ColorizedPast
Corporal
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2016
- Location
- Hangzhou, China (Wisconsin, USA)
Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner (CSA)
Simon Bolivar Buckner was born at Glen Lily, his family's estate near Munfordville, Kentucky, on 1 April 1823. His closest friend in Munfordville was Thomas J. Wood, who became a Union Army general opposing Buckner at the Battle of Perryville and the Battle of Chickamauga during the Civil War.
On 1 July 1840, Buckner enrolled at the United States Military Academy, and in 1844, he graduated seventh in his class of 25. He was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Infantry Regiment. He was assigned to garrison duty at Sackett's Harbor on Lake Ontario until August 1845, when he returned to West Point to serve as an assistant professor of geography, history, and ethics.
In May 1846, Buckner resigned and enlisted with the 6th U.S. Infantry Regiment. He helped recruit men and brought them to the Texas border. In August 1847, he was appointed quartermaster of the regiment. He participated in the Battles of San Antonio and Churubusco. He earned a brevet to first lieutenant for his conduct at Churubusco. He was appointed brevet captain for the Battle of Molino del Rey and participated in the final conquest of Mexico City.
He returned to West Point to teach but soon resigned in protest over the academy's compulsory chapel attendance policy. He married Mary Jane Kingsbury on 2 May 1850. He was promoted to captain in 1852. He helped an old friend, Captain Ulysses S. Grant, by covering his expenses at a New York hotel until money arrived from Ohio. On 26 March 1855, Buckner resigned from the Army to work with his father-in-law in real estate in Chicago. He inherited the property and moved to Chicago in 1856.
On 3 April 1857, he was appointed adjutant general of Illinois by Governor William Henry Bissell but resigned the post in October. He and his family returned to Kentucky and settled in Louisville. He was made captain of the Louisville militia known as the Citizen's Guard. In 1860, he was appointed inspector general of Kentucky.
In 1861, Buckner was appointed adjutant general and assembled 61 companies to defend Kentucky's neutrality in the coming crisis. The state board that controlled the militia considered it to be pro-secessionist and ordered it to store its arms. On 20 July, Buckner resigned. He was twice offed a commission as a brigadier general in the Union Army but declined. He accepted a commission as brigadier general in the Confederate States Army on 14 September 1861. He was indicted for treason and his property seized.
In February 1862, Union Brig. Gen. Grant attacked Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. Buckner convinced his superiors that holding the fort was impossible. John B. Floyd and Gideon Pillow, his immediate superiors, turned the fort over to Buckner to surrender while they escaped. Cavalry under Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest also escaped. Buckner asked for surrender terms, but Grant replied, "No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I proposed to move immediately upon your works." Buckner was forced to accept Grant's "ungenerous and unchivalrous terms". However, Buckner greeted his old friend warmly when Grant arrived to receive the surrender.
Buckner spent five months as a prisoner of war at Fort Warren in Boston until exchanged for Brig. Gen. George A. McCall. He was promoted to major general and ordered to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to join Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi. Buckner participated in Bragg's invasion of Kentucky. Buckner's division fought well at the Battle of Perryville, but Bragg was forced to abandon the invasion. Buckner joined many of his fellow generals in publicly denouncing Bragg's performance during the campaign.
Buckner was reassigned to command the District of the Gulf, fortifying the defenses of Mobile, Alabama, until late April 1863, when he was ordered to take command of the Army of East Tennessee. His command was placed under Gen. Bragg and designated the Third Corps of the Army of Tennessee. When Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside approached Buckner's position at Knoxville, Tennessee, Bragg ordered Buckner to fall back to Chickamauga. His corps participated in the Battle of Chickamauga. Despite victory, Bragg refused to take any further action against Union forces trapped at Chattanooga. Buckner and other subordinates advocated for Bragg's removal. Bragg retaliated by reducing Buckner to division command.
In April 1864, Buckner was ordered to join Edmund Kirby Smith in the Trans-Mississippi Department. He was promoted to lieutenant general on 20 September. He was in charge of the difficult task of selling cotton through enemy lines.
As news of Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender reached the department, soldiers deserted in droves. On 19 April, Smith consolidated the District of Arkansas with the District of West Louisiana under the command of Buckner. On 9 May, Smith made Buckner his chief of staff. Eventually Smith fled to Mexico, but Buckner went to New Orleans on 26 May and arranged terms of surrender disregarding Smith's order to move his troops to Houston. So, Buckner had the distinction of surrendering the first Confederate army at Fort Donelson and the last at New Orleans.
Buckner returned to Kentucky in 1868 when his parole allowed him to do so. He regained his civil rights and recovered most of his property through lawsuits and shrewd business deals. In 1874, his wife died of tuberculosis. He lived with his widow sister and his daughter at Glen Lily. In 1883, his daughter married and moved to Louisville, and his sister died leaving him alone. On 10 June 1885, he married Delia Claiborne. He was 62; she was 28. On 18 July 1886, their son, Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., was born. He would serve in the U.S. Army and become the highest-ranking American killed by enemy fire during World War II when he was killed in the Battle of Okinawa.
Buckner served as Governor of Kentucky from 1887 to 1891. He was a candidate for U.S. Senate in 1895. A new party – the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats – nominated Buckner for vice president on a ticket with former Union general John Palmer. Following the deaths of Stephen D. Lee and Alexander P. Stewart in 1908, Buckner became the last surviving Confederate lieutenant general. He died on 8 January 1914.
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