Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient. On April 20, 1861, he joined in the 71st New York State Militia, a unit that had a three-month enlistment. Commissioned as 1st Lieutenant in Company H, he participated in the July 21, 1861 Battle of First Bull Run, where he was wounded in the hip. By December 5, 1861, he had sufficiently recovered, and was commissioned as Captain and commander of Company E, 82nd New York Volunteer Infantry. Leading his company at the September 17, 1862, Battle of Antietam, he received a slight wound. Transferred to the 59th New York Volunteer Infantry as commander of Company D, he was awarded the CMOH for his bravery on October 27, 1864 at Boydton Plank Road during the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia. His citation reads "Charged at the head of two regiments, which drove the enemy's main body, gained the crest of the hill near the Burgess house and forced a barricade on the Boydton road." His Medal was awarded to him on October 19, 1893. He saw action in numerous battles during the war, and served as an aide-de-camp to Major General John Gibbon. In April, 1865, he was at Appomattox Court House, and was one of the officers chosen to help with the surrender of the Confederate troops. He was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel, US Volunteer for his war service. After the Civil War he returned to his home in Montgomery, Orange County, New York, but eventually moved to Connecticut. He an officer and one of the founders of the Southern New England Telephone Company and was Adjutant General of Connecticut under Connecticut Governor Morgan C. Bulkelay. As a result he was always referred to as "The General" or "General Embler." He was also a Major in the First Company Governor's Foot Guard of Connecticut. Around June of 1918, he attended a memorial service for the members of the Old New Haven Blues, who had fallen in France, and contracted pneumonia, which later contributed to his weakening health, and he passed away in July of that year.