In a Google Docs Spreadsheet, I would expect this formula:
=ARRAYFORMULA(ROW())
to fill the column like:
[ 1] [ 2] [ 3] [ 4]
The following may be a little simpler:
=arrayformula(ROW(INDIRECT("A"&ROW()&":A")))
or
=index(ROW(INDIRECT("A"&ROW()&":A")))