Solano
County
Biographies
ABRAHAM
JAY BUCKLES
If the
scars of battle in the defense of his country’s flag, if bravery, suffering,
and devotion in the service of his country are the highest honors in this land
of the free, then the subject of our sketch has enough of glory and distinction
to satisfy the highest ambition. He was born in Indiana in 1846, and when the
War of the Rebellion broke out in 1861, he being then under fifteen years of
age, enlisted as a private in Company E, 19th Regiment Indiana
Volunteer Infantry, to serve three years, or during the war.
Early in
the war his regiment became a part of what was afterward the famous “Old Iron
Brigade,” composed of the 19th Indiana, 2d, 6th, and 7th
Wisconsin, and later the 24th Michigan. He participated in sixteen
battles, in four of which he was severely wounded, as follows; August, 1862, Gainseville and second Bull Run, in right thigh. At
Gettysburg, July, 1863, he rescued the flag of his regiment after the
color-bearer had been wounded, thereby becoming color-bearer himself; but later
in the fight, during a terrible charge of the enemy, he was shot through the
right shoulder, disabling him to such an extent that he was barely able to save
himself from capture. At the great battle of the Wilderness, May, 1864, while
carrying the flag he received a wound through the body, which the surgeon upon
examining declared was mortal, and when the order came to remove the wounded to
Fredericksburg during Grant’s flank movement on Lee’s forces, it was at first
determined to leave him behind because of the next to impossibility of his
recovery; but the officer in charge being a personal acquaintance was finally
induced to remove him.
After
having recovered so that he could do light duty, he returned to his regiment,
then in front of Petersburg, and was soon thereafter commissioned a second
lieutenant. On March 25, 1865, just fourteen days before Lee’s surrender, while
in charge of a portion of the skirmish line on Hatcher’s Run, he received a
shot from a rebel sharpshooter through the right leg, which caused its
amputation near the body.
After
the war closed he returned to Indiana, and as soon as his wound was
sufficiently healed started to school, which he attended for nine months, and
then engaged in teaching a primary school, read law, worked at whatever he
could get to do, and in 1875 came to California, settling at Dixon in Solano
county, where he commenced the practice of his profession. He was elected
District Attorney of Solano county in 1879, and reelected in 1882.
In 1884
he was elected Judge of the Superior Court of his county, a position which he
now holds, and we are informed is likely to hold as long as he may desire to do
so. He is among the most able and popular Superior Judges of this State, being
a man of sterling integrity, learning in the law, and a mind exactly fitted for
a judicial station. He became a member of Suisun Lodge, No. 111, at its
institution in 1884, and has been a member of the Grand Lodge ever since the
session in 1885 at Los Angeles.
At the
session held in San Francisco in 1886 he was elected Grand Prelate, at Santa
Rosa in 1887 Grand Vice-Chancellor, and at San Francisco, 1888, was unanimously
elected Grand Chancellor, a position he has filled with great credit to himself
and honor and advantage to the order. During his term as Grand Chancellor he
visited all save fourteen of the Lodges in the State, and has done much to
advance the cause of Pythian Knighthood in
California.
Judge
Buckles is also an Odd Fellow, a member of the A. O. U. W. and Druids, and a
prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is very popular among
his comrades, and it is confidently expected that he will be elected Department
Commander. As a patriot, soldier, and judicial officer he has made a grand
record, and higher honors will be tendered him.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: “Illustrated
Fraternal Directory Including Educational Institutions on the Pacific Coast”,
Page 225, Publ. Bancroft Co., San Francisco. Cal. 1889.
© 2012 Cecelia
M. Setty.