From a military family background, it was obvious that King would pursue a military career and during the American Civil War, he served under his father General Rufus King in the Wisconsin Volunteers. He was further educated at West Point where he graduated in 1866 and received his commission. He then served with General Crook in the Arizona Territory with the 5th Cavalry. During this time he became good friends with Buffalo Bill Cody. He was wounded in the arm in action against the Apaches in 1874 and his arm would continue to give him problems for the remainder of his life. He took part in the Nez Pierce Campaign of 1877. He retired in 1879 due to the continuing problems with his arm. He began teaching military science at the University of Wisconsin and also began to write, publishing Campaigning With Crook in 1881. He entered the Wisconsin National Guard as a colonel in 1882. In 1886, he led the Milwaukee Light Horse Troop in quelling the Milwaukee labor riots. In 1892, he was appointed commandant and military instructor of the Michigan Military Academy - one of the students being Edgar Rice Burroughs. In 1898, he was re-commissioned as brigadier general of Volunteers and saw action in the Philippines. He later trained troops for the First World War and has the distinction of being the only American to have served in five wars - Civil, Indian, Spanish-American, Philippine Insurrection and WWI. King published over 60 novels and hundreds of articles, essays and short stories and is credited with being one of the first authors to establish the genre of the Western novel. Among his many works are The Colonel's Daughter (1883), The Deserter (1887), Captain Blake (1891), A Soldier's Secret (1893), The Story of Fort Wayne (1895), Warrior Gap (1897), The Way of the West (1902), An Apache Princess (1903), Captured (1906), To The Front (1908), The True Ulysses S. Grant (1914) and Memories of a Busy Life (1922). |
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