The History of                                                                              The 4th US Rt.                                                                                of Infantry  

                  Lineage and Honors

              Constituted 12 April 1808 in the Regular Army as the 4th                       Infantry Organized May-June 1808 in New England

    The United Stated Army had been traditionally shunned by the citizens that they in place to protect. The US Army only had two regiments. Many civilian leaders remembered the Revolution and the British Army’s role in fomenting an environment in which rebellion was inevitable. There-fore Congress made sure that the US Army could not be used to enforce unjust laws and or support a king (elected or not). The situation of the United States as a neutral nation became increasingly hazardous as the conflict between Britain and France, which embraced the whole Western world, increased in ruthlessness and desperation. Both powers trampled on neutral rights, but Britain, because it commanded the sea, was the greater offender. Despite repeated protests by the U.S. government, the British policy of impressing American seamen was pursued with increased vigor. The attack of the British man-of-war Leopard on the American frigate Chesapeake in 1807 could have been considered an