Alfred Eliab Buck

Republican Representative of Alabama's 1st district

Representative
Alabama, district 1
March 4, 1869 - March 3, 1871

Congresses Served

House Terms

February 7, 1832 (70 years old)

Birthday

December 4, 1902

Death

Graduated from Waterville College (now Colby College) in 1859.
Supported immediate emancipation of enslaved African Americans and praised radical abolitionists.
Served in the Union Army during the Civil War, eventually becoming a brevetted colonel for gallant conduct.
Worked as an officer of the Freedmen’s Bureau in southern Alabama post-Civil War.
Served as delegate to the Alabama constitutional convention in 1867 and as clerk of the circuit court of Mobile County in 1867 and 1868.
Entered the turpentine manufacturing and iron-smelting business in Alabama.
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1869, representing Alabama’s 1st District, as a Republican.
Did not seek re-election but instead endorsed and campaigned for Benjamin S. Turner, his African-American Republican successor.
Served as president of the city council of Mobile in 1873 and as clerk of the United States circuit and district courts in Atlanta, Georgia from 1874 to 1889.
Appointed United States marshal for the northern district of Georgia by President Benjamin Harrison, serving from 1889 to 1893.
Became the leader of the Georgia Republican Party in 1896 and was involved in a dispute over delegate selection for the Republican National Convention.
Appointed Minister to Japan by President William McKinley in April 1897, serving until his death in 1902.
Explained American policy regarding the Spanish-American War, the annexation of Hawaii, the Boxer Rebellion, and the “Open Door Notes” to Japanese officials.
Died in Tokyo and was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.