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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
fiance. Here the Union forces were repulsed
and driven back by the AlcCulloch Rangers
under Lieutenant Buckner's command. After
the close of hostilities, he accepted the re-
sult, and sometimes entertained his friends
who had formerly been his enemies on the
field of battle. His homestead at "Island
View" had been the scene of a serious en-
gagement in February, 1864, and when he
returned to it after the war, he found it
swept of everything, only the house remain-
ing. With his war horse and a yoke of
oxen, he began plowing, and soon had crops
growing. From the multitude of bullets
with which his fields had been peppered,
he moulded gunshot, and was able to sup-
ply his table from the plentiful game of
the vicinity, no other meats being obtain-
able. He did not repine over the devasta-
tion wrought by the war, but set indus-
triously to woik to repair his fortunes, and
by advice and example, brought up his sons
to be energetic and efficient. His plantation
was rapidly restored to its condition as the
home of plenty and hospitality. A well read,
polished and refined gentleman, he was a
hospitable entertainer and instructive con-
versationalist. Here he continued to reside
until his death. He married, at Chestnut
Valley, Caroline county, Virginia, November
22, 1853, Louisa Fitzhugh Dickinson, daugh-
ter of William I. and Jane Richard ( Buck-
ner), the last named a daughter of Thomas
Buckner, of "Lake Farm," Caroline county,
Virginia. Children : Bailey, William Dickin-
son, Louisa CJohn Strother, Aylett Hawes,
Marshall Dulany and Lucy.
William Dickinson Buckner, second son of Major Caldwell Calhoun and Louisa Fitz- hugh (Dickinson) Buckner, was born Au- gust 4, 1856, at "Marengo," near Fredericks- burg, and received his elementary and pri- mary education at the Rappahannock Acad- emy. He pursued the scientific course at Ran- dolph-Macon College, graduating in 1879. This included a special course in engineer- ing, and he also took a three years' course ill English, Latin and German. Two years were devoted to teaching, and his spare time was occupied in practical surveying. In 1881 he became assistant engineer on the exten- sion of the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad through eastern Kentucky, and in January of the following year was transit man in charge of a locating party, and made the first survey of the Kentucky Central rail-
road between Paris and Winchester, Ken-
tucky. Later he became assistant engineer
of construction on a division of the Ken-
tucky Central railroad. In the fall of 1883,
Air. Buckner went to Mexico as transit man
on the Mexican & Western railroad, and
was advanced to engineer in charge of loca-
tion in the following 3'ear, and a year later
to chief engineer of construction. While in
Mexico he made a study of the Spanish lan-
guage, in which he became fluent. In 1886
he resigned his position in Mexico in order
to take up the study of irrigation in Cali-
fornia, and became assistant to the city engi-
neer of Los Angeles, where he staked out
the first electric railroad built in that city.
This is now the model trolley system of the
United States. In 1888 Mr. Buckner was
chief engineer of the Santa Anna & Pacific
railroad, and had charge of the construction
oc the Southern Riverside Irrigation canal
and various other large enterprises, while
conducting a general engineering office in
Los Angeles. He became assistant to the
\ice-prcsident of the Chino Land and Water
Company, and in 1890 went to Europe to
establish a plant and railroad connections
for the Chino Sugar Beet Factory, which
received the first bounty paid by the United
States on beet sugar. While abroad he made
a study of the French language. Returning
to America, he was appointed chief engineer
and superintendent of construction on the
Cartagena-Magdalena railroad, of Columbia,
South America. The tropical fevers to which
hfc was subject enfeebled his health and he
went to the City of New York, where he
occupied himself from 1894 to 1897 with
real estate investments. In the latter year he
accepted the appointment of assistant chief
engineer of the Guayaquil & Quito railroad,
in the Republic of Ecuador. On account of
the poor health of the chief engineer, the
responsibilities of the latter's position prac-
tically devolved upon Mr. Buckner. He had
charge of the engineering parties seeking a
way to mount the precipitous Andes, and
was also made general manager of the por-
tion of the road operated by the government
of Ecuador. During his stay in that coun-
try he witnessed a South American revolu-
tion. On his arrival there, the terminus of
the railroad was at Chimbo, a small village
in the foothills, which had no importance
until it became the railroad terminal. Here
pack trains of horses, mules, donkeys and
