John Alexander BUCHANAN, Congress, VA (1843-1921)

BUCHANAN, John Alexander, a Representative from Virginia; born near Groseclose, Smyth County, Va., October 7, 1843; attended the “old field” school and the local academies at Chatham Hill and Marion, Va.; during the Civil War served as a private in Company D, Virginia Infantry, Stonewall Brigade, of the Confederate Army; was captured at the Battle of Gettysburg July 3, 1863, and remained a prisoner until February 1865; attended Emory and Henry College, Emory, Va., 1865-1870 and was graduated in June 1870; studied law at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1870 and 1871; was admitted to the bar in 1872 and commenced practice in Abingdon, Va.; member of the State house of delegates 1885-1887; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses (March 4, 1889-March 3, 1893); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1892 to the Fifty-third Congress; returned to the practice of law; elected associate judge of the court of appeals of Virginia January 1, 1895, and served until January 1915; retired from political activities and engaged in agricultural pursuits; died near Emory, Washington County, Va., on September 2, 1921; interment in the Old Glade Spring Presbyterian Cemetery, Glade Spring, Va.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present