United States Regiments & Batteries > Rhode Island > 4th Rhode Island Infantry Regiment
The 4th Rhode Island Infantry Regiment lost 5 officers and 68 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 67 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War.
One of the regiment’s band musicians, Canadian born Private Calixa Lavallée, went on to compose “O Canada,” which became the national anthem of Canada.
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1861
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| August-September | The 4th Rhode Island Infantry Regiment was organized at Providence under the command of Colonel Justus I. McCarty and Lieutenant Colonel William Henry P. Steere and Major George W. Tew. |
| October 2 | Left Rhode Island for Washington, D.C. |
| October | At Camp Casey attached to Casey’s Provisional Division, Army Potomac |
| October 30 | Mustered in under the command of Colonel Isaac P. Rodman after Colonel McCarty’s commission was revoked. |
| November 28 | At Camp California attached to Howard’s Brigade, Sumner’s Division, Army of the Potomac |
| December 14 | At Edsall’s Hill, Defences of Washington, D.C. assigned to Parke’s 3rd Brigade, Burnside’s Expeditionary Corps |
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1862
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| January 3 | Moved to Annapolis, Md. |
| January 7- February 8 |
Burnside’s Expedition to Hatteras Inlet and Roanoke Island |
| February 9 |
Battle of Roanoke Island |
| February | Duty at Roanoke Island |
| March 11-13 | Advance on New Berne |
| March 14 |
Battle of New BerneAdjutant Joseph B. Curtis was wounded. |
| March 23-April 26 |
Siege of Fort MaconAtached to 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Dept. of North Carolina |
| April 25-26 |
Bombardment and capture of Fort Macon |
| May-June | Duty at Beaufort and New Berne. Colonel Rodman returned to Rhode Island after contracting Typhoid Fever, leaving Lieutenant Colonel Steere in command of the regiment. |
| May 16 | Colonel Rodman was promoted to brigadier general. |
| June 12 | Lieutenant Colonel Henry Steere was promoted to colonel and Major George W. Tew was promoted to lieutenant colonel. |
| July 6-8 | Moved to Newport News, Va. Attached to 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army Potomac |
| August | Lieutenant Colonel Tew resigned and Lieutenant Curtiss was promoted to lieutenant colonel. |
| August 3-6 | To Fredericksburg |
| August 31-September 3 | Moved to Brook’s Station, then to Washington, D.C. |
| September |
Maryland Campaign |
| September 14 |
Battle of South Mountain |
| September 16-17 |
Battle of AntietamColonel Henry Steere was wounded in the thigh while advancing from Burnside’s Bridge toward Sharpsburg. Lieutenant Colonel Curtis then took command of the regiment. It lost 21 enlisted men killed, 5 officers and 72 enlisted men wounded, and 2 men missing. From the War Department marker to Harland’s Brigade on the Antietam battlefield:On the morning of the 17th, Harland’s Brigade moved from its position southeast of Burnside Bridge. The 11th Connecticut, deployed as skirmishers, preceded Crook’s Brigade in its assault on the bridge and was repulsed with great loss. During the forenoon the remaining Regiments of the Brigade moved down the left bank of the Antietam, crossed at Snavely’s Ford and, moving up the right bank of the stream, formed line on the left of the Division, Ewing’s Ohio Brigade in support. At about 3 P.M., the Brigade advanced in the direction of Sharpsburg. The 8th Connecticut passed to the west of this point and the 16th Connecticut and 4th Rhode Island were in the 40 acre cornfield east, when they were attacked in flank by the right of A.P. Hill’s Division and compelled to retire to the cover of the high ground near the bridge. |
| September- October |
Duty in Pleasant Valley, Maryland. After the battle Companies I & K were broken up and distributed to the other 8 companies in order to overcome the lack of company officers. |
| October 3 |  Sergeant James Burbank of Company K was awarded the Medal of Honor for “Gallantry in action while on detached service on board the gunboat Barney.” The gunboat USS Commodore Barney was on the Blackwater River near Franklin, Virginia.Born as Reinder Jilderts in the Netherlands, Sergeant Burbankk served 11 months on detached duty on gunboats in the coastal waters of Virginia. |
| October 30- November 19 |
Advance to Falmouth, Va. |
| December 12-15 |
Battle of FredericksburgLieutenant Colonel Curtiss was killed by a fragment from an artillery shell. |
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1863
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| January | Attached to 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, 9th Corps |
| January 20-24 |
“Mud March” |
| February 8 | Moved to Newport News, Va. |
| March 13 | To Suffolk |
| April 12-May 4 |
Siege of SuffolkAttached to 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 7th Corps, Dept. of Virginia |
| May 4 | Nansemond River |
| May | Colonel Steere returned to the regiment, having recovered from his Antietam wound. |
| June 9-13 | Reconnoissance to the Chickahominy |
| June 24-July 8 |
Dix’s Peninsula CampaignAttached to 3rd Brigade, Getty’s Division at Portsmouth, Va., Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina. Colonel Steere commanded the brigade as senior colonel. |
| July 1-7 | Expedition from White House to South Anna River |
| July | Duty at Portsmouth |
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1864
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| January | Attached to 3rd Brigade, Heckman’s Division, Portsmouth, Virginia |
| March 1 | At Norfolk |
| April 1 | At Point Lookout, Md., guarding prisoners. Attached to District of St. Mary’s Point, Lookout, Md. |
| July 16 | Ordered to Petersburg, Va. and attached to 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Corps, Army of the Potomac. Colonel Henry Steer went on leave, and Major James T. P. Bucklin commanded the regiment. |
| July to October |
Siege of Petersburg |
| July 30 |
Mine Explosion (Battle of the Crater) |
| August 18-21 |
Weldon RailroadThe regiment was commanded by Captain Walter A. Read. |
| September 29-October 2 |
Poplar Springs Church |
| October 15 | Old members were mustered out under Colonel Henry Steere. Veterans and Recruits were onsolidated into the 7th Rhode Island Infantry. |