Kiefer King
The opening speaker for this year’s Civil War Living History Weekend will be Piqua resident Kiefer King, Sidney, Ohio’s Civil War Living History Weekend Chair Mike Barhorst announced on Friday.
This year’s event is scheduled for Sept. 21-22 at Sidney’s 226-acre Tawawa Park.
King, a native of Piqua, graduated from Ohio University in 2014 with a degree in psychology. He then matriculated to Capital University Law School, where he obtained his Juris Doctor Degree in 2017.
King is currently working as a Guardian ad Litem in the Miami, Shelby, and Darke County Common Pleas Courts. He serves the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts in those counties by conducting investigations, monitoring Court proceedings, and other functions necessary to protect the interests of children in custody disputes.
King plans to talk about his great-great grandfather, Dr. Warren R. King, who began his life as an orphan, was taken in by an uncle and raised on a farm. When the war broke out, King enlisted at Connersville, Indiana in August 1862 and joined the 69th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
The 69th Indiana Volunteer Infantry was organized at Richmond, Indiana, and mustered in for a three-year enlistment on Aug. 19, 1862 under the command of Colonel Thomas Warren Bennett. Just 10 days later, King, along with the others in the newly formed 69th Indiana, was fighting in the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky.
The battle, fought Aug. 29–30, 1862, was one of the most complete Confederate victories during the war. Troops under Confederate Major General Edmund Kirby Smith battled against Union troops commanded by Major General William “Bull” Nelson’s forces. Nelson’s forces were defending Richmond. It was the first major battle in the Kentucky Campaign.
King will detail how his great-great grandfather was wounded during the battle. Taken captive, Dr. King was released, recovered from his wound, went to medical school, and then reenlisted in the Navy and served his country aboard one of the ironclads that patrolled the rivers in the western theatre of war.
King is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21 in the Education Tent. He is the first of seven educational presentations scheduled for Saturday. In addition to King speaking about the Battle of Richmond, other speakers on Saturday will address the Battles of Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, and Antietam.
King resides in Piqua with his wife and their family. Their youngest son shares the name of his great, great grandfather. King has volunteered time with a number of community activities, including the Saint Mary Parish Festival, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Central Ohio, the Tipp City Enrichment Program, and as a coach for the Troy Bruins Youth Hockey Program.
Sidney, Ohio’s Civil War Living History Weekend is free and open to the public. A full schedule of events is posted online at www.sidneycivilwar.com.
Although no Civil War battles were fought anywhere near Sidney, a considerable number of local men served in the Union Army during the Civil War. In fact, the 1860 Census records that Shelby County had a population of 17,493. Of that number 8960 were male, and a staggering 14 percent of them served in the Army during the war. Of those, 25.58 percent (326) died in the service of their country.
