Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of General Adam Eckfeldt King, Accession #183-a, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was removed on July 8, 1996 from Record of Proceedings at the First Annual Re-Union Held in the City of New York (New York: Pease & Stuyvesant, 1870), E470.2.S67, which was previously owned by General King.

Biographical/Historical Information

Adam Eckfeldt King, a native of Pennsylvania, served as a lieutenant in the 31st New York Infantry (1862-1863) until his promotion to captain and assistant adjutant general in March 1863. Subsequently promoted to major (July 1864) and lieutenant colonel (June 1865), he continued to serve as an assistant adjutant general until June 1866. In January 1865 King received brevet (honorary) rank as a lieutenant colonel for gallantry and meritorious service during various 1864 battles and campaigns in Virginia and Maryland (the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and Monocacy).

King was promoted to colonel and brevet brigadier general, United States Volunteers, on March 13, 1865, for gallantry and distinguished good conduct during the 1864 campaigns. He was honorably discharged in October 1866 and later resided in Baltimore, Maryland.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of a letter to and miscellaneous printed items of Civil War Union General Adam Eckfeldt King regarding his membership in the Society of the Army of the Potomac (founded 1869) and the Grand Army of the Republic (founded 1866).

The first item, a June 13, 1884, letter from Captain George B. Fielder, Jersey City, [New Jersey], informs King (who was not present at the meeting) of his unanimous election as president   of the Sixth Corps Society (which apparently automatically made King a vice- president of Society of the Army of the Potomac). King joined the Society of the Army of the Potomac in 1870 and apparently headed the Sixth Corps Society since 1883. Fielder also mentions Colonel William A. Kellip, Major Frederick W. Simon and George Bernard as urging Baltimore for the site of the next Grand Army of the Republic reunion and praising King's leadership.

The remaining five items are printed. A circular, New York, April 2, 1885, announces the sixteenth annual Corps reunion, Wilson Post Hall, Baltimore, May 6, 1885, signed by King and Fielder (corresponding secretary). "Circular No. 1," Headquarters Grand Army of the Republic, Washington, D. C., September 14, 1885 (with an envelope addressed to King) solicits donations for a monument in memory of General Ulysses S. Grant. "General Orders No. 6," Headquarters, G.A.R., Washington, September 16, 1885, pertains to G.A.R. laws, badges and quarterly returns, and an unrelated request for duplicate copies of printed items relating to General Grant "for special preservation" at the national headquarters. The final item is a light green colored invitation card (bearing on its cover a facsimile of the G.A.R. membership badge consisting of an eagle, sword, national flag, crossed cannon, five pointed star, each point bearing the insignia of the various military service branches), Headquarters, Wilson Post Hall, Baltimore, September 15, 1885, announcing an imminent visit by members of Dushane Post No. 3, G.A.R, on September 21, 1885, and urges Wilson Post members to attend.