Constituted July 28, 1866, in the Regular Army by act of the United States Congress falling under the command of the Department of the Missouri.

Consolidated 17 April 1869 by order of the Secretary of War, when the total number of Infantry Regiments were to be reduced to 25.

The 37th Infantry was reorganized on 9 September 1927 with Organized Reserve personnel as an RAI unit with headquarters at Brunswick, New Jersey.

The regiment, less the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, was affiliated with the Rutgers University Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program on 7 April 1928, and reorganized at Brunswick as an RAI unit with Regular Army personnel assigned to the ROTC Detachment and Reserve officers commissioned from the program.

Arrived at Prince Rupert Port of Embarkation, British Columbia, Canada, on 28 January 1944 and departed 5 February 1944.

Arrived Fort Benning, Georgia 14 August 1944 under Replacement and School Command where regiment conducted training for paratrooper volunteers from other branches of the Army.

World War II A Silver color metal and enamel device 1+1⁄4 inches (3.2 cm) in height consisting of a shield blazoned: Azure a fess wavy, in chief a mullet both Argent.

The shield is blue for Infantry, with a wavy fess to denote the Rio Grande and the lone star of Texas.