DESCRIPTION

17th REGIMENT'S MOTTO: "TRUTH and COURAGE"

• While the 17th Infantry Regiment was organized on January 11th, 1812, it was consolidated with the 3rd Infantry and lost it's identity two years later until May 3rd, 1861, when it was reorganized.

• The 17th Infantry Regiment was in the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War in Sykes' Division of the 5th Army Corps, the badge of which was a white cross patee, which is embodied in the coat of arms and shown on the blue field above and to the left of the stone wall.

• At Fredericksburg the 17th suffered heavy losses in the assault on the famous stone wall, "For one entire day, (December 14th) the men of the 17th lay flat on their faces eighty yards in front of the famous stone wall, behind which the enemy was posted in large numbers and any movement on their part was sure to draw the fire of rebel sharpshooters.

• The five-bastioned fort, shown on the blue shield above and to the right of the stone wall, was the badge of the 5th Army Corps in Cuba in 1898.

• The buffalo, shown on the blue shield bellow the stone wall represents the Regiments glorious history in the Korean war. The "Buffalo" nick name was adopted after one of the Regiments Commanding Officers in the Korean war, Col. William W. "Buffalo Bill" Quinn.

• The shield is blue, being the color representing the infantry.

• The Crest is a sea lion taken from the Spanish Arms of Manila for the fighting around that city in 1899.

• The two arrows represent the Indian campaigns in which the 17th Regiment participated.