In October 1861, he served as major and quartermaster of the division of Texas regiments which was being formed at that time.

[2][4] He moved to Cass County, Texas in 1860 but he was in business at Warrensburg, Missouri when the Civil War began.

[2][4] King was elected lieutenant of Company E of the 3rd Infantry Regiment under Major General Sterling Price.

[4] On November 3, 1863, King led the regiment under Green in a successful attack on a Union Army detachment at the Battle of Bayou Bourbeux.

[4] King's regiment was recalled to Walker's division in time for the Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana on April 8, 1864.

[4] Eicher and Blessington show King in command of Brigade 4, a brigade of Texas regiments, in Polignac's division from September 1864 or October 8, 1864, respectively[2][10][11] King's appointment as a brigadier general by E. Kirby Smith remained unconfirmed at the end of the war.

[1][2][3][4] After E. Kirby Smith's surrender of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department, King, like Benjamin Franklin Gordon and Brigadier General Jo Shelby, went to Mexico.

[7] King returned briefly to the United States and married Lucy Furman in December 1867.

[7] King returned to Texas to practice law less than a year later, after the deaths of his wife and infant.

[2][4] He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Corsicana, Texas after Methodist funeral rites and a Masonic burial.