Confederate Lieutenant General

Governor of Kentucky

T. Lilenthal, New Orleans, La. backmark

(1823-1914) He was born at Glen Lily, his family's estate near Munfordville, Kentucky. His closest friend in Munfordville was Thomas J. Wood, who would become a Union Army general opposing Buckner at the Battles of Perryville, Ky., and at Chickamauga, Ga. during the Civil War. He graduated from West Point in the class of 1844, and later returned to the Military Academy to serve as an assistant professor of geography, history, and ethics. He was wounded and brevetted for gallantry in the Mexican War Battle of Churubusco, and was again cited for gallant conduct at the Battle of Molino del Rey, and was appointed a brevet captain. He fought in the Battle of Chapultepec, the Battle of Belen Gate, and the storming of Mexico City. At the conclusion of the war, American soldiers served as an army of occupation, and Buckner was accorded the honor of lowering the American flag over Mexico City for the last time during the occupation. Appointed adjutant general of Kentucky by Governor Beriah Magoffin in 1861, he tried to enforce Kentucky's neutrality policy in the early days of the Civil War, but when the state's neutrality was breached, Buckner accepted a commission in the Confederate Army. When his C.S.A. commission was approved, Union officials indicted him for treason, and seized his property. He was appointed a brigadier general on September 14, 1861, and saw action at Fort Donelson, Tenn. where he was forced to surrender the fort to his old friend and West Point classmate, General Ulysses S. Grant who demanded an "unconditional surrender." He was confined at Fort Warren prison in Boston for 5 months. After his release, he led a division in General Braxton Bragg's Kentucky campaign, and a corps at the battle of Chickamauga. He later received promotion to lieutenant general to rank from September 20, 1864. Near the end of the war he became chief of staff to General Edmund Kirby Smith in the Trans-Mississippi Department, and he later traveled to New Orleans, and arranged terms of surrender on May 26, 1865. The terms of Buckner's parole in Shreveport, Louisiana, on June 9, 1865, prevented his return to Kentucky for three years. He remained in New Orleans, worked on the staff of the Daily Crescent newspaper, engaged in a business venture, and served on the board of directors of a fire insurance company, of which he became president in 1867. Buckner returned to Kentucky when he was eligible in 1868, and became editor of the Louisville Courier newspaper. Like most former Confederate officers, he petitioned the United States Congress for the restoration of his civil rights as stipulated by the 14th Amendment. He recovered most of his property through lawsuits and regained much of his wealth through shrewd business deals. Buckner had a keen interest in politics and friends had been urging him to run for governor of Kentucky for years. Delegates to the 1887 state Democratic convention nominated Buckner unanimously for the office of governor, and he won the general election against his opponent William O. Bradley, and was appointed the 30th Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1887-1891. On a visit to the White House in 1904, Buckner asked President Theodore Roosevelt to appoint his only son as a cadet at West Point, and Roosevelt quickly agreed. His son Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. would later serve in the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant General, and was killed at the Battle of Okinawa, making him the highest-ranking American to have been killed by enemy fire during World War II. Buckner became the last surviving Confederate soldier with the rank of lieutenant general. He died on January 8, 1914, and was buried in Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph, mounted to 2 3/8 x 4 card. Bust view in Confederate uniform. Buckner is wearing a pleated blouse with tie and his 3 star insignia is clearly visible embroidered on his collar. Backmark: T. Lilienthal, Photographic Establishment, 102 Poydras St., New Orleans, [La.] with vignette of their gallery. Light age toning. Rare and desirable image!