King, Wallace Albert

Wallace Albert King (February 2, 1837 - 1919) was an American artist active in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Michigan during the mid- to late-19th century. Born in Woodstock, Vermont, King attended Woodstock High School and the Westminster, Vermont Seminary where he studied painting, drawing, and art before entering Norwich University in 1855. After studying at Norwich for two years, King moved to Tecumseh, Michigan, where he worked as a portrait and landscape artist and also created panoramas. At the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War, King recruited sixty of the eight-five men enlisted in the Tecumseh Union Cadets. He was then elected their captain, but declined the office, but was later chosen as a first lieutenant and commissioned as such. He drilled his troops for four weeks, then went with them to Adrian, Michigan, where they were mustered into the Union Army as Company G, 4th Michigan Infantry. He soon fell ill and spent eight weeks in the hospital, which forced him to resign his commission and return to Vermont. Soon after returning to Vermont, King enlisted in Company B, 7th Rhode Island Cavalry, and served his full enlistment term. After the war, King worked as an artist in Woodstock for two years, and then became the foreman of the decoration department at the Hampshire Pottery Company in Keene, New Hampshire. He also worked for J.S. Taft and Company. King was a member of the Royal Select Masters of Windsor, Vermont. He married Ada L. Emmons in 1867, with whom he had three children.