23rd Cavalry Division (United States)

The 23rd Cavalry Division was constituted in 1921, originally allotted to the states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Massachusetts, and assigned to the Third Army.

The first of the units to be assigned to the division was the 56th Cavalry Brigade, which was originally raised by the Texas National Guard for service along the Mexican border in World War I.

Through the 1920s, divisional units continued to be activated, beginning with the Headquarters Troop, 23rd Cavalry Division, which was organized and federally recognized at Birmingham, Alabama, on 12 April 1921.

The first of these was in September 1936, when officers of the division participated in the Third Army command post exercise (CPX) at Camp Bullis, Texas.

During the CPX, the Regular Army officers working with the 23rd Division gave the provisional staff high praise for their performance.

The bulk of the division participated in the Fourth Corps Area portion of the exercise in Mississippi’s De Soto National Forest under control of the 55th Cavalry Brigade.

In January 1940, General Edmonds assembled the division staff at Roberts Field in Birmingham, Alabama, for the additional training directed by the War Department for all National Guard units that winter.

Subsequent reports stated that the 23rd did a credible job despite facing the more experienced Regular Army troops and the difficulties caused by the rental horses provided to the National Guard units.