View Original Documents Related to Gen.Rufus KingOn page 987 of his book, 'The Military History of Wisconsin' (Chicago, 1866) Among the manuscripts in the handwriting of Rufus King is one containing an abstract of a portion of the debates in the Convention for the formation of the. After returning to the United States in 1867, King worked as a tax collector in New York City until his health failed and he became an invalid. In 1865 he was instrumental in capturing John Surratt, thought to be one of the conspirators in Lincoln's assassination who had escaped to Europe. Later LifeĪfter leaving the military King was reappointed ambassador to the Vatican for four years. His son later claimed that the charges were undeserved and that the dishonor ruined his health. An active Federalist senator and able diplomat, he ran unsuccessfully for vice president (1804, 1808) and for president (1816). King was relieved of his command in 1863. Rufus King, (born March 24, 1755, Scarborough, Massachusetts U.S.died April 29, 1827, Jamaica, New York, U.S.), a Founding Father of the United States who helped frame the federal Constitution and effect its ratification. The public blamed the series of Union defeats in 1862, in part, on his leadership. He commanded it during the battles of Fredericksburg, South Mountain and Second Bull Run. King's brigade was made up of the regiments that would later be called the Iron Brigade. He assembled them outside Washington over the summer of 1861, when he became a close friend of President Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward. King rushed back to Washington, D.C., and was commissioned a brigadier general, with responsibility over the first brigade of Wisconsin volunteers that could be raised. He was in New York boarding the boat for Europe when he heard of the attack on Fort Sumter. Before the war broke out in April 1861, President Lincoln appointed King as ambassador to the Vatican.

Rufus king