Maryland Army National Guard
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The Maryland Army National Guard is the Army component of the organized militia of the State of Maryland. It is headquartered at the Fifth Regiment Armory in Baltimore and has units at armories and other facilities across the state.
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[edit] Mission
[edit] Organization
The Maryland Army National Guard is organized into several major subordinate commands: the 58th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, the 29th Division Aviation Brigade, and the 58th Troop Command. The MSCs report the The Assistant Adjutant General for Army (TAAG-Army), who in turn reports to The Adjutant General (TAG). Both officers are appointed by the governor.
[edit] History
The Maryland National Guard traces its roots to 1634, with the landing of two militia captains at St. Mary's City. It has a long and illustrious history: During the American Revolution, members of the "Maryland Line" repeatedly charged a vastly superior British force at the Battle of Long Island, buying time for the Continental Army to escape. It is from this incident that Maryland draws one of its official nicknames, "The Old Line State." This was the first time the American Army had used the bayonet in combat. Later in the war, the Maryland militia made a number of additional bayonet charges, including at Cowpens, where their charge turned impending defeat into victory, and at Guilford Courthouse, where they forced the elite British Foot Guards to retreat.
During the War of 1812, the Maryland militia held the line at the Battle of North Point in 1814. There, they held the British back long enough for the defense of Baltimore to be shored up. The British land force ultimately turned back rather than attempt an assault on the American defenses at Baltimore.
During the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, on July 20 Governor Carroll called up the 5th and 6th Regiments from Baltimore to stop strikers in Cumberland from disrupting rail service. While marching from their armories to a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad train at Camden Station, a mob attacked the troops. The 6th Regiment fired on the mob, killing 10 and wounding 25, and several members of both regiments were injured by stones and bricks.[1] Order was restored on the next day with the arrival of federal troops in Baltimore.
Maryland militia units fought on both sides of the Civil War. As a result of consolidation with the 115th Infantry Regiment in 2006, Maryland's oldest regiment, the 175th Infantry Regiment, which its lineage back to 1774, includes the lineage of units that fought for both North and South.
During the First World War, most Maryland National Guard troops served as part of the 29th Division, and their campaign credits include Meuse-Argonne. In addition, the 1st Separate Company, an all-black unit, served as part of the 372nd Infantry Regiment, although ostensibly assigned to the 93rd Division, actually fought under French control. One of the Maryland National Guard's longest-mobilized units during the war was the 117th Trench Mortar Battery, which served under the 42nd Division from October 1917 until the end of the war. It was the first Maryland unit to see combat, and participated in all of the AEF's major battles during that period.
World War II also saw the mobilization of the Maryland National Guard. Again, most were assigned to the 29th Infantry Division, where they took part in the D-Day landings and fought their way across France and Germany. In 1945, they missed by the first unit to link up with the Soviet Red Army on the Elbe River by a matter of hours.
The Maryland National Guard had very few troops mobilized for the Korean War, but those that were played an important role. The 231st Transportation Truck Battalion was the first National Guard unit to land in Korea, and were immediately put to use keeping supplies flowing within the Pusan Perimeter. Originally a segregated, all-black unit, the 231st was integrated during this service in Korea, only to be again segregated when it returned to state status.
Although no Maryland Army National Guard units served in Vietnam, the Maryland Army Guard played a significant role during the Cold War. Across the state, Nike missile batteries, armed with nuclear warheads, were manned by Maryland National Guardsmen to defend the National Capital area from Soviet bombers from the mid-1950s until the early 1970s. Maryland National Guard troops were also kept busy with riot-control duty in the 1960s and early 1970s, most notably during the Baltimore Riots of 1968, the University of Maryland Riots of 1970, and the Cambridge Riots of 1963 and 1967.[2]
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Maryland Army National Guard has mobilized a number of units, including the 58th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, for service in Iraq; Afghanistan; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and elsewhere. Guardsmen from the 115th Military Police Battalion were among the first and most heavily called upon, having arrived at the Pentagon on Sept. 12 and subsequently served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Maryland elements of the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade for service in Iraq, Maryland elements of the 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade for service in Afghanistan, and Maryland National Guard elements attached to 44th Medical Command/XVIII Airborne Corps for service in Iraq.
[edit] Notable Members
Former United States Representative to the United Nations John R. Bolton served in the Maryland Guard during the Vietnam War.
[edit] References
- ^ Scharf, J. Thomas (1967 (reissue of 1879 ed.)), History of Maryland From the Earliest Period to the Present Day, vol. 3, Hatboro, PA: Tradition Press, pp. 733-42
- ^ Balkoski, Joseph. The Maryland National Guard: A History of Maryland's Military Forces. Baltimore: Maryland Military Department. 1991.
[edit] External links
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