At the start of World War I the War Department organized two National Guard Cavalry brigades as part of the Army's wartime expansion, and assigned them to relieve Regular Army Cavalry brigades patrolling the Mexico–United States border after the Pancho Villa Expedition.

[4][5] Soldiers of the 56th Cavalry were called out several times to quell civil disturbances, including: the Longview Race Riot of 1919;[6] the Galveston Longshoreman's Strike of 1920;[7] the Mexia and Borger Oil Field Booms of 1922[8] and 1929;[9] the booms in the East Texas oil fields in 1931[10] and 1932;[11] and the response following a hurricane in 1932.

[12] Wolters commanded troops on state active duty so often that he published a manual on use of the National Guard in reestablishing law and order following riots and natural disasters.

In October, 1961 the unit was federalized for during the Berlin crisis and trained at Fort Polk and other locations before being demobilized.

[27] In 2008 and 2009 the 56th IBCT returned to Iraq and performed convoy and base security force duties.

[29] The battalion was deployed to Camp Lemonnier for Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa in 2017.