Madison County AlArchives Biographies.....Buck, Samuel H. 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 19, 2011, 5:21 am

Source: See below
Author: Smith & De Land, publishers

  SAMUEL H. BUCK, Vice-president and Manager of "The North Alabama Land and
Improvement Company," at Huntsville, was born in the blue-grass region of
Kentucky. His father is Thomas Mountjoy Buck, of a Virginia family, prominent in
the time of Washington, and descended from the "cavaliers" of the war of Charles
I. of England. His mother was Catharine Watkins, also of high lineage in "the
Old Dominion."

  The son was educated at Bethel, and at Union University, Kentucky. Before he
graduated, the war between the States came on, and at the age of twenty he
entered the Confederate service, April 11, 1861. He served in battles around
Richmond, in Tennessee and in Kentucky, under General Whitefield and General
Bragg. By both of these officers he was complimented for "gallantry on the
field." Early in 1862 he was promoted to a captaincy, and in 1863 had reached
the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was then assigned to the staff of General
Holmes, in command of the Trans-Mississippi Department. And when that officer
was relieved, he was assigned to the staff of Gen. John B. Magruder, and took an
active part in the campaigns against Generals Banks, McCook and Steele.

  At the close of the war Colonel Buck settled in New Orleans, and in one year
was a member of the cotton factorage house of Morrison, Buck & Co. He soon
became influential in the cotton interests of that great mart. For three years
from 1876 he was secretary of "the National Cotton Exchange of America," an
office afterward held by Col. C. H. Parker, editor-in-chief of the Pincayune.
Afterward he was made chairman of the important "Committee on Appeals," to
settle business misunderstandings among its members.

  Colonel Buck was one of the marshals under Gov. F. N. Ogden, who in 1874 led
the citizen soldiery of "the White League" against the plundering and tyrannical
usurpers, a movement that resulted in the redemption of Louisiana and the
re-establishment of a State government by the people for the people. He was
elected a member of the Democratic Legislature of 1876, and served in three
State conventions; also in the postal convention held at Old Point Comfort. And
he was appointed, with Hon. Louis Bush as a colleague, a delegate from Louisiana
to the Franco-American Congress, which met at Paris in 1878 to frame a
commercial treaty between the United States and France. But, as he was about to
sail, yellow-fever broke out in New Orleans and he returned to the city.

  When Congress granted a charter for "The World's Industrial and Cotton
Continental Exposition" at New Orleans, the Act authorized "The National Cotton
Planters' Association" to nominate six out of the thirteen Governmental
Commissioners to constitute the Board of Management. Colonel Buck was one of the
six nominated, and he was commissioned by President Arthur. And when Col. E. A.
Burke, who was made Director-General of this gigantic enterprise, retired,
broken down by the strain of a position so responsible and arduous, Colonel Buck
was selected to complete the work and afterward to close up the business of
this, the most varied and interesting exposition ever held in the civilized
world. In fulfilling the trying duties of Director-General he achieved so much
reputation, that President Cleveland, unsolicited and of his own motion,
appointed him postmaster of New Orleans. Here Colonel Buck instituted many
desirable reforms and improvements, and then resigned the best office
financially at the South, to take charge of the affairs of "The North Alabama
Land and Improvement Company," at Huntsville. This fact alone and the guiding
presence of such a man in the developments here projected, furnished the most
satisfactory grounds for faith in the value of the ad vantages and in the great
destiny of this point in the valley of the Tennessee as a center of industrial
enterprises, population, thrift and  progress.

  But by all who know him, Colonel Buck is regarded as a typical southern
gentleman. With a keen sense of honor, he is broad and just and conservative.
Physically fearless, he enjoys a reputation for moral courage and candor, and is
a safe man in difficulties. In the social world he is the peer of the best, a
man of courtly polish as well of as worldly wisdom.

  Colonel Buck married Miss Annie Douglas Fleming, of Natchez, Miss., and their
family consists of a daughter and a son.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical
Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land
1888

PART IV.
MONOGRAPHS OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA,
TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY OF THEIR REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE.


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