[texhax] counter _inside_ table/tabular

[Bryan W. Lepore]

i'm stuck on the problem of putting a counter *inside* a table 
(specifically longtable) to number each entry within the single table. 
seems reasonable for latex, right?

here's what i tried so far - so i think it is NOT as simple as :

\newcounter{myCounter} %<- in preamble
\setcounter{myCounter} %<- increment=1
.....
\value{myCounter} %<- in longtable environment

error is :
! Missing number, treated as zero.

is that right?  i may need these other packages i've been reading about?

-bryan