The History of 4-1 Field Artillery Battalion by 4-1 Field Artillery on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 10:09am 4-1 FA deploys

with or without equipment, builds combat power, conducts military operations in support of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st AD or other headquart ers and redeploys. The 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery was organized in 1792 in the Regular Army near Fort Wayne, Indiana, as Captain Moses Porter's Company of Artillery of the 3d Sublegion, Legion of the United States. The unit helped maintain the nation' s growing western frontier under the same assignment until 1812, when it was red esignated as Captain Nathaniel Leonard's Company, 1st Regiment of Artillery. Captain Leonard's artillery fought its first action against the British in Canad a during the War of 1812. After the war, the unit underwent several redesignatio ns until, on 1 June 1821, it became nown as Company E, 1st Regiment of Artiller y. The unit moved to the southern United States, to be stationed in Florida, and saw action during the Indian Campaigns at Miami and Pine Ridge. In 1846, Compan y E, 1st Regiment of Artillery fought with General Zachary Taylor during the Mex ican War, during which the artillery often proved to be the decisive factor at p laces such as Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Monterey. Company E, 1st Regiment of Artillery was stationed at Fort Sumter, South Carolin a, in January 1861. On the morning of April 12, the Company served in its first action of what would become the Civil War when it defended the fort against sece ssionist gunfire until the garrison was forced to withdraw on April 13. From For t Sumter, E Company moved to Fort Hamilton , New Yor and, subsequently, to Cham bersburg, Pennsylvania on 3 June 1861, where it was assigned to Patterson's army . The Company served in the defense of Washington, DC through the following spri ng. In March 1862, the Company was again reassigned, this time to Hoo er's Divis ion, Army of the Potomac. Shortly thereafter, and over the next three years, E C ompany fought numerous actions, participation in virtually every major conflict of the Civil War: the Peninsula Campaign, Manassas, Antietam, Fredric sburg, Cha ncellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Peters burg. The 1st Regiment of Artillery fought and protected the force valiantly--wi th E Company participating in the preponderance of the fighting--losing a total of 197 officers and soldiers over the 4 years of conflict. Company E, 1st Regiment of Artillery experienced several reorganization and rede signation periods during the years following its participation in the Spanish-Am erican War and Philippine Insurrection. By 1 October 1940, it had come to be no wn as Battery A, 1st Field Artillery Battalion. Battery A, 1st Field Artillery Battalion was assigned in support of the 6th Infa ntry Division, and deployed to the Pacific theater during World War II. The Batt ery distinguished itself in action in New Guinea and Luzon; earning battle strea mers, with arrowheads, for both campaigns. The unit was also awarded the Philipp ine Presidential Unit Citation, for the period dated 17 October 1944 to 4 July 1 945. After WWII, the unit moved bac to the continental United States from Korea and experienced another wave of redesignations, inactivations, and reactivations, cu lminating in its designation as the 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery at Fort R iley, Kansas, on 16 February 1996.