Service and Reconnaissance Companies) as 3rd Tank Battalion; 1st Battalion as 777th Tank Battalion and relieved from assignment to 10th Armored Division.
3rd Battalion as 21st Tank Battalion; Reconnaissance Company as Troop D, 90th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized; Band and Maintenance and Service Companies inactivated.
The Third Armored Regiment was re-designated 18 January 1943 as Third Cavalry Regiment, Mechanized. Activated 15 March 1943 at Camp Gordon, Georgia.
Third Cavalry Regiment, Mechanized broken up 3 November 1943 and its elements reorganized and re-designated as Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 3rd Cavalry Group, Mechanized, and 3rd and 43rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons, Mechanized.
Somehow, through all this, the Regiment turned in the last of their horses, and what had been 1st Squadron, Third United Sates Cavalry (Horse) emerged as the Third Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized.
On 9 August 1944 the Third Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized) lands at Utah Beach and begins its advance inland.
On Friday, 31 August 1944, in an event reminiscent of the final scenes in "Saving Private Ryan", the 1st platoon from B Troop, 3rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron - a force consisting of 30 men, 6 bantams (Jeeps) with .50 cal MG, 3 M-8 armored cars with 37mm guns makes an unprecedented raid behind enemy lines to Thionville, France in a desperate attempt to prevent the bridge across the Moselle from being destroyed by the Nazis.
The platoon conducts a raid 75 miles behind enemy lines while the remainder of US Forces were advancing slowly towards the Moselle River to effect a crossing on its push toward the German "West Wall". Captain James D. Jackson succeeds in crossing the river to the eastern approach to the bridge and cuts the wires leading to the demolition charges, and is wounded in the attempt. An enemy sniper killed SGT Baker, who assumed command when the Captain was wounded.
Their mission accomplished, the platoon crossed the dynamite-laden bridge to rescue the wounded Captain before falling back, fighting their way out. In so doing, they were no doubt the first American troops to cross the Moselle in WW-II.
The platoon suffered 1 KIA, 6 casualties, 2 jeeps lost. The enemy suffered 1600 casualties, 2 tanks and 112 vehicles destroyed. Captain Jackson was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and the bridge over the Moselle was temporarily saved from destruction.
The rest of the Army wouldn't reach the Moselle and cross until 12 September at Arnaville, France
On 5 May 1945, the 3rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron entered the small village of Ebensee, Austria and came face to face with the Nazi's "Final Solution".
KZ Ebensee on the edge of the town contained about 16,000 prisoners, who hadn't been fed for about 3 days and who were dying at the rate of 400 per day. First on the scene, the Squadron's first priority shifted from combat to care for the prisoners. The town's bakeries were put on round-the clock baking status. Bakers, who at first refused, found an M-8 or Sherman gun muzzle pointed into their shop.
The Squadron remained in the area caring for the prisoners until medical units relieved them. The troopers who witnessed these horrifying events will never forget them, and neither should we.
With the end of hostilities in Europe, the 3rd Squadron returned stateside to a 30 day furlough before reporting to Fort Bragg to begin training for "Operation Downfall" - the invasion of the Japanese home islands. Fortunately, their training was cancelled when Japan surrendered on August 14.
It would be nearly 20 years before the regiment was called back into harm's way. With the construction of the Berlin Wall and the resulting Berlin Crisis of 1961, the Regiment was deployed in reaction. The Regiment's 32nd Colonel (now General) James Hilliard Polk commanded USAREUR and 7th Army at the time, and I know it gave him piece of mind to know that the Brave Rifles were once again on watch.
Throughout the 1950's, 60's, 70's, and 80's while Korea and Viet Nam raged in the Far East, the Regiment continued to maintain a watch on the East/West-German Border in OPERATIONS GYROSCOPE AND REFORGER at places such as Baumholder and Kaiserslautern. It was during this period that the Regiment finally gained artillery units designated "howitzer".
While artillery units had been a part of Regimental history since Captain Alexander McRae's gallant defense of his provisional battery at Val Verde in 1862, it was not until 21 May 1951 that they were referred to as "howitzer" units. Prior to this date, the artillery units of the Regiment were called "assault gun companies".
With the reorganizations of the post war era, they were re-designated first as "Howitzer Companies" and later as "Howitzer Batteries". Thus, King Battery can date its beginnings in Tiger Squadron history to at least this time period, but research continues.
On 7 August 1990 the Regiment was alerted for duty in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a result of Iraq's unprovoked attack on Kuwait and its Arab neighbors. By 22 August 1990, the Regiment had begun its move from Fort Bliss, Texas to the Persian Gulf by way of Beaumont, Texas. By 1 October, all Regimental personnel and equipment were in place in country and attached to the XVIII Airborne Corps and the 24th Infantry Division.
In the "Whirlwind War" that followed the air campaign, Tiger Squadron and the Regiment effectively did an "end run" around the left of the Iraqi forces, catching the Republican Guard Forces in a pincer movement between them and elements of the VII Corps. The Republican Guard effectively ceased to exist. In just 100 hours the Regiment had successfully conducted the greatest "ass kicking" in the history of modern warfare.
Desert Storm taught the need for effective force protection in order to get the job done quickly and efficiently with minimum casualties. With this in mind, Predator Battery's force of Bradley Stinger Fighting Vehicles, Avengers, and dismounted Stinger missile Air Defense Artillery teams became a permanent part of the Brave Rifles' arsenal.
The Regiment was notified that it would re-station to Fort Carson in 1995-1996. They had spent 23 years in one place - a unique achievement in the history of the Regiment.
Once in place at the Mountain Post, it didn't take long to prove itself on the battlefield, moving out and conducting the most successful FTX in the history of Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site.
