Happy 200th, General Buckner
Two centuries ago today, Simon Bolivar Buckner was born in Kentucky. It was the start of a long and eventful life
of prominence and service that lasted until January 1914. Along the way it included attendance at West Point, service in Mexico and the prewar U.S. Army, Adjutant General of two states, senior command in the Civil War for the Confederacy, postwar newspaper work, a term as Governor of Kentucky, and Vice Presidential nominee for the Gold Democrats in 1896. He was a friend to presidents, most notably U.S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt – the latter of whom appointed his son, Simon Jr., to West Point in 1904. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. was killed commanding Tenth Army on Okinawa in June 1945.
It was also the foundation of a dynasty, as there is now a Simon Bolivar Buckner V. His father, Simon IV, laid a wreath during the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Perryville, where Buckner commanded once of Bragg’s divisions.
I’ve blogged about Simon Bolivar Buckner and his son extensively:
I recently wrote about SBB Jr. for my World War II Battle Analysis paper. I covered a little of his involvement in the Aleutian Campaign.