Henry Walter Kingsbury: born Chicago, IL 5/25/36; resided Washington, DC; son of Maj. J.J.B. Kingsbury, 3rd US Infantry; son-in-law of BG Joseph P. Taylor; brother-in-law of CSA Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner; brother-in-law of Bvt. BG John McLean Taylor; his widow married Bvt. BG Albert G. Lawrence; West Point Class of 1861 (4th of 45) 5 year program; Bvt 2nd Lt and 2nd Lt ordnance 5/6/61; 1st Lt 5th US Arty 5/14/61; Acting ADC, Staff of BG & MG Irvin McDowell, 6/8/61 to 12/13/61; Colonel, 11th CTVI, 4/25/62; MW (GSW leg, foot, shoulder, abdomen) at Antietam, 9/17/62; died 9/18/62, Henry Rohrbach Farm, Sharpsburg, MD; buried Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, DC (Lot 640) with cenotaph in Congressional Church Cemetery, Hamburg, CT. Sources: Cullum, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, Vol. II, pp 771-772; Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the U. S. Army, Vol. I, p 601; Hunt, Colonels in Blue – The New England States, p 30.
Click on thumbnails below for larger view.
Photo credits: a, b, c – Hunt, Colonels in Blue: The New England States; d – findagrave.com; e – detail of 11th CT monument at Antietam, author’s collection
Harry Smeltzer
Bull Runnings 
Hi Harry~
Great post about Kingsbury….Just wanted to let you know that the new Union Advance Trail at Antietam (opening later this spring) will, of course, feature the life and death of Kingsbury.
Also, I know what you mean about all the in-law connections; have fun looking at all the connections to the daughters of President Zachary Taylor!
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Hi John!
I hope everyone gets a chance to see the new trail, as it better presents the difficulties facing 9th Corps. I may be heading down that way the first weekend in May with my father-in-law and his brothers and am looking forward to walking the new trail.
As for in-laws in the ACW, we can’t forget the Stonewall Jackson-Harvey Hill-Rufus Barringer connection.
Harry
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Harry, there’s a nice article about Colonel Henry Kingsbury in the September 2006 issue of Civil War Times Illustrated. I have two views of Kingsbury (one when he was in the 5th U.S. Light Artillery & the other an unpublished view in his West Point uniform). You’re welcome to use them on this site if you’d like.
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Scott,
Kingsbury played a substantial role at BR1, one that is never really talked about too much. He carried the two “fateful orders of the day” from McDowell…one ordering Tyler to cross the creek, and the other sending Ricketts’ and Griffin’s guns across the pike. McDowell’s chief aide Tillinghast was killed while working artillery. Usually that is pointed to as a crucial moment – the loss of McDowell’s “only” staff, but he had plenty of other unofficial ADC’s that day.
I think I have that CWTI here, I’ll check it out.
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[…] images, graciously granted permission to publish the below carte-de-visites (CDVs) of McDowell aide Henry Walter Kingsbury. On the left is Kingsbury as 1st LT with the 5th US Artillery. On the right is a previously […]
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[…] This article was originally published on 3/21/2007, as part of the Henry Walter Kingsbury biographical sketch. […]
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[…] on Kingsbury here, here and […]
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