4th California Infantry Regiment


The 4th California Infantry was a volunteer infantry regiment recruited from northern California during the American Civil War. It was organized at Sacramento, Placerville, and Auburn in September and October 1861.

4th California Regiment of Infantry Commanders

Most of the recruits, caught up in war fever, expected to be sent to the eastern battlefields. They were disappointed to be instead ordered to garrison duty and related tasks on the West Coast, where they spent the remainder of their enlistments. The regiment served principally in the District of Oregon,, and in the District of Southern California. None of these duties required regimental strength, so the companies of the regiment were detached and scattered. The regiment was mustered out on April 18, 1866.

Company assignments

A group located in western and central Oregon and northern California reenacts Company D.
Companies A, B, C, D and E were sent to the Washington Territory in late 1862 and were recalled at varying times throughout 1862. One of the best documented of these detachments is that of Company D, which was sent to Fort Hoskins and Fort Yamhill in Oregon. It participated in the Expedition from Siletz Block House to Coos Bay April 21-May 12, 1864. A number of Company D's soldiers did not return to California, choosing to settle in Oregon and start new lives there.