The regiment was directly descended from the Napoleonic
Duchy of Warsaw's . After Napoleon lost control of Poland in 1812, the regiment remained loyal to the emperor and fought in battles of
Leipzig and
Arcis-sur-Aube. After
his abdication and exile to the Island of
Elba, the remnants of the regiment returned to Russian-controlled
Kingdom of Poland with their regimental flags, swore an oath to the Russian Tsar and became the cadre of a newly-formed infantry regiment with the same number. Their old regimental flag was retired and is preserved in the Warsaw-based
Polish Army Museum. Like its predecessor, the new regiment was based in Warsaw and its main barracks were in the
Sapieha Palace. The regiment was recruited in and around
Warsaw from a broad cross-section of society including noblemen (
szlachta),
burghers, and many
serfs and
peasants. Because of the proximity of the barracks to the
Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich's palace, the 4th Regiment became one of his favourite military units and its soldiers enjoyed the status of his personal guard. This meant that the Grand Duke, very fond of his military units, while also cruel and brutal in their treatment, would march the regiment's soldiers days and nights, in every weather. The maltreated regiment's morale was low, yet any sign of discontent was brutally repressed: among those punished was the regiment's Major, a freemason,
Walerian Łukasiński. Denounced as the founder of a
secret society, he was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, but eventually was held without trial for 46 years in Russian prisons, most of that in
solitary confinement. == Nicknames ==