page_title: Active regular United States Army units with campaign credit for the War of 1812
section_title: 7th Infantry (Cottonbalers)
hierarchical_section_title: Active regular United States Army units with campaign credit for the War of 1812 / Infantry / 7th Infantry (Cottonbalers)
caption_attribution_description: English: Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 7th Infantry
context_page_description: Twenty-three currently active battalions of the Regular Army earned credit for campaigns during the War of 1812: two Air Defense Artillery battalions, six Field Artillery Battalions and seventeen Infantry battalions. These twenty-three battalions represent two Air Defense Artillery, four Field Artillery and seven Infantry regiments. Three additional Air Defense Artillery regiments have been awarded shared credit for War of 1812 campaigns, but the lineages of the artillery companies that earned those credits have not been perpetuated by currently active battalions.
  There are also twenty-four Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812.
context_section_description: Campaigns: Canada, New Orleans, Florida 1814, Louisiana 1815
  The 7th Infantry was constituted on April 12, 1808, as the 8th Infantry and organized in 1812 in Tennessee, Georgia and adjacent territories.  The 8th Infantry was consolidated during May–October, 1815, with the 24th Infantry (constituted June 26, 1812) and the 39th Infantry (constituted January 29, 1813) to form the 7th Infantry.
  Actions of the old 8th, 24th and 39th Infantry during the War of 1812
  8th Infantry: Garrisoned at Beaufort, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, but never engaged in combat;
  24th Infantry: 1813, Fort Meigs (det.), Fort Stephenson (det.), Fort Niagara (det.); 1814, Longwoods (det.), Mackinac; and
  39th Infantry: 1814, Horseshoe Bend (Creek War), Pensacola.
  The Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 7th Infantry, which consists of a cotton bale superimposed on two crossed bayonets, commemorates the role of the old 7th Infantry in the American victory at the Battle of New Orleans.  The symbolism of the cotton bale derives from the fact that cotton bales, covered with mud, were sometimes incorporated into the defensive works behind which soldiers were positioned. But the old 7th Infantry is not in the lineage of the current 7th Infantry.  In fact, none of the infantry regiments that were combined in 1815 to form the new 7th Infantry served at New Orleans.  The old 7th Infantry is in the lineage of the current 1st Infantry.  Indeed, the actions of the old 7th Infantry are noted in the section on the 1st Infantry above.  The combined effects of the War Department Bulletins of June 11, 1923, and September 30, 1929, was to affirm that both the current 1st and 7th Infantry Regiments are entitled to claim credit for the campaigns earned by the old 7th Infantry during the War of 1812.
  Two battalions in the 7th Infantry are derived from companies in the old 8th, 24th and 39th Infantry: 2-7 and 3-7 Inf.
caption: Distinctive Unit Insignia: 7 Inf
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