The National Hockey League granted a Chicago franchise to Major Frederick McLaughlin on Sept. 25, 1926, one of three American teams added to the league that year (along with the Detroit Cougars—later Red Wings—and the New York Rangers). McLaughlin, who had been a commander with the 333rd Machine Gun Battalion of the 86th Infantry Division during World War I, named the team in honor of his military unit, which took its "Black Hawks" moniker from Chief Black Hawk of the Sauk nation.