4th Infantry Regiment (United States)

The 4th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment in the United States Army. Its origins date to at least 1808.

History

Previous 4th Infantry Regiments The Infantry of the Fourth Sub-Legion was organized on 4 September 1792, and fought at Miami Rapids in 1794. In 1796, it was re-designated the Fourth Regiment of the Infantry. After ten years, due to a reduction of the army, the regiment was disbanded in 1802. This Fourth Infantry was a temporary unit with no lineal connection to either the original permanent 4th Infantry Regiment, or the modern 4th Infantry Regiment.

Tecumseh's War

In 1808, the Regular Army was reorganized to counter the increasing levels of resistance to colonization by Indian tribes living on the American frontier. The first permanent Regular Army unit to bear the designation of 4th Infantry Regiment was constituted on 12 April 1808 in the Regular Army, and organized from May to June of that year in New England. Led by General William Henry Harrison, the 4th Infantry, commanded by Colonel John Parker Boyd, was ordered to the Northwest Territory, which included modern-day Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Its mission was to defeat Tecumseh's confederacy, a pan-tribal confederation determined to resist the U.S. invasion of indigenous lands as part of a conflict which had raged since 1810; defeating the confederation would allow for white settlers to colonize the region without facing indigenous resistance.

Harrison, who would go on to serve as President of the United States, led a force consisting of the 4th Infantry supplemented by militiamen and volunteers against the Confederacy at the Battle of Tippecanoe. During the battle, the U.S. troops routed their Native opponents, killing up to 80 Native Americans while suffering 188 casualties. Harrison then ordered his force to loot and burn the Shawnee settlement of Prophetstown. The regiment subsequently returned to Fort Vincennes, and in 1812, after marching through Ohio, joined forces with General William Hull.

War of 1812 Within months of the Battle of Tippecanoe, the United States declared war against Great Britain. This required the increased manning of the Regular Army.

The modern 4th Infantry Regiment was constituted 11 January 1812 in the Regular Army as the original 14th Infantry Regiment, and organized in March 1812 in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

On 12 July, General Hull crossed with his command into Canada (then British North America), and made camp at Sandwich (now Windsor), Canada, just on the Canada–US border. The regiment remained inactive for the rest of the month and grew restless. Then the Fourth was given a mission of escorting some supplies to Fort Detroit, Michigan, previous escorts having been surprised and routed. The Fourth Infantry, led by Captain Cook, undertook this duty enthusiastically, and although ambushed at the Battle of Maguaga, 14 miles below Detroit, by a superior force comprising British (both regular and colonial) forces and Indians, the US regulars captured the enemy's concealed breastworks, wounded Chief Tecumseh, and completely routed their opponents.

Before they could follow up on their success and complete the victory, the Fourth received orders from General Hull to return to Fort Detroit. There, Cook and the Fourth were advised that on 16 August 1812, General Hull had surrendered his entire force, including the Fourth, to Lieutenant Bullock of the British 41st Regiment.Museum of the Welch Regiment (41st/69th Foot) of The Royal Regiment of, led by Captain Cook Wales (24th/41st Foot) at Cardiff Castle, Cardiff, Wales. For this General Hull was tried and found guilty of "Cowardliness" and "Neglect of Duty". President Monroe, mitigating the court-martial sentence that General Hull be shot, ruled: "The rolls of the army shall no longer be debased by having upon them the name of Brigadier General Hull". The Fourth Infantry's colors, taken by the British at the surrender ordered by Hull, were kept in the Tower of London until 1889, then the colors for many years hung in the Chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea until 1961. Along the walls of the Great Hall are replicas (the original are in the museum). They are currently in the Welch Regiment Museum.

After remaining several months in Canada as prisoners of war, the officers and men were returned under parole to Boston and given furloughs until exchanged for British prisoners of war. Early in 1813 the exchange was effective and the regiment reassembled and recruited to strength. It fought at the second Battle of Lacolle Mills, Canada and at Plattsburgh in 1814. These actions give the 4th Infantry campaign credit for the War of 1812.

Following the end of the War of 1812, and consistent with the reduction in force of the Regular Army, the original 4th Infantry Regiment was consolidated on May–October 1815 with the 9th and 13th Infantry (both constituted 11 January 1812), the 21st Infantry (constituted 26 June 1812), the 40th Infantry (constituted 29 January 1813), and the 46th Infantry (constituted 30 March 1814) to form the 5th Infantry Regiment. Thereafter separate lineage.

In the same time period the 14th Infantry Regiment was consolidated May–October 1815 with the 18th Infantry Regiment and 20th Infantry Regiment (both constituted 11 January 1812) and the 36th Infantry Regiment and 38th Infantry Regiment (both constituted 29 January 1813) to form the modern 4th Infantry Regiment. On 21 August 1816 unspecified 4th Infantry Regiment companies were redesignated as Companies A and B, 4th Infantry Regiment. These companies would later be instrumental in the reorganization of 4th Infantry Regiment from the original organizational model, which included a headquarters element and 10 lettered companies with no battalion organization. The original Companies A and B would become Headquarters and Headquarters Company 1st and Headquarters and Headquarters Company 2nd Battalion.

Negro Fort

In 1814, British forces constructed a fortification in the Apalachicola Forest as part of a failed invasion of Gulf Coast of the United States. During their occupation of the fort, the British military offered sanctuary to fugitive American slaves along with Muscogee and Seminole tribesmen resisting U.S. expansion. After the British withdrew in 1815, they left the fort, subsequently nicknamed "Negro Fort" by Americans, in the control of their Black and Indian allies. As the fort served as a symbol of resistance to American slavery and attracted runaway slaves, Southern plantation owners demanded the fort's destruction. Responding to these calls, Andrew Jackson ordered U.S. Army officers Edmund P. Gaines and Duncan Lamont Clinch to carry out an illegal invasion of Spanish Florida and destroy the fort. Leading a battalion of the 4th Infantry Regiment and 2 U.S. Navy gunboats, Gaines and Clinch invaded Spanish Florida without Congressional approval and destroyed the fort after a lucky shot destroyed the fort's powder magazine. Most survivors of the explosion were escorted by the 4th Infantry Regiment back into slavery in Georgia, with one being summarily executed by an army firing squad.

Creek and Seminole Campaigns For the next twenty years, the regiment fought almost constantly with the Creek Indians in Georgia, and the Seminoles in Florida under the command of General Andrew Jackson, a future president. In constant and long hardships the regiment marched through swamps, building cantonments and raking roads to open what now is the state of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. A letter of Gen. Lorenzo Thomas stated: "Each company built its own double block of logs and a house of one story for the officers quarters. The troops also saved the boards for flooring, and rived the pine shingles for roofs. In truth, the troops did the entire work, the quartermaster department only furnishing the few tools to work with, such as nails and other hardware. Scarcely a nail was used to secure the shingles, they being hung on the rafters with wooden pegs. The spaces between the logs were chinked with moss and clay and afterward the whole was whitewashed. All completed with scarcely any expense to the government."

In December 1835, Osceola's Seminoles cut the line of communication and supply to one of the border stations, Fort King. One hundred artillerymen from Fort Brooke under Major Gardner were ordered to re-establish the contact. At the last moment, Major Gardner's bride of a few weeks fell ill. Captain and Brevet-Major Francis L. Dade of the Fourth Infantry took command for Major Gardner. Dade joined the expedition with eleven men of B Company, Fourth Infantry. The march was begun on 20 December; on 28 December, forty miles short of Fort King, Major Dade's column was ambushed by Osceola. The only survivors of the attack were three badly wounded privates who reported the command had fought stubbornly from eight in the morning until five at night when, their ammunition exhausted, they were killed. Those who died or were wounded were: Francis L. Dade, Brevet Maj., Pvt. John Barnes, Pvt. Donald Campbell, Pvt. Marvin Cunningham, Pvt. John Doughty, Pvt. Cornel Donovan, Pvt. William Downes, Pvt. Enoch Yates, Pvt. Samuel Hall, Pvt. Wiley Jones, Pvt. John Massacre, suffering some casualties: Pvt. David Hill was killed at Fort Call on 21 August 1836, Pvt. David Mclaughlin and Pvt. William Walker were killed at Thonotosassa on 26 August 1836, Sgt. Levi Clendening was killed at Chrystal River on 9 February 1837. Pvt. Othiel Lutz, Pvt. John Stewart, and Pvt. Barthol Shumard were all killed at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee on 25 December 1837. Lt. Robert C. Buchanan was also wounded at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. Pvt. William Foster was killed at Big Cypress on 20 December 1841.

The death roll of one company for one year includes casualties from the Indians, cholera, and five diagnosed types of fever. The same death roll has the entry "Intemperance" after two more soldier's names. In Orders No. 15, Western Army, 28 August 1832, General Winfield Scott states:

Mexican–American War In 1842, the regiment was ordered to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, where after half a century of existence the regiment enjoyed for the first time the comforts of a regular post. The regiment trained at Jefferson barracks for two years when in 1844, it was ordered to the western border of Louisiana for the war with Mexico. Hostilities were precipitated by the murder of Colonel Cross and the killing of a lieutenant with a small detachment of 4th Infantry soldiers by Mexican raiders. Although this happened in April, communications were slow and it was not until September that the command sailed to Corpus Christi, Texas, where with the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th Infantry regiments, one artillery regiment acting as infantry, seven companies of dragoons, and four companies of light artillery formed the Army of Observation under General Zachary Taylor. The pay was seven dollars a month and flogging was the usual means of punishment. U.S. Grant, then a lieutenant in the 4th Infantry, stated in his personal memoir: "A more efficient army for its number and armament, I do not believe ever fought a battle than the one commanded by General Taylor in his first two engagements on Mexican--or Texan soil".