13th Infantry Regiment
Modern Era, United States, Infantry
The 13th Infantry Regiment was constituted in May 1861 during the Civil War and earned the special designation "First at Vicksburg" for its role in that campaign. It continued in service after the war, moving into frontier duty and then into overseas operations during the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War. In Cuba it was among the regiments that went up San Juan Hill, and in the Philippines it expanded that record through the campaigns on Luzon.
In the twentieth century the regiment first entered the divisional system through the 8th Division in World War I. That division arrived too late in France to see much combat, but the assignment placed the regiment firmly inside the structure of the modern Army. In World War II the 13th Infantry again served with the 8th Infantry Division and fought in France, on the Siegfried Line, in the Hurtgen fighting, and in the final drive into Germany. This was the central twentieth-century combat chapter of the regiment.
After the war the regiment survived through several activations and reorganizations. In the postwar Army its lineage shifted increasingly toward training and institutional functions. Over time battalions of the 13th became associated with basic training rather than with one standing combat division, and in the modern Army the regiment is tied to the 193rd Infantry Brigade in the training base.
The 13th Infantry's modern identity therefore combines two distinct traditions: first, the hard-service combat record that runs from Vicksburg to the 8th Infantry Division in World War II, and second, the later role of preparing new soldiers for service. Even as its mission changed, the regiment retained a lineage rooted in one of the Civil War's best-known Regular Army campaigns.
Battalion Page
A dedicated battalion subpage now collects the regiment's known battalion icons and short sketches for the 1st, 2d, and 3d Battalions. Open the 13th Infantry Regiment Battalions page.