The 24th Cavalry Division was constituted in 1921, originally allotted to the states of Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming, and assigned to the Third Army.

The 57th Machine Gun Squadron, while constituted, assigned to the brigade, and allotted to the state of South Dakota, was never organized.

All of the armory drill periods were designed to prepare the troops for the annual two-week summer camp.

On 28 January 1936, the headquarters of the 24th Cavalry Division was federally recognized at Topeka, Kansas, under the command of Major General William K. Herndon.

Realizing the difficulties he faced in training his division, General Herndon immediately set out to assemble the entire organization at Fort Riley for the 1936 summer camp.

His idea included the provision that the staff would hold their camp with a different regiment each year, at least until funds became available to bring the division together.

While the bulk of the division was training in Washington, a large portion of it was finishing its participation in the Seventh Corps Area maneuver near Camp Ripley, Minnesota, in July and early August.

The results of the large-scale maneuvers of 1935–40, coupled with events in Poland and France, convinced army planners that the day of employing large bodies of horse cavalry were numbered.

Pre-war United States Army planning did not contemplate the use of National Guard or Organized Reserve cavalry divisions in wartime.