He left college in April 1861 to enlist in the Confederate States Army, was promoted to the rank of captain in 1863 and served throughout the Civil War.

He traveled to California to settle a land claim that resulted in a princely fee for him of $20,000; as an obituary in his home town newspaper noted upon his death thirty years later, the money made him "easy" in the business world.

[3][4] Kitchin failed to win reelection in 1880, and returned to North Carolina and his legal career, building a house named "Gallberry" in 1885.

[5] A bombastic orator, especially harsh toward black political influence in his area of the state, Kitchin defeated a former slave to win his Congressional term.

He briefly joined the People's Party or Populists, served on its state executive committee in the mid-1890s, and worked with them for a time to build an alliance with African American voters.