4th Kentucky Infantry

The 4th Kentucky Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It was part of the First Kentucky Brigade.

Service
The 4th Kentucky Infantry was organized on September 13, 1861, at Camp Burnett in Montgomery County, Tennessee, under the command of Colonel Robert P. Trabue.

After organization and muster, the regiment moved north into Kentucky to occupy Bowling Green. The 4th Kentucky Infantry first saw action at the Battle of Shiloh, losing 49% of its strength in the two-day battle. The regiment retreated to Corinth, Mississippi after the battle and was ordered to Vicksburg, Mississippi to aid in the defenses there. The 4th Kentucky Infantry received orders to reinforce General Braxton Bragg who was engaged in the Kentucky Campaign. The regiment was north of Knoxville, Tennessee, just 20 miles from Cumberland Gap, when it was ordered to return to Murfreesboro, Tennessee due to Bragg's subsequent retreat following the drawn Battle of Perryville on October 8, 1862.

The regiment came under heavy fire at the Battle of Stones River on January 2, 1863. Ordered by Bragg to attack an area that division commander Major General John C. Breckinridge had reconnoitered and determined to be too heavily defended, the First Kentucky Brigade led the charge. Although initially successful, the brigade was met by heavy Union Army artillery fire. The 4th Kentucky Infantry lost a number of men, including two color-bearers, but fared better than the other brigade regiments. Brigade commander Brigadier General Roger Hanson was mortally wounded in the attack.

Later that same year, the First Kentucky Brigade was ordered back to Vicksburg, to help relieve the siege. The brigade had not yet arrived when Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863. It fell back to Jackson, Mississippi, where it was attacked in mid-July. During the Battle of Chickamauga, the 4th Kentucky Infantry and 6th Kentucky Infantry charged a part of the federal line defended by the 15th Kentucky Infantry and Bridges' Illinois Battery. The Kentucky Confederates routed the infantry and captured two of the artillery's cannons, turning them on the fleeing enemy. Weeks later, the 4th Kentucky Infantry was called upon to guard the Confederate army's retreat following the Battle of Missionary Ridge. The army retreated to Dalton, Georgia and went into winter quarters.

The First Kentucky Brigade took part in the Atlanta Campaign on May 7, 1864, when they left their winter camps and took up positions on Rocky Face Ridge. The regiment became part of the fighting retreating force as Major General William T. Sherman pushed the Confederates further back toward Atlanta. The First Kentucky Brigade made an unsupported charge at the Battle of Dallas near New Hope Church, losing 51% of its strength. At the Battle of Jonesboro on August 31, 1864, the brigade was ordered to attack the entrenched federal position. The attack came to a halt at an unseen deep ravine, where the 4th Kentucky Infantry lost its original color-bearer, who had carried the flag since the beginning of the war. The next day, the brigade was overwhelmed, when two-thirds of a Union Army division attacked and began to surround their positions. Many of the men of the 2nd Kentucky Infantry, 6th Kentucky Infantry, and 9th Kentucky Infantry were captured. The remnants of the brigade fell back and managed to bring the Union attack to a halt. Only 500 men were present for duty in the entire First Kentucky Brigade on September 4.

The 4th Kentucky was then ordered to Griffin, Georgia and converted to mounted infantry. The regiment engaged in delaying tactics during Sherman's March to the Sea, following him all the way to Savannah, Georgia, and finally moving to Augusta, Georgia in early 1865. The regiment's last engagement was on April 29, 1865 in a skirmish near Stateburg, South Carolina. The regiment was ordered to Washington, Georgia and surrendered on May 7, 1865.

Commanders

 * Colonel Robert P. Trabue - died February 1863
 * Colonel Joseph P. Nuckols - commanded at the battle of Chickamauga
 * Colonel Thomas W. Thompson - commanded at the battle of Chickamauga as major