On 23 December 1854, acting Governor Thomas B. Cuming ordered the creation of militia companies to be organized into two regiments comprising one brigade.
The territorial legislature met in special session in Omaha, and agreed to raise the requested local defense force.
It was amalgamated with the 1st Nebraska Veteran Cavalry Battalion in 1865, and mustered out of the Union Army on 1 July 1866 at Omaha.
On 1 October, the 34th Division was reorganized under General John J. Pershing's tables of organization of August 1917, and the 5th Nebraska was redesignated the 134th Infantry, part of the 67th Brigade.
On 29 October, officers remaining in the 34th Division were informed that it was not contemplated for reconstitution, and the Armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the war shortly after.
The 134th Infantry Regiment returned to the United States aboard the USS General G. W. Goethals, arriving at the port of New York on 24 January 1919.
The regiment proceeded to Camp Grant, Illinois, where it was mustered out of federal service, demobilized, and personnel discharged on 18 February 1919.
The Omaha race riot of 1919 forced the state to call upon federal troops at Fort Crook and Fort Omaha, and when a response was not received in a timely manner, the remaining Home Guard troops nearest the riot and a volunteer force of 300 World War I veterans were mobilized.
Companies A, B, I, G, and M of the 134th Infantry, along with several other Nebraska National Guard units, were called to Nebraska City in January-February 1922 for riot control duty after martial law was declared during the nationwide 1921-1922 Amalgamated Meat Cutters strike, which affected the Morton-Gregson plant in the city.
The entire regiment, along with a majority of the entire Nebraska National Guard, was called to Omaha from 15-21 June 1935 and was used for riot control duty after martial law was declared in the city during a major strike of workers of the Omaha Traction Company.
The 134th Infantry was inducted into federal service at home stations on 23 December 1940, and moved to Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas, where it arrived on 7 January 1941.
Between their landing at Omaha Beach on 5–6 July 1944 and their return to the United States aboard the Queen Mary on 5 September 1945, the regiment liberated or captured 124 towns.
[9] Troop B, 1st Squadron, 134th Cavalry relocated from the closed Fremont Armory to the new Titan Readiness Center near Mead in 2014.
[13] The 2nd Battalion, 134th Infantry Regiment (Airborne) was activated in the Nebraska National Guard in November 2019, but under United States Army Center of Military History regulations, is a new unit and does not perpetuate the lineage of the previous iteration of the 134th Infantry Regiment, only sharing its name.
A Gold color metal and enamel device 1+1⁄8 inches (2.9 cm) in height overall consisting of a shield blazoned: Per chevron Azure and Argent, in chief the Katipunan sun in splendor and an olla Or charged with a bull skull Gules, in base a mound Vert a palm tree Proper entwined with a snake of the fifth.
The shield is Argent (white) and Azure (blue), the colors of the Infantry and the original designation of the unit.
The olla is made gold to comply with heraldic rules, and denotes the World War I service of the organization in the 34th Division.