10th Infantry Regiment
Modern Era, United States, Infantry
The 10th Infantry Regiment, the "Tomahawks," was constituted on 3 March 1855 and organized at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. It first served on the northern frontier and then in the difficult campaigns of the West before becoming heavily engaged in the Civil War. Later it continued into the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, and the Philippine-American War, building a record as a regular line regiment with a reputation for endurance and aggressive service.
By the First World War the regiment had become part of the divisional Army. It was assigned to the 14th Division on 5 July 1918, but like several late-created divisions, the 14th did not become a major combat formation overseas before the war ended. After the war the regiment entered the interwar Army's divisional structure in a more durable way when it was assigned to the 5th Division in 1923.
That assignment shaped its major twentieth-century combat service. The 10th Infantry remained with the 5th Division through World War II and fought across western Europe, including Normandy, northern France, the Rhineland, the Ardennes, and central Europe. Its World War II record reflects the 5th Infantry Division's steady advance through France and Germany and the heavy fighting that culminated in the defeat of the German counteroffensive in the winter of 1944-45.
After World War II the regiment moved through a series of activations and inactivations in Kentucky, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Germany. During the Korean War era it was again associated with the 5th Infantry Division, but like other stateside regiments of that period it functioned primarily as part of the Army's Cold War training and readiness structure rather than as a deployed combat regiment in Korea. In 1957 it was relieved from the 5th Division and reorganized under the Combat Arms Regimental System.
Unlike some of the neighboring numbered infantry regiments, the 10th Infantry is not chiefly remembered for a major regimental combat chapter in Vietnam. Its most important twentieth-century conflict remains World War II under the 5th Infantry Division, with World War I service in the 14th Division and Cold War service tied again to the 5th Division and later training roles. Over time the regiment shifted from field regiment to institutional Army mission.
Today the 10th Infantry Regiment survives not as a classic maneuver regiment but as a training regiment, preserving its old battle honors while supporting the Army's training base. That evolution from frontier combat unit to divisional infantry in two world wars and finally to a training organization reflects the broader transformation of the U.S. Army itself.
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 10th Infantry Regiment Battalions page.