Frederick Clarence Buck (c. 1843 – July 15, 1905) was a United States soldier who fought with the Union Army as a member of the

21st Connecticut Infantry Regiment The 21st Connecticut Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 21st Connecticut Infantry Regiment was organized at Norwich, Connecticut, on September 20, 1862, to serve for ...

during the American Civil War. He received his nation's highest award for bravery during combat, the U.S. Medal of Honor, for his actions during the Battle of Chaffin's Farm in Virginia on September 29, 1864. That award was conferred on April 6, 1865.

Formative years

Born in Hartford, Connecticut in about 1843, Frederick Clarence Buck was, for a number of years, a resident of the community of Windsor, Connecticut.

Civil War

Enlisting for Civil War military service during the summer of 1862, Buck enrolled on August 17 at Windsor, Connecticut, and officially mustered in as a private with Company A of the

21st Connecticut Volunteer Infantry First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: * World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

. Assigned initially to the Union's Army of the Potomac, he and his fellow 21st Connecticut Volunteers fought in the

Battle of Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnsi ...

from December 12–15 of that year. While engaged in Burnside's " Mud March", Buck was promoted to the rank of corporal on January 20, 1863. He and his regiment then participated in the Siege of Suffolk that spring, provost and guard duty near Portsmouth and Newport News that summer, fall and winter. Part of the Union's expedition along Virginia's James River, which launched in late January 1864, the 21st Connecticut Volunteers then passed through Fort Powhatan and Smithfield before heading for North Carolina, where they were on duty at New Bern (February 12), Plymouth, Washington and Blount's Creek before returning to Portsmouth, Virginia in late April. Attached to the Union forces participating in operations against Petersburg and Richmond for much of the spring and summer, they were involved at Swift Creek, Fort Darling, the

Battle of Drewry's Bluff The Battle of Drewry's Bluff, also known as the Battle of Fort Darling, or Fort Drewry, took place on May 15, 1862, in Chesterfield County, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. Four Union Navy warships, inclu ...

, Bermuda Hundred, and White House before fighting in battles near Cold Harbor for much of June and in the trench warfare at Bermuda Hundred from late August through late September 1864. It was during this latter period when Buck performed the act which earned him his U.S. Medal of Valor. Wounded during the Battle of Chaffin's Farm near New Market Heights on September 29, he "refused to leave the field until the fight closed." Roughly six months later, in March 1865, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant. Having returned to his regiment after recuperating from his battle wounds, he continued to serve with his regiment until it mustered out and returned home to New England. According to ''The New York Times'', Buck and his fellow 21st Connecticut Volunteers traveled to New Haven, Connecticut by train on June 20 after having arrived in New York City the night before:

The Twenty-first belonged to the Third Brigade, Third Division of the Twenty-fourth Army Corps, and was among the first troops to outer Richmond. On their march down Broadway some of the officers were presented boquets icand the regiment was loudly cheered. At the Battery barracks the soldiers were gladdened by a plentiful supply of strawberries furnished them by Col. ALMY, State Agent.

Post-war life

In 1890, Buck resided at 26 Emerald Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Suffering from heart disease in his later years, Buck was admitted to the Mountain Branch of the U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Johnson City, Tennessee on March 13, 1905. The hospital ledger noted that he had been a 61-year-old, unmarried laborer and member of the Protestant faith residing in Patten, Maine prior to his admission, and that he was 5' tall with brown hair, hazel eyes and a dark complexion. No next of kin were entered in the field for "nearest living relative". He died at the Soldiers' Home in Mountain, Tennessee on July 15, 1905, and was laid to rest with military honors in grave number nine in the first row of section F at the

Mountain Home National Cemetery Mountain Home National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located at Mountain Home, within Johnson City in Washington County, Tennessee. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses , and as of 2018 ...

.Notable Persons
, in "Mountain Home National Cemetery", in "National Cemetery Administration". Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, retrieved online August 17, 2018.

Medal of Honor citation

External links

*
Frederick Clarence Buck
(memorial and gravesite information). Salt Lake City, Utah: Find A Grave, retrieved online August 17, 2018. *
The Story of the Twenty-first Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, During the Civil War, 1861–1865: By Members of the Regiment
'' Middletown, Connecticut: Press of the Stewart Printing Co., 1900.

References