HISTORICAL NOTES:
The 4th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment
was organized at Dalton, Georgia, on 2 May 1861 with troops from Conecuh, Dallas, Jackson, Lauderdale, Macon, Madison, Marengo, and Perry counties. Sent immediately to Virginia, they were mustered into service for twelve months at Lynchburg on 7 May and proceeded to Harper's Ferry for training. They later were transferred to Winchester where they became a part of Brig. Gen'l Barnard E. Bee's Third Brigade, of which the 2nd and 11th Mississippi, the 1st Tennessee, and the 6th North Carolina were the other regiments. They were moved forward and participated in the 1st Battle of Manassas where the 4th Alabama took a prominent part, losing 38 killed and 208 wounded out of a total of about 750 engaged. They lost all of their field officers in that engagement, including Gen'l Bee, who gained fame for first calling Brig. Gen'l Thomas J. Jackson "Stonewall." Bee was succeeded by Brig. Gen'l W. H. C. Whiting.
The 4th spent the winter at Dumfries and re-enlisted for three years in January, 1862. They were reorganized in April and moved over to the vicinity of Norfolk. The regiment was engaged both days at the Battle of Seven Pines, losing 8 killed and 19 wounded. Two weeks later, the brigade was sent to the Shenandoah Valley only to return with Stonewall Jackson's corps against the Union flank. The unit was hotly engaged at Cold Harbor, losing 22 killed and 108 wounded out of 500 present; losses at Malvern Hill were slight.
The regiment moved northward the the Army of Northern Virginia and participated at the Second Battle of Manassas and lost 20 killed and 43 wounded. At Boonsboro the loss was slight, and at Sharpsburg, the loss was 8 killed and 43 wounded. After this campaign, Brig. Gen'l Evander McIver Law was assigned to command of the Alabama Brigade which was shortly after organized with the 4th, 15th, 44th, 47th and 48th Alabama regiments as its complement. They were placed together with the Texas Brigade and assigned to the division commanded by Major Gen'l John Bell Hood.
The 4th was engaged at Fredericksburg where it lost 5 k and 17 w. The regiment was detached with Lt. Gen'l James Longstreet to invest Suffolk in 1863, and it soon after took up the line of march for Pennsylvania where it was engaged in the assault at Gettysburg, losing 15 k and 72 w and mia.
In the fall of 1863, the 4th moved with Longstreet's Corps via railroad and took part at the Battle of Chicamauga, with a loss of 14 k and 54 w out of about 300 engaged. It moved with the corps into east Tennessee, and in the attack on Knoxville lost 5 killed and 24 wounded. Rejoining the army in Virginia, the Fourth was hotly engaged, and lost 15 k and 58 w at The Wilderness, out of about 250 engaged, with 4 killed and 11 wounded at Spottsylvania.
The 4th participated in all the operations to the Second Battle of Cold Harbor, where its loss was slight. Then, for nearly ten months, the 4th lay behind the defences of Petersburg, taking part in the various movements and assaults, and losing 10 k and 30 w during that time. It surrendered 21 officers and 202 men at Appomattox, Brig. William F. Perry having been in command of the brigade for nearly one year. Of 1,422 men on its rolls, about 240 died in battle, nearly 100 died of disease, and 408 were discharged or transferred.
The 4th Alabama along with the 15th, 44th, 47th and 48th made up Law's brigade.
FIELD OFFICERS:
Cols. Egbert J. Jones (Madison County; KIA, 1st Manassas [died, 3 Sept 1861]); Evander McIvor Law (Macon County; promoted); Pinckney Downie Bowles (Conecuh County; promoted); Lt. Cols. Evander McIvor Law (promoted); Thomas J. Goldsby (Dallas County; wounded, 1st Cold Harbor; resigned); Owen Kenan McLemore (Chambers County; KIA, Boonsboro); Pinckney Downie Bowles (promoted); Lawrence Houston Scruggs (Madison County; wounded, Chicamauga); Majors Charles L. Scott (Wilcox County; wounded, Manassas; resigned, 22 Aug 1862); Pinckney Downie Bowles (promoted); Lawrence Houston Scruggs (promoted); Thomas K. Coleman (Perry County; KIA, Chicamauga); William Mack Robbins (Perry County; wounded, The Wilderness); and Adjutants Joseph Hardie (dropped, 21 April 1862); Robert T. Coles (Madison County; wounded, Gaines' Mill)
BATTLES: ROSTERS:
Co. "A", Governor's Guard (Dallas County) -- Thomas J. Goldsby (promoted); Reuben Vaughan Kidd (KIA, Chicamauga); Jason M. West (wounded, Hanover Junction)
Co. "B" (Macon County) -- Thomas B. Dryer (dropped, 21 April 1862); E. Jones Glass (resigned, 10 March 1863); Bayless C. Brown (KIA, The Wilderness)
Co. "C" (Dallas County) -- N. H. R. Dawson (dropped, 21 April 1862); Alfred C. Price (KIA, Gaines' Mill [died, 7 July 1862]); Major D. Sterrett (wounded, Malvern Hill; retired, 24 Jan 1863); Frank C. Robbins (wounded, 1st Cold Harbor, Knoxville; captured, Knoxville)
Co. "D", Canebrake Rifle Guards (Perry and Marengo counties) -- Richard Clarke (dropped, 21 April 1862); Thomas K. Coleman (promoted); James Taylor Jones (wounded, The Wilderness)
Co. "E", Conecuh Guards (Conecuh County) -- Pinckney Downie Bowles (promoted, 22 Aug 1862); William Lee (KIA, Malvern Hill); James W. Darley (wounded, The Wilderness); Archibald D. McInnis
Co. "F" (Madison County) -- Gustavus B. Martin (KIA, Seven Pines); W. W. Leftwich (KIA, Gettysburg); James H. Brown (wounded, The Wilderness)
Co. "G", Marion Light Infantry (Perry County) -- Porter King (dropped, 21 April 1862); William Mack Robbins (promoted, 3 Oct 1863); Henry H. Moseley (wounded, Knoxville, and captured); Martin T. Billingsley (KIA, Chickamauga)
Co. "H", Lauderdale Volunteer Dragoons (Lauderdale County) -- Robert McFarland (dropped, 21 April 1862); Hesley Armistead (KIA, 1st Cold Harbor); William F. Karsner
Co. "I", North Alabamians (Madison County) -- Edward Dorr Tracy (transferred to 12th AL Regt; promoted); Lawrence Houston Scruggs (wounded, Malvern Hill, Sharpsburg; promoted, 30 Sept 1862); Watkins Harris (dropped, 6 June 1864)
Co. "K", Larkinsville Guards (Jackson County) -- Lewis E. Lindsay (KIA, 1st Manassas); John D. Ogilvie (died in service, 27 April 1864); James H. Young (declined, 21 April 1862); W. H. Robinson (wounded, 1st Cold Harbor, and retired); James Sullivan (KIA, Sharpsburg); James H. Keith (KIA, Fredericksburg); William H. Robinson (resigned, 28 July 1861); A. C. Murray (resigned, 28 July 1861); Robert P. Jones (retired, 24 Feb 1865)
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
HISTORICAL NOTES:
