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 .