Wilburn Hill King

Who was Wilburn Hill King?

Wilburn Hill King was a Confederate States Army colonel during the American Civil War. He was assigned to duty as a brigadier general by General E. Kirby Smith but he was not officially appointed and confirmed to that rank.

King had been a lawyer and businessman in Warrensburg, Missouri at the outbreak of the Civil War. He promptly enlisted in the pro–Confederate Missouri State Guard. After being wounded at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, he was discharged and returned to Texas. There he enlisted as a private in the 18th Texas Infantry Regiment. In October 1861, he served as major and quartermaster of the division of Texas regiments which was being formed at that time. On May 13, 1862, he was elected major of the regiment. He progressed to lieutenant colonel and colonel in 1863.

On April 8, 1864, King's regiment, as part of Major General John G. Walker's division, helped rout three Union Army divisions at the Battle of Mansfield, where he was severely wounded. On April 16, 1864, General E. Kirby Smith, as the Confederate commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, assigned King to duty as a brigadier general. The Confederate government took no action on the appointment and Confederate President Jefferson Davis did not officially appoint and nominate King to the rank of brigadier general. By the end of the war, King had acted as a general officer, leading brigades, and briefly Walker's division, for more than a year, but had not been legally promoted to a general officer's rank.