John H. Knight (politician)

Knight was born on February 3, 1836, in Kent County, Delaware.^[1] He attended Albany Law School, where he studied alongside several other prominent lawyers of his era, including Rufus W. Peckham, Redfield Proctor, and William Freeman Vilas. Knight graduated in 1859 and was admitted to the bar in 1860. He started a law partnership in Dover, Delaware, with George P. Fisher, who had just served as Attorney General of Delaware, but his career was interrupted by the outbreak of the American Civil War.^[2]

At the start of the war, Knight was one of the first young men in Dover to respond to President Abraham Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers for three months service. He organized a company of volunteers in Dover and southeastern Pennsylvania, and became first lieutenant of the company. This company became Company H of the 1st Delaware Infantry Regiment. The regiment was assigned to guard duty in Baltimore, but Knight was part of a detachment which joined the federal forces participating in the First Battle of Bull Run. When his three month term expired, he was commissioned a captain and appointed assistant adjutant general of volunteers by President Lincoln.^[2]

In the spring of 1862, he accepted commission as captain in the regular army and joined the 18th U.S. Infantry Regiment a few days after the conclusion of the Siege of Corinth. The 18th U.S. was attached to the Army of the Cumberland and participated in their retreat from Mississippi and Alabama, through Tennessee and Kentucky, to Louisville, then engaged in maneuvers culminating in the Battle of Perryville. Sometime during these marches, Captain Knight likely contracted Typhoid fever, but continued to lead his company at Perryville. However, during the battle, he was wounded by an explosion and was rendered unable to walk for three months—he never fully recovered from this injury. He took a brief leave and traveled to Wilmington, Delaware, to marry his first wife, Susan Clark. He resumed his duties in March 1863, working as chief mustering officer at Louisville and worked through the summer of 1863 to raise new volunteers.^[2]

He returned to his regiment after their defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga, and met them at Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the union forces under William Rosecrans were effectively surrounded. After weeks of starvation, Union reinforcements began to arrive in the vicinity. Three divisions led by Joseph Hooker managed to open a supply line to the stranded army with the Battle of Wauhatchie. The 18th U.S. Regiment was then in support of Hooker at the Battle of Lookout Mountain. The day after the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Knight, whose medical conditions were well known, was ordered to proceed to Detroit for duty as assistant to the provost marshal general of Michigan. During this time, he was also appointed Colonel of the 1st Delaware Cavalry by Governor William Cannon, but was never able to take up this duty.^[2]

He arrived in Detroit in January 1864 and was assigned superintendent for recruitment and was charged with the reorganization of the veteran regiments of Michigan. He remained at Detroit through the end of the war until February 1867, when he was ordered to return to the 18th U.S. Infantry. He was sent with a battalion of the 18th Infantry to Wyoming and Utah Territory to provide security for railroad construction. In 1868, Colonel Knight took advantage of a new law to begin to transition out of military service. In 1969, President Grant persuaded him to accept a final appointment as Indian agent to the Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Wisconsin.^[2]