14th Field Artillery Regiment, US Army

14TH FIELD ARTILLERY REGIMENT, US ARMY

(Coat of Arms)

(Distinctive Unit Insignia)

Official blazon

Shield: Gules a broad armed Maltese cross with slightly reentrant ends Argent within fourteen gouttes d’eau reversed arranged in the outline of peyote (one of the cactus family, in outline approximating a circle).
Crest: On a wreath of the colors, Argent and Gules, an American Indian war bonnet Gules and Argent over Satanta’s arrow of the last.
Motto: Ex Hoc Signo Victoria = Victory By This Sign.

Origin/meaning

Scarlet (red) is a color traditionally associated with Artillery units. The cross, a heraldic device, and utilized by the Indians in Oklahoma, is symbolic of the morning star and is representative of the dawn of the 14th Field Artillery. The fourteen drops of water correspond to the numerical designation of the regiment. The irregular placement of the drops is to represent a dried peyote, a species of small cactus, one of the sacred emblems of the Comanche and Kiowa Indians. Crest The war bonnet pierced by the arrow of Satanta, a noted Kiowa chief of the mid-19th century, is really a spear with a feathered end and leather grip. Satanta was well known among all the Indians of the Fort Sill region.

Literature: Images from Wikimedia Commons, further Information from The Institute of Heraldry, US Army.