231st Transportation Battalion
*On this date in 1879, 231st Transportation Battalion was formed.
The Armed force and National Guard 231st Transportation Battalion began as a Black independent militia company in Baltimore, Maryland. These city militia companies were patriotic social clubs that competed in military drills. All black military clubs comprised Black officers and enlisted men during that time. They called themselves "The Monumental City Guards."
On February 20, 1882, the Adjutant General of Maryland examined the three African American military clubs and accepted them as infantry companies into the Maryland National Guard. 1896, the Monumental City Guards was redesignated as the 1st Separate Company. All three of these African American companies were Infantry Companies. Somehow, the "Baltimore Rifles" and the club from the Hagerstown area did not make it in the Maryland National Guard; only "The Monumental City Guard" survived and remained as a "Separate Company." When the "Spanish American War" broke out, the 1st Separate Company started active duty; however, they did not follow the Maryland National Guard into the war, rather they were retained in Pimlico and relegated to do interior guard duty until the war ended, and then reinstated into the Maryland National Guard.
The 231st, which included the 726th, received two U. S. Army Meritorious Unit Citations and a Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation and was the only Maryland National Guard unit mobilized for the Korean War. The unit arrived between two massive Communist Chinese offensives and almost immediately began transporting supplies and soldiers between rear areas and the front lines. The truck drivers also drove ambulances. The 231st Battalion provided forward truck support for I Corps as it advanced. On June 7, 1951, the Battalion relocated to Seoul, 20 miles north of Uijongbu, on September 29.
There it hauled cargo and troops for I and IX Corps and moved ammunition to the supply points. On April 1, 1992, the Battalion was reorganized and redesignated as the 229th Support Battalion, and its headquarters moved to Reisterstown.
