Wilburn Hill King Wilburn Hill King ( June 10 , 1839 – December 12 , 1910 ) was a Confederate States Army colonel during the American Civil War ( 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 . After fleeing to Mexico at the end of the war , and then operating a sugar plantation in Central America , King returned to Texas where he practiced law , was the mayor of Sulphur Springs , Texas , was a state representative and was adjutant general of Texas from 1881 to 1891 . After he retired as adjutant general , he concentrated on the affairs of the Masonic Order . Early life . Wilburn Hill King was born in Culloden , Georgia on June 10 , 1839 . His parents were Alexander and Mary ( Douglas ) King . King studied law and medicine at Americus , Georgia . He was a lawyer , prospector and businessman . He moved to Cass County , Texas in 1860 but he was in business at Warrensburg , Missouri when the Civil War began . King married Lucy Furman in 1867 . American Civil War service . Wilburn Hill King , like another Missouri officer with a similar career , Benjamin Franklin Gordon , was an early enlistee in the pro - Confederate Missouri State Guard . King was elected lieutenant of Company E of the 3rd Infantry Regiment under Major General Sterling Price . He progressed to captain and fought at the Battle of Carthage and the Battle of Wilson ' s Creek on August 10 , 1861 , where , like Gordon , he was wounded . Soon thereafter , he was discharged from the regiment and returned to Texas where he enlisted as a private in the 18th Texas Infantry Regiment . Two historians say he was appointed major and quartermaster of the Texas Division being organized by Brigadier General Henry E . McCulloch and later commanded by Major General John G . Walker on October 15 , 1861 . King was elected major of the 18th Texas Infantry on May 13 , 1862 , lieutenant colonel on February 5 , 1863 and colonel to rank from August 10 , 1863 . The 18th Texas Infantry was assigned to Brigade 1 in Major General John G . Walker ' s division . The 18th Texas Infantry was detached from Walker ' s division in the fall of 1863 and temporarily assigned to a cavalry division under Major General Thomas Green . On November 3 , 1863 , King led the regiment under Green in a successful attack on a Union Army detachment at the Battle of Bayou Bourbeau . King ' s regiment was recalled to Walker ' s division in time for the Battle of Mansfield , Louisiana on April 8 , 1864 . King ' s regiment helped rout three Union Army divisions . King was severely wounded at the end of the attack . On April 16 , 1864 , General E . Kirby Smith , as commander of the Trans - Mississippi Department , assigned King to command as a brigadier general . Smith intended that King take command of the brigade formerly commanded by Major General Camille de Polignac . King could not assume this command until he had recovered from his wound in October 1864 . According to Allardice , in February 1865 , King assumed command of a new Brigade 4 in Walker ' s old division . Eicher and Blessington show King in command of Brigade 4 , a brigade of Texas regiments , in Polignac ' s division from September 1864 or October 8 , 1864 , respectively King ' s appointment as a brigadier general by E . Kirby Smith remained unconfirmed at the end of the war . Although King had served in general officer commands for more than a year , he was never appointed or legally promoted to general officer rank by Jefferson Davis . Aftermath and death . After E . Kirby Smith ' s surrender of the Confederate Trans - Mississippi Department , King , like Benjamin Franklin Gordon and Brigadier General Jo Shelby , went to Mexico . He then bought and operated a sugar plantation in Central America for a brief time . King returned briefly to the United States and married Lucy Furman in December 1867 . The couple then soon left for King ' s Central America plantation . King returned to Texas to practice law less than a year later , after the deaths of his wife and infant . In 1875 , King became mayor of Sulphur Springs , Texas . He was a state representative from 1878 to 1881 . King served as adjutant general of the State of Texas from 1881 to 1891 . In 1891 , he retired to Sulphur Springs where he worked on the affairs of the Masonic Order . Wilburn Hill King died at Sulphur Springs , Texas on December 12 , 1910 . He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Corsicana , Texas after Methodist funeral rites and a Masonic burial .