Fifth Regiment Veteran Corps, Maryland, c. 1905.

This photograph is of a member of the Fifth Regiment Veteran Corps, also called the Veteran Corps, Fifth Regiment Infantry. Before World War One the Maryland National Guard included three infantry regiments, the most famous of which was the “Dandy Fifth” Fifth Infantry Regiment. The Fifth Regiment Veteran Corps consisted of four companies and was not the same unit as the Fifth Infantry Regiment. Both were stationed in Baltimore. The regiment and the corps both had gray trimmed with black as distinctive uniforms. In the 1890's the Veteran Corps reported to the state’s Adjutant General and acted as part of the national guard, but by the time World War One broke out it could receive National Guard funds only if actually called into state service. I have one reference to the Corps including a Gatling company, said to be the Maryland National Guard’s only artillery unit. Today a Veteran Corps still exists as an organization dedicated to preserving the traditions and memory of the Fifth Maryland, now the 175th Infantry.

Page by Mark Conrad, 2011.