Simon Bolivar Buckner

General Simon Bolivar Buckner

Simon Bolivar Buckner , (born April 1, 1823 in Munfordville , Hart County , Kentucky , †  January 8, 1914 in Kentucky , Kentucky) was an officer in the US Army , Lieutenant General of the Confederate Army in the Civil War and governor of the state of Kentucky.

Military career

Buckner finished his studies at the US Military Academy in West Point in 1844 as eleventh of his class and then served as a lieutenant in the 2nd US Infantry Regiment. He then taught geography, history and ethics at West Point. During the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848 he served as a supply officer . He was wounded in the battle of Churubusco and promoted to lieutenant for his services in this and the battle of Contreras, and to captain after the battle of Molino del Rey . After the Mexican-American War, he returned to the military academy from 1848 to 1850 and taught infantry tactics . In 1854 he helped his friend Ulysses S. Grant , who had left the US Army but had no money to travel home. Buckner himself resigned in March 1855 and moved to Illinois , where he joined the state militia as a major. A short time later he became regimental commander and in 1857 adjutant general. In 1858 he moved to Kentucky and accepted employment with the rank of captain in the Kentucky Militia.

Civil war

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Buckner had the rank of major general and was in command of the Kentucky Militia. The state itself remained neutral in this conflict and Buckner therefore resigned from his service on July 20, 1861. After General Leonidas Polk , disregarding Kentucky's neutrality, took the city of Columbus , Kentucky, Buckner joined the Confederate Army on September 14, 1861 with the rank of brigadier general . He was followed by many men from Kentucky who had been under his command. He was given command of a division , subordinated to General William Joseph Hardee and was temporarily stationed in Bowling Green , Kentucky.

After Major General Ulysses S. Grant took Fort Henry on Tennessee and planned to attack Fort Donelson , Buckner received an order from General Albert S. Johnston to defend it with four other brigades. After two days of fierce fighting, however, the defenders had to realize that they could not hold up against Grant's superiority and offered to surrender. Buckner hoped that he could negotiate some terms with his old friend Grant. However, this only accepted unconditional surrender. The Confederates lost 12,000 men, equipment and control of the Cumberland , resulting in the evacuation of Nashville , Tennessee . Buckner was then a prisoner of war until August 15, 1862, when he was exchanged for the Brigadier General of the Union George A. McCall . The very next day he was promoted to major general.

Buckner became a division commander in the Tennessee Army , took part in the Confederate "Heartland" offensive under General Braxton Bragg and fought in the Battle of Perryville . He then became the command of the Gulf District and defended Mobile , Alabama until April 1863 . Returned to Tennessee he was commanding general and fought in the Battle of Chickamauga on September 19 and 20, 1863. He was then appointed division commander under General James Longstreet at the siege of Knoxville . In 1864 he became the commanding officer of the East Tennessee Military District; however, he spent most of his time in Richmond , Virginia , where he was known as Simon the Poet . In August 1864 he was appointed chief of staff of the Trans-Mississippi Army; on September 20, 1864 he was promoted to lieutenant general.

End of war and governorship

Simon Buckner during his time as governor

After the end of the war Buckner was captured and conditionally released on June 9, 1865, after taking the oath on the US Constitution, in Shreveport , Louisiana . One of the conditions was that he would not be allowed to settle in Kentucky for the next three years. So he moved to New Orleans and worked for a newspaper. In late 1868 he went back to Kentucky, became a member of the Democrats , was active in politics and worked for the Louisville Courier until 1887 .

Buckner was elected governor of Kentucky in 1887 and was re-elected in 1889 for an additional two years. As governor, he ensured a balanced state budget. The school legislation was changed and the pardon procedure simplified. During his tenure, the new prison was opened in Eddyville , Kentucky. In the run-up to the presidential election in 1896 , he joined the National Democratic Party , a split from the Democratic Party. As their candidate, he applied for the vice-presidency ; The presidential candidate was John M. Palmer , US Senator from Illinois . However, Palmer and Buckner did not get more than 132,718 votes and a share of 1.0 percent.

At the time of his death, Buckner was the last Confederate officer above the rank of brigadier general. His son Simon B. Buckner junior later became a lieutenant general in the US Army during World War II .

See also

• List of Confederate Generals in the Civil War

literature

• David J. Eicher: The Civil War in Books: An Analytical Bibliography. University of Illinois, 1997, ISBN 0-252-02273-4 .
• Richard N. Current: Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. 1993 (4 vol.) ISBN 0-13-275991-8 .
• John H. Eicher & David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3 .
• Ezra J. Warner: Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Louisiana State University Press 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5 .
• Arndt M. Stickles: Simon Bolivar Buckner: Borderland Knight . 1944, reprinted by Chapel Hill, NC 2001.

Web links

Commons : Simon Bolivar Buckner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Simon Buckner in the National Governors Association (English)
• Simon Bolivar Buckner in the database of Find a Grave (English)