iiilffiiliiJiHSiHHiiii^jJlii^^^ 1 1 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DDDDbl3Tbfll V\ s • • . % ^ , o_ * ^0' ^^ *.,,.' ^V o o^. ".. ^^ -.^^^^/ -^^ '^r* •-^^ae?'.* 4.^^^% '•'^f^*' -^^^^ '•' '^o^ ^ .N^ '■ /\-^--.. lOv, 'bV ^0' *^/.^.-\^*^ "°^'-.^-/ V-^'--\/ *-.,^* .V^. »4 0k "bt- P-,- ^ /. "^^ju.-^ ^-^4 HORATIO C. KING. HORA HRIGADIER GENERAL and JUDGE ADVOCATE-CtENERAL, STATE OF NEW YORK, 18S3-86. SKETCH OP HORATIO C. KING. BY Col LEWIS R. STEGMAN, U, S. Vol. PRINTKD FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. " Now I dislike to be the historian of our own deeds, but I have found it a sacred mission in life and politics that, if j'our party doesn't recognize your merits, tell them." Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, at the Banquet of the Army of the Potomac, Saratoga Springs, N. Y., 1S87. NEW YORK : Macgowan & Slipper, Printers, 30 Beekman Street. J899. [From the Grand Army Gazette, January, 1883.] Sketch of Gen, Horatio C, King. COL. LEWIS R. STEGMAN, U. S. V. The kindred engendered by blood-stained fields is as dear as the ties of blood which kinsfolk feel toward their own in the days of peace. And when in all the circum- stances of life a comrade has so conducted himself that we feel proud of him, honor his merits and can truth- fully say, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant," is it not meet and proper that those who love and honor him should give voice to their feelings ? In the battle's storm, when a hero's plume was ever at the front, we lifted our hats and cheered to the echo as his form went rushing by. In more peaceful pursuits, in our civil life, we have followed the career of these heroes with the same earnest faith in their well doing, though we may have omitted the cheers. This of those who have gained high renown ; but to assist in making it, they were compelled to depend upon their faithful attaches and subordinates, upon the men who carried out and obeyed their orders to the letter, thus securing the vic- tory that gave fame to their superiors. It follows as a truth almost an axiom, that the good soldier will make a good citizen ; that the loyal boys of war and strife, in our great volunteer armies, may always be trusted to do their duty as loyal citizens, gaining in quiet, peaceful pursuits such laurel crowns as civic society may grant. Hundreds of gallant soldiers have been honored, since the war, by the suffrages of their fel- low citizens with high and important offices ; and the years have not yet passed when it shall not stand a man in good stead, in our loyal communities, that he once marched under our bright banner in the days of peril and war. The writer is restricted in all that he would wish to say, in all that he could say, in connection with the sub- ject of this sketch. He knows that the blood would rush to his friend's cheek, and in very fear, in phrase which cannot convey his sentiments, he must, perforce, go into practical details, leaving the limning and the rhythm of his music to be developed in the brains of his comrades, the men who know a true man and good soldier by the record of his services. We who know him so well, who know his loyal heart, his sturdy, earnest manhood, to whom he has endeared himself by ties of warmest affection, can scarcely find words of sufficient depth and power to express the senti- ments of esteem and regard in which we hold him. And thus it is wherever his pleasant lines be cast. In the field, or at the forum, he always inspires respect and affection. As a soldier he was gallant, beloved by his comrades ; as a civilian he is held in the highest regard, winning his way by toil, making his own roadway to fame and eminence, an unwearying worker in his chosen avocations. As a faithful, loving husband, a good, affectionate father, an earnest, sincere, devoted friend, none can sur- pass him, few are his equals. In qualities of mind and heart, he ranks with the foremost. Every inch the soldier, never forgetful of his old time service and the wearing of the blue, in his civilian life he is ever the courteous gentleman. To his clientele he gives his best brain, and their interests, while in his charge, are part of i86i 5 his own life. Studious, careful, exact, mindful of every right and deliberate in his judgment, in his law practice he has won a bright and honored name. In temper urbane and polished, he is ever polite under the severest of trials. Careful and discriminating, he rarely commits errors ; and when in advocacy, his sword flashes in the sunlight ere it descends. As a public speaker and orator, he ranks high, and his addresses are listened to with at- tention and deep interest. He incites pathos and hilarity at will, and he is a ready man, and never at a loss for what to say. We say these things of him because he cannot stop us. If he could, we doubt whether he would permit a line of his life to be written. He is too modest, by far ; but de- spite the fact that he is backward, we have found our way to the front in getting at the facts which we subjoin. Within the past few weeks, the Governor of the great State of New York, Grover Cleveland, from a large num- ber of able, excellent men, has seen fit to select him as a member of his staff, making him Judge Advocate Gen- eral of the National Guard of the State. It is a promo- tion well merited, conferred by the Chief Magistrate of the Empire State; and, in a soldierly way, just at this time, we intend to tell his life story as we have gleaned it. Horatio C. King is a son of the Hon. Horatio King, ex-Postmaster General in the Cabinet of President Bu- chanan. From his father he inherits much of his loyalty and clear-cut character. Born in Portland, Me , on December 22, 1837, he was removed in infancy to the city of Washington. Studious in his boyhood, though always fond of sport and exercise, he was finally sent as a student to Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., from which excellent institution he graduated in 1858. While at Col lege he was a universal favorite, attracting marked atten- tion, and beloved by his fellow-students. Ever ready to indulge in the College sports, he was also a ready scholar, winning the esteem of his professors. His natural bent of study led him to the law, and soon after his gradu- ation from college he entered the law office of the after- ward great Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, at Washington, where he remained for two years, from 1859 to 1861, and became thoroughly familiar with every class of practice, both in the Courts and Departments. Mr. Stanton followed the career of our hero with a great deal of feeling, constantly advising him and noting his success with pride. At the outbreak of the rebellion, General King was in New York pursuing his legal studies preparatory to his admission to the bar in May, 1861. Although eager to join the first troops who responded to the call of the President, he was persuaded by his parents, and by the assurance of the Cabinet at Washington, that it was not going to be "much of a scrimmage," and continued in his profession until July, 1862, when he applied to the then Governor of New York for a position in a light battery then forming. All the places having been assigned, he went to Washington, and learning that General Casey was in special need of a Quartermaster, he applied to his former friend and law instructor, Edwin M. Stanton, then War Secretary, for the position. Of the nature of its duties he was wholly ignorant, but he wanted to do something and took the first duty which presented itself. The appointment was made at once, and within an hour of the application, he had a Captain's commission in his pocket and a five days' leave of absence to return to New York, procure his uniform and arrange his business. Reporting promptly, he commenced at once to study the infinite details of his duties. A Quartermaster is the pack horse of the army, and is saddled with an amount of work unknown to any other army officer. But the young Captain was equal to the emergency, and when the new levies began pouring into Washington in the fall of 1862, under the call for troops, necessitated by the reverses on the Peninsula, he was ready to render much valuable as- sistance. The officers and the men of the new regiments were thoroughly unskilled. Quartermasters were utterly ignorant of the wants of their troops, and Captain King's office was a kind of training school in which they were not only taught, but assisted with such uniform patience and good nature that hundreds of officers and men had occasion to remember his kindness, so often in contrast to the uncivil treatment received at the hands of many officials. About 130,000 troops were received at this time, and organized into provisional brigades, and en- camped south of the Potomac, as far as Fairfax Court House and Centerville. At this time he married a daughter of Russell Stebbins, Esq., an honored merchant of New York, now deceased, who, with a baby of three months, died in 1864. General Casey's work of organization being accom- plished, he was ordered to other duty, and Captain King was assigned to the Department Headquarters, General Heintzelman commanding. The latter was suc- ceeded by General Augur, of Cedar Mountain fame. After some months of clerical duty, varied occasionally by reconnoissances, and scouting excursions into the enemy's lines, and trips for exchange of prisoners, the Captain was assigned to duty as Chief Quartermaster of De Russy's division, which included the line of fortifica- tions from the Chain Bridge on the Potomac to Alexan- dria. The successful management of his department over this large extent of territory secured for him the highest encomiums of his superior officers. But, chafing under this peaceful, though very essential kind of warfare, and although reluctant to part from such an officer as General De Russy, he nevertheless applied to Secretary Stanton in person to be assigned to more active duty in the field. An order was accordingly issued directing him to report to General Philip Sheridan, then commanding the Army of the Shenandoah. General De Russy thereupon addressed to Captain King a compli- mentary letter, in which, after returning to him "My (his) sincere thanks for the very energetic manner in which you have conducted, while here, the duties intrusted to your special charge, for the able manner in which you have instructed your subordinate Quartermasters and systematized the machinery of your Department through- out this Division," etc., added : " Your value as an officer will be very soon appreciated by those among whom you will go, and I hope will pro- cure for you employment in the most important and honorable position in the Quartermaster Department on the staff of General Sheridan." As soon as a successor had been named, to whom he could turn over the immense property for which he was responsible, he started for the Shenandoah Valley. His first night's experience was unique ; for, reaching Martins- burg late in the evening, he found the town packed to overflowing with wounded and furloughed soldiers, and others who were drawn thither because of the late great battle at Cedar Creek. At the depot were a large num- ber of dead heroes awaiting shipment. The night was cold and stormy, and finding a sheltered nook between two rows of occupied coffins. Captain King gathered his blankets around him and laid down to a sleep which, happily for him, had an awakening. Accompanying the first escort to the front, he reported to General Sheridan and was assigned to the staff of the gallant General Wes- ley Merritt, the great cavalryman, as Chief Quartermas- ter of the First Cavalry Division of nine thousand cavalry, with the rank of Major. The care of such a family was no easy task, but Major King supplied its wants with un- failing regularity, and received special official mention from General Merritt. In addition to the usual duties of Quartermaster in the field, he seized and ran a saw mill and a tannery, and, with details from the command, he procured and sawed lumber sufficient for winter quarters, and turned out some eighteen hundred sides of leather, all tanned by enlisted men from the Seventeenth Penn- sylvania Cavalry, with which the harness of the artil- lery and trains were put in thorough repair. The few months' quiet near Winchester were varied by sharp fighting, reconnoissances to New Market and Gordonsville and a raid through Loudon County. In February of 1865 ensued the celebrated James River raid, and the Army of the Shenandoah, after a career of devastation, came out at the White House on the Pamunkey River. Having refitted, it crossed the James River at Deep Bot- tom, and went into camp at Hancock Station. Its stay here was brief, and on March 29 it started out on its last memorable campaign, which precipitated the action at Five Forks. In the second day's engagement, a portion of the Division being severely pressed, Major King was ordered by General Devin, then commanding the Divi- sion, to find the Reserve Brigade (General Gibbs') and pilot it to the point of danger. This he did with such promptitude and success that the Brigade reached the scene in time to deploy in line of battle and repel a fierce charge, in which Major King participated. For his con- duct on this and other occasions General Devin recom- mended him to the Secretary of War for the Brevet rank of Colonel in the following correspondence obtained through the courtesy of Adjutant-General Ruggles : War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, May i, 1894. My Dear General : As requested in your letter of the 30th ultimo, I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of the letter from General Thomas C. Devin, recommend- ing you for the brevet of Colonel of Volunteers, and also of the indorsement thereon of the late General Meigs, concurring in the recommendation of General Devin. Yours faithfully, George D. Ruggles, Adjutant-General. Gen. Horatio C. King, No. 375 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. New York, November i, 1865. Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War. Sir : Permit me to recommend to your favorable con- LofC. lO sideration the claim of (late) Major Horatio C. King, Division Quartermaster, First Division, Sheridan's Cav- alry. Major King quitted a lucrative profession to enter the Volunteer service in the summer of 1862, served with credit until the conclusion of the war and was then at his own request honorably discharged to enable him to re- sume his profession. During the battles at Five Forks and those subse- quent, Major King volunteered his services as my per- sonal aide and rendered gallant and distinguished service. I would respectfully submit that the Brevet of Colonel of Volunteers would not be too great a reward for the services of this modest and deserving officer, and such promotion I most respectfully and earnestly recommend. Very respectfully your obedient servant, Thomas C. Devin, Brev. Maj. Gen. Vols. Late Comdg. ist Cav. Div. INDORSEMENT. Respectfully forwarded to the Secretary of War. For his services in the Quartermaster's Department Captain King held the temporary rank by assignment of Major and Division Quartermaster, and has been bre- vetted Major of Volunteers. For gallantry and distinguished services, as Aide upon the battlefields of Five Forks, and subsequent actions of the final Campaign against Richmond, I concur in the recommendation of his immediate Commanding Officer, General Devin, that he receive the further Brevet of Colonel of Volunteers. Respectfully submitted, M. C. Meigs, Quartermaster Gen., Bvt, Maj. Gen. Q. M. G. O., December 9, '65. II Participating in the final campaign until the surren- der of General Lee, and in the subsequent advance of the Division to the Dan River to co-operate with Gen- eral Sherman against Johnston, Major King returned with the command to Washington, where, after the great review in which he took part, his resignation was ac- cepted and he returned to civil life. On the night pre- ceding his withdrawal. General Devin convened the offi- cers of the staff in his tent and read the following special order : Headquarters First Cavalry Division, Department of Washington, June 26, 1865. Special Orders No. 39 : I. The resignation of Major Horatio C. King, Chief Quartermaster of the Division, having been accepted, he is hereby relieved from duty at these headquarters. n. In parting with Major King, the Brigadier-General commanding the Division would fail in his duty to a meritorious and valued member of his staff, did he not testify to the efficient management of his department while attached to this Division. III. During the severe campaign just ended, while his promptness and energy were the occasion of frequent commendation, his gentlemanly courtesy endeared him to all. IV. In his new career he will carry with him not only the heartiest wishes for his success from all with whom he has been associated, but also the consciousness of hav- ing so performed his manifold, arduous and often hazard- ous duties as never to have given cause for a single complaint during his connection with this Division. By command of Brigadier-General Devin. A. J. Hill, Captain and A. A. A. G. The Brevets of Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel were conferred upon Major King by the War Department. LofC. 12 After his return from the war, and though entering the lavv, his natural predilections led him to newspaper life. For several years he was Associate Editor of the New York Star ; then publisher of the Christian Union, edited by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher; then he was at- tached to the Christian at Work in a like capacity, fulfill- ing all the conditions of the arduous life of a newspaper man. During all this time his pen was never idle, his active body never at rest. Poems, magazine articles and songs, many of them widely published and sung, gave him high rank in the literary and musical world. Sev- eral years ago he was elected Secretary of the " Society of the Army of the Potomac," and he has been re-elected term after term. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was a charter member of the New York Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. He is also a Mason and a member of the B. P. Order of Elks. His law practice has grown large and compensatory, merited by his care and acumen. During his army experience he was frequently Judge Advocate of courts martial, involving a careful study of military law. Pleased with soldier life, he was induced to join the National Guard of this State, and he was soon selected as Major of the Thirteenth Regiment and then as Brigade Judge Advocate, serving on staff duty. His military work on courts martial governing the National Guard was adopted by the State of New York and served to simplify the work of mihtary courts. In the recent great United States Army court in the case of Generals Stanley and Hazen, of which General Hancock was President, he was of counsel with General McMahon for General Stanley and received high praise for his part in the conduct of his client's cause. More re- cently, he was the principal counsel in the great Grand Army case involving the editor of this Grand Army Gazette — the celebrated case of Tanner vs. Joel. The outcome of two courts martial, resulting as they have, is principally due to the skill of the new Judge Advocate i897 13 General. We, his associate, say so, and say so feelingl}^ knowing whereof we write. In closing, we feel assured that at the termination of his service. General King will return to his civil life with added laurels and a brighter crown. " April, 1899. Over sixteen years have passed since the above sketch of the life of General King was written, years crowded with active work and steady labor. It should be noted that in the appointment by Governor Cleveland of Colonel King to the honorable position of Judge Advo- cate General, it bore with it the rank and honor of a Brigadier General. Colonel King upon his return to New York in 1865 en- tered upon the practice of law, having his office in New York, but residing in Brooklyn. A year later he married the only daughter of John T. Howard, Esq., one of the oldest and most esteemed residents of the City of Churches. Until (897 a happy family of six daughters surrounded him. One son and two daughters died in in- fancy, and in May, 1897, he was sorely bereft of a lovely daughter, Ethel, nineteen years of age, who was univer- sally beloved. Four daughters are married, and seven grandchildren bless these happy unions. On the nomination of Governor Cleveland for the Presi- dency of the United States, General King threw himself with hearty zeal into the campaign strife and bore a most conspicuous part in the political battle which resulted in Mr. Cleveland's election. Governor Hill, who succeeded Governor Cleveland, continued General King in his posi- tion as Judge Advocate General until the end of General King's official term — a mark of distinguished considera- tion for his efficiency. In 1885 he was appointed by Mayor Seth Low, of Brooklyn, a member of the Board of Education, and was regularly reappointed by succeeding mayors of the city, holding the office until his resignation in 1894. In the H Board, General King won high and well-merited en- comium for his assiduous attention to duty, his tireless energy in behalf of all objects that seemed to his mind to be beneficial or for the enhancement of public education or to the general advancement of the public schools, of whose system he is a great admirer. In the spring of the latter year he was appointed by Governor Flower a Trustee of the New York State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, to succeed General Henry W. Slocum, deceased. He was reappointed by Gover- nor Black. At the present writing he is Vice-President of the Board, and no trustee is more highly esteemed than he by the fifteen hundred soldiers to whose comfort and happiness he devotes his most assiduous attention. He has also been an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic for a long time past, and was one of the charter members of Charles R. Doane Post, 499, Department of New York. He served two terms as Post Commander and refused a re-election upon the ground that the " boys were growing old and the honors should go around." His merits as a careful, painstaking judicial officer were recognized when General N. M. Curtis was elected De- partment Commander of the Department of New York, G. A. R., by his appointment as Judge Advocate General — a position which he filled ably and well, many cases now cited in precedents being the result of his careful discrim- ination. In 1895 he was tendered, at Syracuse, the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State of New York. Al- though unsuccessful, the Republican majority of the pre- vious election was reduced over a hundred thousand and General King carried his own city — Brooklyn — by seven thousand (one thousand more than that of any of the rest of the candidates), and the Republican ward in which he has resided for thirty-four years by a handsome majority — a rare tribute by the people who know him personally and know him best. 15 In 1897 the War Department recognized the gallantry of General King at Five Forks, as expressed in this cor- respondence : SUBJECT: MEDAL OF HONOR. File No. R. & P. 473,307. War Department, Washington, September 17, 1897. Colonel Horatio C. King, 375 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. Sir : You are hereby notified that, by direction of the President and under the provisions of the Act of Con- gress approved March 3, 1863, providing for the presen- tation of Medals of Honor to such officers, non-commis- sioned officers and privates as have most distinguished themselves in action, a Congressional Medal of Honor has this day been presented to you for Most Distinguished Gallantry in Action, the following being a statement of the particular service, viz. : ''On March 29, 1865, this officer, then a Major U. S. Volunteers, and Quartermaster First Cavalry Division, Cavalry Corps, requested permission, which was granted, to accompany the General Commanding Division on the movement then ordered as a volunteer Aide-de-Camp, and was often under fire, and in the action near Din- widdle Court House, March 31, 1865, Major King, while serving as Aide, behaved with distinguished gallantry in a Cavalry charge." The Medal will be forwarded to you by registered mail as soon as it shall have been engraved. Respectfully, R. A. Alger, Secretary of War. Brooklyn, N. Y., September 21, 1897. Hon. R. A. Alger, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C. My Dear Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the i6 receipt to-day of your esteemed favor of September 17, informing me that by direction of the President, a Con- gressional Medal of Honor has been awarded me for gal- lantry at the battle of Five Forks. This exalted recognition of a service for which, at the time, I felt amply rewarded by the approval of my asso- ciates and the brevet of Colonel, touches me deeply, and it will be a satisfaction and pride to my children. To the President and yourself I beg to express my most heartfelt thanks, and to remain Sincerely yours, Horatio C. King. As a lawyer he has continued in successful practice. For six years he was counsel for the Musical Mutual Pro- tective Union, and won in the Court of Appeals for the Union the suit of Theodore Thomas against that organi- zation, which fixes the status of trades unions and clubs generally for all time. He has also been prominently identified with many other leading cases. In 1895, in conjunction with his father, who died on the 20th of May, 1897, General King prepared for publication and published some of the most important of Mr. King, Sr.'s, writings under the title of " Turning on the Light," which included especially his defense of President Bu- chanan. For this he wrote a biographical sketch of his honored sire. Other publications of the General, besides those already named, are the " Proceedings of the Society of the Army of the Potomac " for twenty-two years, the " Silver Wedding of Plymouth Church," "Reminiscences of Brooklyn," " History of Dickinson College," " Mem- orials," " Twelve Songs," " Ten Songs for Public Schools," " Sacred Songs and Carols," and other musical composi- tions, together with numerous contributions to periodicals and newspapers. In 1896 he was elected a Trustee of Dickinson College, and at the same time the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon his father. In the following year he himself re 17 ceived the degree of Doctor of Laws from Allegheny Col- lege, Pennsylvania. Anticipating a conflict with Spain, he tendered his ser- vices to the Secretary of War, and when war was de- clared repeated the offer, both tenders being suitably acknowledged. No action having been taken, he made formal application for the position of Judge Advocate, relying wholly upon his record. With many hundred like applications of experienced soldiers, his request was pigeonholed. As an orator his services are in constant demand throughout the whole country. His fame has traveled to its furthermost limits, and his talents are brought into constant use on the lecture platform, as a post-prandial speaker, and as an effective campaign orator, moving his audiences at will to laughter or tears, or leading them in sympathetic unison to tender memories or patriotic enthusiasm. Only within the past year he was re-elected for the twenty-second time as Secretary of the " Society of the Army of the Potomac," an office upon which the mem- bers seem to have affixed the sign " perpetual," for they will listen to no renunciation of it, and permit no other name to be used. At the last Reunion at Niagara Falls he read an original poem, entitled, " The Phantom Column," which with his sketch of the Army of the Potomac, has been issued in pamphlet form. Yes, in the past sixteen years, since the original memoir was written, the life of General King has been a busy one, with accumulating honors and with a record of ser- vice well done. To-day, as the civilian, he is just as faith- ful to the laws of his country, to the betterment of his fellow-men, as he was gallant and faithful as a soldier of the great war. It can be well said of him, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant." ff60 0^ * -^^ ^ "'• ^ \Wy V ^ v o 'iiii!;