Hostilities having begun, an assembly of delegates from the various counties met in Annapolis in November to discuss measures for armed resistance and to adopt resolutions for defense.

On 3 December 1774, 58 young men of the town signed an agreement to "form ourselves into a body or company in order to learn the military discipline," and each agreed to provide himself with a uniform consisting of "a coat turnd up with Buff, and trimd with Yellow Mettal, or Gold Buttons, White Stockings & black Cloth half Boots," and to equip himself with arms and ammunition.

And so was organized the first uniformed military company in Maryland,[citation needed] the parent from which the Fifth Regiment sprung in the early days of the war just two years later.

Smallwood's men, led by Major Gist, lost nearly half of their number at the Battle of Long Island in an attempt to halt the British advance.

They were the first to use the bayonet against the experienced regulars of the enemy, and that in their earliest battle -- and throughout the succeeding struggles of the war, they were most often called on to lead with that bloody weapon into the ranks of the foe.

At Germantown they swept through the hostile camp, with their fixed bayonets, far in advance of the whole army; and at Cowpens, and at Eutaw, their serried ranks bore down all opposition with unloaded muskets.

Gunby, Hall, Smith, Stone, and Ramsey, and the lamented Ford, who dies gallantly at the head of his regiment, were equal to any others in the whole continental service.

The Fifth Regiment had grown into a strong and well trained organization, and as the principal military group in the town, it promptly marched to Bladensburg when news of the British approach to Washington arrived.

Early on the morning of 12 September 1814, Wellington's Invincibles, led by General Ross, fresh from their defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Peninsular War, attacked the lines held by the Fifth Regiment.

The regiment, outnumbered, slowly fought the British forces as they fell back to the earthen defenses established across Hampstead Hill (preserved now as Patterson Park).

The spirited Battle of North Point along with the formidable defenses around Baltimore convinced the British commander to withdrawal and redirect the attack on the city against Fort McHenry.

In June, 1861, the Southern sympathizers organized the First Maryland Infantry, CSA, at Harpers Ferry and became part of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's Corps which fought the first Battle of Manassas.

They followed that victory with a rout of the Pennsylvania Bucktail Rifles at Harrisonburg on 6 June 1862, earning from Major General Ewell the honor of carrying a "buck tail" on their colors.

The Second Maryland fought at the battles of Malvern Hill, Winchester, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, the Siege of Petersburg, and surrendered 63 officers and men with General Lee at Appomattox.

The exceptions were: first, the violent Baltimore railroad strike of 1877;[5] and, second, in 1894, when it was called into service of the state during labor disturbances among the coal miners in Western Maryland.

Like many other organizations in the war, it never reached the scene of active service, but it suffered severely from disease while in the camps, losing a number of men from this cause.

Arrived at the port of Newport News 24 May 1919 on the troopship USS Artemis as elements of the 115th Infantry, and was demobilized on 7 June 1919 at Camp George G. Meade, Maryland.

The 175th moved to Fort George G. Meade, where it was reinforced by an influx of draftees in April and participated in 29th Division maneuvers in North Carolina that fall.

The 175th fought in Normandy until the end of August when the division was moved to Brittany to participate in the capture of Brest and the German submarine pens located there.

The 175th's infantry battalions were mobilized in 1967, 1968 and 1971 as a response to the race riots in Cambridge and Baltimore[7]: 318  and anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in College Park in Maryland.

In September 2005, the battalion deployed several platoons and a company headquarters in support of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort in Mississippi and Louisiana.

They served for one year, conducting full spectrum operations against enemy forces in the vicinity of Taji, Iraq, then transitioned to supporting combat logistics patrols between Baghdad and the Jordanian border.

On 22 May 2007, the battalion was federalized and on 25 May, it reported to Fort Dix, New Jersey for post-mobilization training in preparation for security forces operations in Northern Iraq.

Company C was detached and deployed to Forward Operating Base Marez and the Logistics Support Area Diamondback located in Mosul, Iraq.

There, Company C was attached to the 87th Combat Service and Support Battalion, where they conducted base defense operations and convoy logistics patrols to and from the border crossing at Habur Gate, Turkey.

Companies B and D were attached to the 17th Combat Service and Support Battalion to conduct convoy logistics patrols throughout Ninewah Provence also known as Multi-National Division – North (MND-N).

The battalion also supported combat, logistics and counter improvised explosive device (IED) operations conducted with both US and Iraqi Army forces throughout MND-N.

The battalion faced security challenges in and around their area of operations, including increased weapons trafficking, terrorist attacks, and conflicts with Bedouin tribes.

Superimposed on the annulet is a belt of military design and origin containing the inscription "Decus Et Praesidium," the regimental motto which is translated "An Honour and a Guard."

The belt is the heraldic symbol of knighthood and identifies the insignia as being of the military order, while the gray field represents the Confederate Service in the Civil War.