Buckner, Simon Bolivar, 1823–1914, Confederate general, b. Hart co., Ky., grad. West Point, 1844. In 1860, Buckner, a Louisville businessman, secured passage of a bill creating a large Kentucky militia and as inspector general trained it. Although he attempted to keep Kentucky neutral during the Civil War, when the legislature became strongly Unionist he took a commission as Confederate brigadier general (Sept., 1861). At Fort Donelson (Feb., 1862) he surrendered to Grant and was taken prisoner but was soon exchanged and promoted to major general. He fought in Bragg's invasion of Kentucky (Oct., 1862), Mobile (Dec., 1862–63), and Chattanooga (Sept., 1863), and commanded the Dept. of East Tennessee (May–Aug., 1863) and Louisiana from 1864 to the end of the war. Later he was editor of the Louisville Courier and governor of Kentucky (1887–91).
See biography by A. M. Stickles (1940).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies
