Horatio Collins King

He Carried Orders Into Fire—Then Joined the Charge

Horatio Collins King was born on December 22, 1837, in Portland, Maine. He grew up in a family closely connected with public service and education. His father, Horatio King, later served as Postmaster General of the United States, while his uncle Charles Collins was president of Dickinson College. King entered Dickinson College in 1854 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1858. After college, he studied law for two years under Edwin M. Stanton, who would later become Secretary of War during the American Civil War.

King moved to New York City and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1861. The outbreak of the Civil War soon changed the direction of his life. He sought a military commission and in 1862 entered the United States Army as an Assistant Quartermaster of Volunteers with the rank of Captain. His appointment connected him with the Army of the Potomac, and his responsibilities initially centered on the essential logistical work required to keep soldiers, horses, equipment, and supplies moving in wartime.

As the war continued, King was assigned to increasingly active service. He eventually became Chief Quartermaster of the First Cavalry Division associated with Major General Philip Sheridan's forces. Although quartermaster duty was primarily logistical, King's service placed him directly within major cavalry operations during the final campaigns of the war. He accompanied troops in the field and experienced several battles as Union cavalry pursued Confederate forces through Virginia.

By March 1865, King held the rank of Major and Quartermaster. The Confederacy was nearing military collapse, but intense fighting continued around Petersburg and the approaches to Richmond. Union cavalry and infantry forces were attempting to cut Confederate supply routes and prevent General Robert E. Lee's army from escaping westward.

On March 31, 1865, near Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia, King performed the action that would eventually earn him the Medal of Honor. He was serving as a volunteer aide during a critical phase of the fighting. Orders needed to be carried to a reserve brigade while combat was underway and Confederate forces were pressing Union positions.

King voluntarily carried those orders to the reserve troops. His mission did not end with simply delivering the message. After reaching the brigade, he participated with it in the charge that drove back the opposing force. His Medal of Honor citation therefore recognized both the delivery of vital battlefield orders and his direct participation in the counterattack that followed.

The significance of his action becomes clearer when viewed within Civil War battlefield conditions. Communication depended heavily on mounted couriers, aides, signal systems, and personal delivery of orders. Moving between commanders and units during active fighting could require crossing open or contested ground while exposed to artillery and small-arms fire. A delayed or lost order could affect an entire formation.

King's willingness to leave his quartermaster responsibilities and serve voluntarily as an aide placed him directly in that danger. He successfully reached the reserve brigade and then remained with the soldiers as they went forward in the charge. His act represented courage beyond the normal administrative responsibilities associated with his military position.

The fighting near Dinwiddie immediately preceded the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865, one of the decisive Union victories of the closing campaign. King's subsequent wartime service included participation in the operations that helped destroy the remaining Confederate defensive position west of Petersburg. His conduct during the campaign also brought additional military recognition, including brevet advancement.

By the end of his federal military career, King had received brevet promotions through Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel of U.S. Volunteers. Brevet Colonel was the highest verified federal Army rank associated with his Civil War service. This must be distinguished from the rank he held during his Medal of Honor action, when he was serving as Major and Quartermaster.

King was honorably discharged from federal military service after the war. He returned to New York and resumed the legal career he had begun before entering the Army. For several years he practiced law in New York City, establishing the profession that would remain an important part of his civilian life.

His postwar career expanded beyond law. In 1871 he became associate editor of the New York Star. He subsequently became involved with the Christian Union, working as publisher while the prominent clergyman Henry Ward Beecher served as editor. King also helped edit Christian at Work before returning to full-time legal practice in 1874.

Although his federal wartime service had ended, King remained deeply connected to military organizations and veterans' affairs. In 1876 he joined the National Guard of New York and became Major of the 13th Regiment. His National Guard career eventually led to appointment as Judge Advocate General of New York in 1883, carrying the state rank of Brigadier General. This later National Guard position was separate from his federal Civil War rank and does not replace Brevet Colonel as his highest federal U.S. Army rank.

King also became highly active in organizations preserving the history and memory of the Civil War. He served for many years as secretary of the Society of the Army of the Potomac and later became its president. He was also involved with the Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, organizations that helped maintain connections among Union veterans and preserve the history of their wartime service.

His civic activities extended into education and public affairs. King served for a decade on the Brooklyn Board of Education and participated in the New York Monuments Commission. He also became involved in politics, running unsuccessfully for New York Secretary of State in 1895 and for Congress in 1896.

King maintained a lifelong relationship with Dickinson College. He served as a trustee from 1896 until his death and became particularly remembered there for his musical and literary contributions. He wrote and edited college songs and was associated with the composition of Dickinson's alma mater, "Noble Dickinsonia." His connection with the college continued for more than sixty years after his graduation.

On September 23, 1897, more than thirty-two years after his battlefield action near Dinwiddie Court House, Horatio Collins King received the Medal of Honor. The decoration recognized the courage he had displayed on March 31, 1865, when he voluntarily carried orders to the reserve brigade and joined the charge that repulsed the enemy.

For this profile, his decoration is represented as Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1897. No additional clasp, star, bar, or other device has been verified for the medal. The Medal of Honor therefore stands as the single verified personal military decoration included in his final ribbon record.

The long delay between King's action and the presentation of the Medal of Honor was not unusual among Civil War recipients. Numerous acts from the conflict were formally reviewed decades later. In King's case, the 1897 recognition ensured that an episode which had occurred during the chaotic final days of the war became permanently recorded as an act of distinguished gallantry.

King continued practicing law, writing, participating in veterans' organizations, supporting education, and maintaining his association with Dickinson College well into old age. His life after the Civil War was therefore not defined solely by his military service. He became a lawyer, editor, publisher, civic figure, veterans' advocate, college trustee, and writer.

Horatio Collins King died on November 15, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, at the age of eighty. He was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

His military legacy centers on a remarkable transition from staff officer to battlefield volunteer. As a Major and Quartermaster, King could have remained focused on logistics during the fighting near Dinwiddie. Instead, he volunteered to carry critical orders through a dangerous battlefield and then joined the troops in the charge that drove the enemy back.

That decision transformed a quartermaster into a Medal of Honor recipient. More than three decades later, the United States formally recognized what he had done during one of the final and most decisive campaigns of the American Civil War.