After formation, the regiment was transferred by railroad to Corinth, Mississippi, as part of the Army of the West. An accounting of the regiment's troops during a May 5, 1862 muster listed 547 men in the regiment. On May 9, the 4th Missouri Infantry was near the action at the Battle of Farmington and deployed, but did not enter the fray. After the Confederates evacuated Corinth because of Union pressure, the regiment trained in several locations in northern Mississippi. Price was in command of the Army of the West, which he had stationed at Iuka, Mississippi; Van Dorn had troops further to the south. The Confederates were conducting an offensive into Kentucky, and Price and Van Dorn were expected to move into Tennessee to support it. Major General Ulysses S. Grant, who was the Union commander in the region, attempted to trap Price before he could join Van Dorn, but the Confederates were able to escape after fighting the Battle of Iuka. At this time, the 4th Missouri Infantry was in Brigadier General Martin E. Green's brigade, which was held in reserve and did not fight at Iuka.