22nd Cavalry Division (United States)

The 22nd Cavalry Division was constituted in 1921, originally allotted to the states of Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, Louisiana, and West Virginia, and assigned to the Second Army.

Colonel Frank Caldwell, a Regular Army officer, was offered command, but declined, not wanting to accept a dual commission in the Wisconsin National Guard.

Concurrently, Lieutenant Colonel Robert M. Beck was also offered command of the division's 53rd Cavalry Brigade, but declined for the same reason.

In 1929, due to budget constraints, the Secretary of War directed that only brigade-level headquarters would be funded in cavalry divisions until further notice.

Regiments, or elements thereof, were called out from time-to-time by state governors for emergencies or to establish martial law in an unruly area.

The units of the 53rd Brigade trained together for the first time in 1936 when it was assembled at Camp Williams for the Second Army maneuvers that summer.

This brigade, along with the newly activated 166th Field Artillery, 22nd Signal Troop, and 122nd Quartermaster Squadron (all from the Pennsylvania National Guard) took to the field at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation for a week in November 1939 as part of an increase in training periods directed by the War Department.

This training was designed to prepare the staff for the upcoming First Army maneuvers near Canton, New York, in August 1940.