71st Infantry Regiment ( New York ) The 71st Infantry Regiment is an organization of the New York State Guard . Formerly , the 71st Infantry was a regiment of the New York State Militia and then the Army National Guard from 1850 to 1993 . The regiment escaped renumbering during the 1918 national reorganization , and never received a National Guard number . History . In the fall of 1849 , the Order of United Americans , related to the Know Nothing Party , held a meeting to organize a " distinctively American regiment . " The 71st New York was formed on October 23 , 1850 and was called " The American Rifles " and later " The American Guard . " Originally , the founders , J . M . Parker , Hamilton W . Fish , Sr , Hamilton W . Fish , Jr . and William Kellock , had political links to the Know - Nothing Party . Initially there were six companies recruited . One officer in A Company , Captain Parker , resigned after hearing a " foreigner " paraded with the " American Rifles . " In Spring 1852 , the American Rifles had eight companies , enough to be enrolled as a regiment of the state militia , and were assigned the regimental number of 71st . Its first commander was Colonel Abraham S . Vosburgh , previously its quartermaster . Vosburgh would remain commanding officer until his death on May 20 , 1861 . Henry P . Martin , previously adjutant , became Lieutenant Colonel in 1854 . He would remain with the 71st through the first years of the Civil War . Its arsenal was located at Seventh Avenue and 35th Street . The regiment became the " American Guard " in 1853 when their Ogden long rifles were replaced with muskets , which could carry bayonets . These , in turn , were replaced with Minie rifles in 1857 . On July 4 , 1857 , the regiment , along with the seventh New York , served as riot control personnel during the riots in the Sixth Ward between the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys . During this action , Dead Rabbit leader Mickey Free was killed and the regiment captured an 8 - lb howitzer from the rioters . The regiment was called into action again during the quarantine riot of September 1858 in Staten Island . In 1858 , the " Light Guard , " New York ' s oldest military unit , detached from the 55th New York and became A Company . This led to some tension , because the " Light Guard " had several " foreigners " in the ranks . American Civil War . On April 16 , 1861 , 380 men mustered under Colonel Vosburgh at the State Arsenal , in response to President Lincoln ' s call for 75 , 000 troops . On April 21 , the 71st paraded down Broadway and headed to the front . Arrival in Washington . The 71st , then called to service for three months under Colonel Henry P . Martin , arrived in Washington on May 21 , 1861 and was bivouacked at the Washington Navy Yard . While the army assembled , a team made up of members of the regiment defeated the Washington Nationals baseball club by a score of 41 to 13 . The regiment took part in the occupation of Alexandria , Virginia , in May 1861 , accompanying the New York Fire Zouaves and Colonel Ephraim E . Ellsworth , who was killed in the action . A detachment of the 71st , with two howitzers , fought at Acquia Creek and Port Tobacco in May and June 1861 . Private Charles B . Hall was the first man injured on any U . S . vessel in the war . First Battle of Bull Run . The 71st New York State Volunteer Infantry was organized in the Second Brigade ( Colonel Ambrose Everett Burnside ) ( of the Second Division ( Colonel David Hunter ) . On July 21 , 1861 , the 71st Infantry , under Colonel Martin ' s command , took part in the First Battle of Bull Run . Archaeological research on the battlefield at Manassas shows the 71st , along with the 1st and 2nd Rhode Island Infantry , faced the Tiger Rifles of Major Chatham Wheat ’ s Louisiana Battalion , the only known unit engaged in fighting outfitted with . 54 - caliber muskets . The 71st supported the advance of the 2nd Rhode Island against Wheat ' s battalion . The Illustrated London News noted " The militia stood firm , firing and loading as if it were on parade . " Colonel Burnside ' s after - action report of July 24 , 1861 , noted : It was nearly 4 o ' clock p . m . . . . when I was ordered to protect the retreat . The Seventy - first Regiment New York State Militia was formed between the retreating columns and the enemy by Colonel Martin , and the Second Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers by Lieutenant - Colonel Wheaton . His follow - up after - action report added , " I beg to again mention the bravery and steadiness manifested by Colonel Martin and his entire regiment , Seventy - first , both - on the field and during the retreat . " Casualties included 62 officers and men . Patrolling Southern Maryland . In the fall of 1861 , the 71st , along with the 70th through the 74th New York Volunteer Regiments and 10 battalions of the Third Indiana Cavalry , formed the Second " Excelsior Brigade " under Brigadier General Daniel E . Sickles , which was placed under the command of Major General Joseph Hooker in October . Its tasks included assisting in the building of defenses around Washington and stopping resupply of the Confederates from Southern Maryland . The regiment was mustered out of service in New York on July 20 , 1861 . It was remustered on May 28 , 1862 , under Colonel Martin , and returned to the man the defenses of Washington in 1862 . Chancellorsville . Colonel Henry K . Potter commanded the 71st New York State Volunteers ( distinct from the 71st NYSNG ) , which was placed in the Second " Excelsior " Brigade ( Brig . Gen . Joseph W . Revere ) of the Second Division ( Maj . Gen . Hiram G . Berry ) of the Third Corps ( Sickles ) in the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863 . Gettysburg . The 71st passed through Chambersburg , Pennsylvania on June 23 , 1863 , it is often confused with the 71st New York Volunteers , an entirely separate , three year volunteer regiment , which fought at the Battle of Gettysburg , as part of Sickle ' s III Corps , again in the Second " Excelsior " Brigade ( Colonel William R . Brewster ) . The 71st militia served in the defense of Harrisburg during the battle of Gettysburg . Return to New York . After the battle , the 71st was recalled to New York City to help suppress the 1863 draft riots . The regiment was mustered out of service in 1864 . Many members of the 71st joined the 124th New York , which carried on the name " The American Guard . " and took part in the Petersburg campaign . Others joined other regiments . State duty . The 71st also served to control the Orange riots of 1871 , the railroad riots of July 1877 , the switchmen ’ s strike in Buffalo of August 1892 , and the motorman ’ s strike of 1895 in Brooklyn . In 1884 , under accusations of financial mismanagement by Colonel Vose , 15 company - grade officers resigned . Colonel Vose blamed the problems on the Veterans Association . In 1894 , the 71st , under the command of Colonel Francis Vinton Greene , moved into its armory at 33rd and Park Avenue . Spanish - American War . In the Spanish - American War , the 71st Regiment , New York Volunteers , were the first of twelve New York State regiments called to active service on May 10 , 1898 . The regiment entrained to Tampa on May 13 , arriving on May 17 . A week of confusion and quartermaster incompetence delayed their shipment to Cuba . The 71st was bivouacked along with the 1st U . S . Volunteer Cavalry , the " Rough Riders " , in Tampa , who then stole a march on the 71st to steal their transport on the " Tampa . " The 71st ' s sea trip took two weeks The confusion of this organization was cited as one of the reasons for the 1903 reforms of the Army and National Guard . There were ten companies of the regiment , with 1 , 000 soldiers , organized into three battalions . Arriving at Siboney , Cuba , on June 23 , the 71st was brigaded with two regular regiments , the 6th and 16th Infantry Regiments in the First Brigade under Regular Army Brigadier General Hamilton S . Hawkins , as part of General Jacob Ford Kent ' s division , as part of the Fifth Corps under General Shafter . Although the 71st was regarded as one of the best National Guard regiments , it was equipped with obsolescent black powder rifles , and its commanding officer , Lieutenant Colonel Wallace A . Downs , reported that one - third of his men had never fired a rifle before . The 71st was ordered to support the Rough Riders in a skirmish against Siboney ' s garrison , but the fighting was over before the New Yorkers could arrive . On June 27 , the brigade moved towards Santiago , making slow progress over poor roads in the heat . A letter from a private in the 71st noted " Yesterday the line of march up the hill was strewn with blankets and extra clothing , even some of the “ regs ” [ U . S . Regulars ] discarded clothes and walked in underwear . " The Battle of Santiago . The regiment took part in the Battle of Santiago ( aka Battle of San Juan Hill ) , though not in the attack itself . Many of the members of the regiment were ill with malaria . The road on which Kent ' s First Brigade moved forked just before coming out of forested areas , and Kent ordered the 71st to take the left - hand road to join the 6th and 16th ' s left flank . As the regiment left the forest , the 71st was pinned down by accurate Spanish rifle fire from the heights of San Juan hill , preventing any advance . General Hawkins noted later that General Kent had the 71st had been detached from his brigade without his knowledge and contrary to his plans and intentions . His command post was two miles ( 3 km ) away and through a thick jungle of cactus . Several commentators of the day , including Lieutenant Colonel Philip Reade , Inspector General for General Kent , made disparaging remarks about the 71st ' s apparent lack of courage ( though the malaria and heat were factors ) . The official report of the 13th Infantry , leading Kent ' s Second Brigade , notedThe men of the 71st were lying flat on the ground along the underbrush bordering the road with their feet toward the middle of the road . . . From the remarks they made to us all along the line as we passed them at a run , I inferred that they were in this prostrate formation for the purpose of avoiding exposure to bullets . The regimental commander , Lt . Colonel Downs , testified at a court of inquiry held in 1899 that he had received no orders to advance since 10 a . m . and held his force in reserve . The attack by Lawton ' s brigade on the right had been delayed , and Downs ' last orders were to wait until Lawton ' s attack was successful to move . Around 12 : 30 , Colonel Reade testified that he had to " shove " the 71st into the fight , though F Company commander Captain Malcolm Rafferty and 3rd Battalion commander Major Frank Keck responded immediately to the call to move forward ; other men of the regiment moved forward to join the regulars in the attack , but as historian Walter Millis noted , " although the regiment as a whole soon recovered its morale , it had earned a black mark which the censorious publics who hadn ' t been there could not afterward forgive . " However , the first American soldier to reach the crest of San Juan Hill was Lieutenant Herbert Hyde True of L Company of the 71st ( in Keck ' s battalion ) . The Spanish garrison of Santiago surrendered on July 14 , 1898 . The 71st began to suffer many men sick from yellow fever and other tropical diseases . One lieutenant noted there were reports the regiment would be moved to Montauk Point , Long Island , to recuperate from the climate , and many men from the 71st were sent there to recover on the hospital ship " Shinnecock " . Upon its return to New York State on August 22 , the regiment could only muster 350 of its initial 1 , 000 men . Eighty men had been killed in the fighting around Santiago . The majority of the regiment was on sick leave or in the hospital . In October the 71st returned to Camp Black and on November 14 , 1898 , the regiment was mustered out . Following the war , a board of inquiry was held at the 22nd Regiment on the conduct of the senior officers of the regiment , including Lieutenant Colonel Clinton H . Smith , the First Battalion commander . The testimony of witnesses was favorable to Lt . Col . Smith , noting he was present on the battlefield . However , Colonel Downs and Major John Whittle resigned their commissions . Two more officers were reprimanded . The board was reviewed by then Governor Theodore Roosevelt , who noted " the greater part of the Seventy - First of their own free will took part in the storming of San Juan hill , and showed that no matter how cowardly their officers might be , they were willing to obey their country ' s call . " Despite the bad impression the regiment made as a whole in Santiago , many individual soldiers in the regiment were recognized for courage , including Corporal Lewis Benedict of Co . K ( also in Keck ' s battalion ) , who " received a commission as lieutenant in the regular service . " Major Keck received a commission as a captain in the Regular Army and served in the Philippines . After the war , Keck became prominent in New York City ' s social and business life . A member of the 71st was Charles Johnson Post who painted memorable watercolor paintings of the 71st in the 1898 war . The new armory . The original armory of the regiment burned down in 1902 . A new armory was built on the spot in 1905 by the firm of Clinton and Russell , and was noted for its particularly fine exterior architecture . This armory was used not only for military training , but many public events such as annual stamp shows . World War I . In 1916 , before the U . S . entry into World War I , the 71st was mobilized as part of the U . S . Army force serving on the Mexican border . Several of the officers of the regiment were transferred to the 185th Infantry . The regiment returned to New York in May 1919 . Between the World Wars . From 1921 - 41 , the 71st was brigaded with the 174th Infantry Regiment as part of the 87th Infantry Brigade , 44th Infantry Division . It performed a number of civil and ceremonial duties . Its annual training was usually at Camp Smith in Peekskill , New York . Its regimental armory served as a homeless shelter in 1934 . The 1940 and 1941 annual training took place at Fort Dix , New Jersey . World War II . In World War II , the 71st , consisting of three battalions , was part of the 44th Infantry Division , which assembled at Fort Lewis , Washington . Headquarters Company of the 1st Battalion was detached to take part in the retaking of Attu Island in the Aleutian campaign . The 71st was thus the only New York regiment to have units fighting in the Pacific and European theaters at the same time . The 102d Engr Bn ( CBT ) also had its Company C serving in the Pacific Campaign . Sergeant Charles A . MacGillivary of the 71st won the Medal of Honor during the German Ardennes offensive of December 1944 near Woelfling , France , near the German border . On December 17 , Sergeant MacGillivary was serving as company commander because of casualties among the officers . Ammunition was low and the company was pinned down . MacGillivary set out on his own to destroy the German machine guns menacing his company . He carried a sub - machine gun and grenades ; when his submachine gun ran out of ammunition , he picked up a discarded weapon and continued the attack . MacGillivary wiped out the German positions and killed or wounded all of the defenders , at the cost of his left arm . In this offensive , the 71st encountered the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen , holding off eight attacks . The Second Battalion and I Company of the Third Battatlion were both awarded Presidential Unit Citation s . In the last days of the war , the First Battalion crossed the Austrian border through mountain pass and attacked a German division . After World War II . The 71st was not called to active duty in either the Korean War or the Vietnam War . It was called to state active duty in April 1979 to serve as prison guards at Taconic and Bedford Hills prison s during a correctional officer ' s strike . The regiment ' s original armory was located at Park Avenue and 34th Street in Manhattan . It later moved to 125th West 14th Street . In 1984 , the Governor of New York , Mario Cuomo , proposed disbanding the 71st and 106th Infantry to use their armory spaces for civilian purposes . The 71st Infantry Veterans ' Association sued the state in court , stating that such realignment would violate state affirmative action guidelines since the 71st Infantry is predominantly black . The 71st received a favorable ruling . On August 31 , 1993 , the 71st disbanded as a National Guard unit . A detachment of the battalion in Batavia , New York , was kept on active duty . The First Battalion became a State Guard unit , serving with the 14th Infantry Brigade . Reports that a Third Battalion was activated with the 10th Mountain Division and served in Afghanistan in 2006 are in error : the unit is the 71st Armored Cavalry Regiment . Symbols and traditions . The regimental nickname is " The American Guard . " The regimental motto is " Pro aris et pro focis , " which can be translated " For our homes and our families " but see ' Pro aris et focis ' . The regimental crest is a blue shield , edged in gold , charged with gold fasces with the ax head pointing to the left , supported by two gold crescents . ( This is the opposite direction from the Italian fascist symbol . ) The commanding officer of the regiment traditionally wore as his ceremonial sidearm a Colt revolver that was originally Colonel Martin ' s sidearm . This pistol was left with the senior officer of the regiment ( or later , battalion ) in the commanding officer ' s absence . The regimental march is " The Gallant Seventy - First . " Commanding officers . Dates in parentheses are known dates , but not start or ending dates .