The 4th Louisiana Infantry Regiment was a unit of volunteers recruited in Louisiana that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Formed in May 1861, the regiment served in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The unit fought at Shiloh and Baton Rouge in 1862 and at Jackson in 1863. A detachment served during the Siege of Port Hudson and was captured. In 1864, the regiment fought in the Atlanta campaign where it lost heavily at Jonesborough. At Nashville in December 1864 most of the men were captured. The survivors were consolidated with several other units and fought at Spanish Fort in April 1865. The remnant surrendered in May 1865.
Formation
On 25 May 1861, the 4th Louisiana Infantry Regiment organized at Camp Moore with the strength of 862 men. The field officers were Colonel Robert J. Barrow, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Watkins Allen, and Major Samuel E. Hunter. Barrow resigned on 21 March 1862 and was replaced as colonel by Allen. At that time, Hunter was promoted lieutenant colonel and Thomas E. Vick became major. When the regiment elected new officers on 19 May 1862, Vick was dropped and William F. Pennington became major. The original Company G transferred to Company E of the 9th Battalion Partisan Rangers in May 1862. Company K was added on 29 May 1862. The companies were originally numbered differently, but the final company organization is listed in the table.
Key: d = died, k = killed, p = promoted, r = resigned, x = dropped on 19 May 1862, z = dropped in May 1864.
Service
1861–1862
After the 4th Louisiana Infantry was formed, it received orders to travel to the Gulf Coast of the United States. The summer of 1861 was spent in camps at Biloxi, Mississippi City, Pascagoula, and Pass Christian, Mississippi, as well as at Ship Island. After Ship Island was abandoned in September, the regiment moved to Brashear City and Franklin, Louisiana, in order to protect Bayou Teche and the Atchafalaya River. The unit traveled to Jackson, Tennessee, in February 1862 to join General P. G. T. Beauregard's forces. A Union army under Major General Ulysses S. Grant massed on the Tennessee River at Pittsburg Landing while a second army under Major General Don Carlos Buell marched from Nashville to join it. To counter these moves, Beauregard concentrated 5,000 men from Louisiana under Brigadier General Daniel Ruggles and other troops at Corinth, Mississippi. After being joined by General Albert Sidney Johnston, the Confederate army numbered about 40,000 soldiers.
The 4th Louisiana Infantry fought at the Battle of Shiloh on 6–7 April 1862, suffering 209 casualties out of the 575 men taken into action. The dead included Captains Tooraen (Company D), Hilliard (Company G), and Taylor (Company I). The regiment was assigned to Colonel Randall L. Gibson's 1st Brigade, Ruggles' 1st Division, Major General Braxton Bragg's Second Corps. The other units in Gibson's brigade were the 13th Louisiana, 19th Louisiana, and 1st Arkansas Infantry Regiments. Gibson's brigade sustained losses of 97 killed, 488 wounded, and 97 missing. As the Confederate assault rolled forward, Gibson's brigade was in the second line. At one point, a Confederate officer with a captured U.S. flag rode past the regiment and soldiers from the 4th Louisiana fired on him, inadvertently hitting other nearby friendly units. The other Confederates fired back and Colonel Allen later remarked that this friendly fire accident was a "terrible blow to the regiment". Later in the battle, Gibson's brigade made three or four unsuccessful assaults on a Union position called the Hornet's Nest. Allen was wounded in the cheek at this time. On the second day, Gibson's brigade was placed with Brigadier General Patton Anderson's brigade to its right and Brigadier General Patrick Cleburne's brigade to its left.