Mordecai Buckner (abt. 1735 - abt. 1787)

Born about 1735 in Caroline, Virginia [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth Beverley (Chew) Buckner — married about 1767 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia Colony

Descendants

Died about 1787 at about age 52 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: US Southern Colonies Project WikiTree [send private message]

Mordecai Buckner resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776. Join: US Southern Colonies Project Discuss: southern_colonies

Biography

Colonel Mordecai Buckner served with 6th Virginia Regiment (1776), Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Mordecai Buckner is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A016578.

Mordecai Buckner was part of a Southern Pioneer Family.

Mordecai Buckner first married a widow, Mary Tabb in 1765.^[1] He married second the widow of Beverley Stanard, Elizabeth Beverley Chew. His parents were Thomas Buckner of Caroline Co., Virginia, a county justice and twice sheriff, and Mary (Timson) Buckner.

Mordecai had a long military career. He was first appointed quartermaster of the Virginia Regiment in 1755,^[2] which suggests he was born before 1735 at the latest. He was appointed ensign later that year for then-Capt. Adam Stephen's militia company, and in 1758 during the French and Indian War, he was promoted to captain in Adam Stephen's Virginia regiment. He was probably the "Lieut. Buckner" who was present at an officers council at Ft. Loudon in Virginia on 30 Mar 1758.^[3] He either rejoined the regiment or was still serving in 1762, for which he received 3,000 acres of land.

During the colonial militia buildup at the onset of the American Revolution, on 12 Sep 1775, Buckner was elected lieutenant colonel of the minutemen raised by the combined Virginia counties of Spottsylvania, Caroline, Stafford, and King George under Col. Hugh Mercer.^[4] Both Buckner and Mercer were members of the Spottsylvania County Committee of Safety. Having served under George Washington during the earlier war, he was not long after appointed commander of the 6th Virginia Regiment in the nascent Continental Army. His colonel's commission dated from 13 February 1776.^[5]

• 1776 Revolutionary War Rolls: "List of Field Officers in the Service of Virginia" Colonel Mordecai Buckner, commissioned February 13th, 1776. Served in the 6th Virginia Regiment. ^{[6] [7]}

The following article appeared in the Virginia Gazette on 20 Sep 1776:^[8]

"Deep Spring, Sept.11,1776 All the officers, cadets, and soldiers of the 6th regiment, that are absent with leave, are desired to join their regiment immediately, although their limited time of absence should not be expired. Should any soldiers be so imprudent as to disobey this order, they will be looked on as deserters, and treated accordingly. Wanted in the 6th regiment, a Chaplain, who is allowed by Congress 33 and one third dollars per month, and a rations per day.

Mordecai Buckner Colonel of the 6th regiment"

On 23 Jan 1777 (not long after Hugh Mercer's notoriously gruesome death at the hands of British troops), separate actions were fought at Bonhamtown, New Jersey, Quibbletown, New Jersey, and Woodbridge Township, New Jersey during the Forage War.^[9] In one of these encounters, Buckner's subordinate, Lt. Col. Parker, engaged British troops but was unable to press what he felt was a significant advantage because Buckner failed to bring up support, having in fact fled the battle. Buckner was accused of misbehavior in combat and subsequently arrested for trial. While on parole, he attempted to flee and was reapprehended by a troop of light horse sent by General Washington.

Russell and Gott give an account of the engagement which, while perhaps not favorable towards Buckner, paints Parker's position in a more dubious light than Parker's representation.^[10]

Here on the 23rd of January, a distant drum heralded the passage of about 500 British escorting a supply train along a back road to Amboy. General Adam Stephen was in Morristown, so Colonel Mordecai Buckner hastily assembled about 400 men to skirmish with the enemy. He hoped to take the escort guard by surprise and possibly make off with a few wagons. Lieutenant Colonel Josiah Parker, who was in the van, took off with a few men to locate the British. Parker, a rash, abrasive and offensive officer in more ways than one, only succeeded in alerting the British and getting himself into trouble. When he called in anguish for reinforcements, Buckner sent him about half his troops. Unable to hold his position even with reinforcements, Parker ordered a retreat. Looking for Buckner, whom he had not seen nor heard from since the firing began, he learned with astonishment that Buckner had fled the field. Collecting what remained of the entire detachment, Parker managed to march them off in good order. He arrived in camp just in time to see Buckner ride off toward headquarters to tell his own version of the affair.

He was court-martialed on February 8, 1777. Found guilty of "Shamefully Misbehaving before the Enemy, in the Action of the 23rd January 1777" and cashiered from the Continental Army.

Mordecai was mentioned in his mother's 7 Jun 1787 will, and William Stanard was the administrator of his estate on 1 January 1788, so he died sometime in late 1787.^[11] (A copy of a will may be extant in court records.) Two surviving children were mentioned in the estate administration^[12]:

1. John Chew Buckner, b. 1770, Virginia, d. 1820.
2. Baldwin Mathews Buckner, b. 20 Apr 1772, "Roxbury", Spottsylvania County, VA, d. 27 Dec 1827, "Chestnut Hill", "Orange" now Greene County, VA.

His brother William Buckner was a sailing master in the Virginia navy during the Revolution and was captured and held as a prisoner of war after mistakenly approaching the British fleet, believing it to be a French squadron that he was supposed to meet.^[13] Mordecai's nephew Samuel Buckner (son of Baldwin Matthews Buckner)^[14] and stepson Larkin Stanard were both briefly junior officers in Capt. Thomas Massie's Company of the 6th Regiment as well (in Stanard's pension application,^[15] he accused Col. Buckner of favoritism in promoting Samuel over himself against seniority, but official records show that Samuel Buckner's cadet appointment was in fact slightly senior to Stanard's).^[16] Another nephew, Samuel's older brother, Thomas Buckner, was a captain in the 7th and later 8th Virginia Regiments and a member of the Society of Cincinnati. A 6th Regiment private who died in Trenton on 28 Dec 1776, Edmond Buckner, was a very distant cousin, though it is not known whether they were aware of their relationship.

Sources

1. ↑ A.C. Gordon, "Burwell Family Records", William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, William and Mary College., 1907, .p 97. Burwell Family Records", William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine
2. ↑ Virginia County Records, W.A. Crozier, ed., Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, Vol. 2, p. 33
3. ↑ "Extract from Sir William Johnson Papers," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. XIX, 1911, p. 66 Internet Archive
4. ↑ Virginia County Records, W.A. Crozier, ed., Genealogical Association, 1909, Vol. 6, p. 241
5. ↑ William T. Saffel and J.T. McAllister, Records of the Revolutionary War: Index to Saffell's List of Virginia Soldiers in the Revolution, Genealogical Publishing Co., p. 386, 2010 (original publication 1894).
6. ↑ "United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-994M-47N3?cc=2068326&wc=M61K-G38%3A355093201 : 24 January 2018), 114-Virginia (jacket 341-364) > image 174 of 459; citing NARA microfilm publication M246 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1980).
7. ↑ "United States Rosters of Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSFF-L9X1-P?cc=2546162&wc=WD6Q-R9N%3A1597372301 : 29 August 2019), Connecticut-Virginia, Historical register of officers of the Continental Army > image 56 of 690; citing various published state rosters, United States.
8. ↑ Virginia Gazette Article about 6th Regiment, Newspapers.com, The Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, Virginia), 20 Sep 1776, page 3
9. ↑ Fischer, David Hackett (2004). Washington's Crossing. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-518159-3, p.354 map
10. ↑ T.T. Russell and J.K. Gott, Fauquier County in the Revolution, Warenton, VA: Warenton, 1977, p. 158
11. ↑ W.A. Crozier, W.D. Buckner, and H.R. Bayne, The Buckners of Virginia and the Allied Families of Strother and Ashby, Genealogical Association, 1907, p. 159 Google Books
12. ↑ W.A. Crozier, ed., Spotsylvania County, 1721-1800: Being Transcriptions from the Original Files at the County Court House, of Wills, Deeds, Administrators' and Guardians' Bonds, Marriage Licenses, and Lists of Revolutionary Pensioners, New York: Fox, Duffield and Co., 1905, p.44 Google Books
13. ↑ Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, v. 5, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915, p. 1049 Google eBook (note that the Encyclopedia contains significant errors in the referenced article however)
14. ↑ An annotation to a letter from Washington also suggests that Samuel Buckner was later a cornet in the 1st Continental Light Dragoons
15. ↑ S7607
16. ↑ William Thomas Roberts Saffell, George Washington, Charles Lee, Nathanael Greene, Records of the Revolutionary War, Pudney & Russell, 1858, p. 289 Google eBook

• Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940 database, FamilySearch, Mordicia Buckner and Mary Tabb, 10 Jan 1765; citing Episcopal Church,Kingston Parish,Gloucester,Virginia, reference ; FHL microfilm 975.53 V26M.

• Pedigrees of Thomas, Chew, and Lawrance, a West River regester and genealogical notes Author: Lawrence Buckley Thomas. Publisher: New York, Thomas Whittaker 1883. Page: 31. Under Moses Buckner

• Buckner Book 1 Author: Jim White. Publisher: Lulu Press, Inc, 13 Mar 2013. Will of Larkin Chew

• Wikipedia Mordecai Buckner (contains correspondence with George Washington)