John Buchanan (died 1769) was colonial Virginia landowner, magistrate, colonel in the Virginia Militia, deputy surveyor under Thomas Lewis, and Sheriff of Augusta County, Virginia. As a surveyor, Buchanan was able to locate and purchase some of the most desirable plots of land in western Virginia and quickly became wealthy and politically influential. As magistrate, sheriff and a colonel the Augusta County Militia, he was already well-connected when his father-in-law Colonel James Patton was killed in 1755. Buchanan had replaced Patton in several key roles by the time of his own death in 1769.

Buchanan is often referred to in official documents as "John Buchanan, Gent.", while his brother-in-law, Captain John Buchanan, is usually referred to as "John Buchanan, yeoman." Both men owned land on the New River and the Holston River and are frequently confused.F. B. Kegley, Kegley's Virginia Frontier: The Beginning of the Southwest, The Roanoke of Colonial Days 1740-1783, (1938) Reprint: Heritage Books, 2012 Captain Buchanan married Colonel Buchanan's sister Martha.Pendleton, William Cecil. History of Tazewell County and Southwest Virginia: 1748-1920. W. C. Hill Printing Company, 1920; pp 443-447

Birth and early life

Little is known for certain of Buchanan's birthplace or his life before 1741. Buchanan may have been born in County Donegal, Ireland or in Pennsylvania.Paul C. Buchanan, Buchanans of Early Augusta County, Virginia Virginia: P.C. Buchanan, 1995 His date of birth is disputed, with sources variously citing 1699,Thorny Trail, vols 7-10, Midland Genealogical Society, Midland TX, Winter-Spring 1978-79. 1716,"Col. John BUCHANAN," Frost, Gilchrist and Related Families and 1728. Several sources say he was the son of James Buchanan and Jane Sayers, and that the family lived for a time in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.R. A. Brock, ed. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751-1758. Collections of the Virginia Historical Society. Richmond: The Virginia Historical Society, 1883. Lyman Draper states that before coming to America, he "had figured in the wars of Scotland," although no details or source is given, and Draper may have confused John Buchanan with his father James. Lyman Draper's collected papers of William Preston (1731-1791) contains information suggesting that Buchanan immigrated from Ireland in 1738 with his father James, and James Patton.

Letitia Floyd Lewis, granddaughter of William Preston, wrote a letter to Robert William Hughes, dated 13 June 1879, describing her family history.Johnson, Patricia Givens, James Patton and the Appalachian colonists, Verona, VA. McClure Press, 1983Valentine, Edward Pleasants. The Edward Pleasants Valentine Papers: Valentine and Smith. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1979. Although the original letter appears to be lost, a transcription was printed in The Richmond Standard on 18 September 1880.Ryan S. Mays, "New Maritime Records of James Patton," The Smithfield Review, Studies in the history of the region west of the Blue Ridge, Volume 21, 2017; pp 1-17 The letter says that: "...Col. James Patton, who with his friends and relatives James and John Buchanan, and John Lewis and John Preston, emigrated from the north of Ireland, near Londonderry, to Augusta Co, Va., in the year 1736. They had previously settled for a short time in Northampton Co., Pa. The then route of emigration and discovery was up the Valley of Virginia from Pennsylvania, though the first landing, as my mother told me, of these emigrants was near Alexandria, Virginia, at some place known as Belle Haven (at the mouth of Cameron Run)...Colonel John Buchanan married Margaret [Patton], and they had three children - also daughters; one of them, Jane, was my ancestress; another, Margaret...was the mother of General William Campbell, the hero of King's Mountain. Colonel John Buchanan was the son of Colonel James Buchanan and his wife Jane Sayers, of Northampton Co., Pa."

Military service

On 24 June 1742, Buchanan qualified as a captain in the Augusta County militia.

In December 1742, the militia engaged in combat with a group of twenty-two Onondaga and seven Oneida Indians who had traveled to Virginia from Shamokin in Pennsylvania, under the command of an Iroquois chief named Jonnhaty, to participate in a campaign against the Catawba. An account of the battle, known as the Battle of Galudoghson, was given to Conrad Weiser by Shikellamy's grandson in February, 1743.Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, vol IV, 1735-1745, Theo. Fenn, Harrisburg, 1851 The grandson claimed that suspicious white settlers, thinking that this war party planned to raid Virginia settlements, attacked them. The settlers later reported that the Indians had killed several hogs and horses belonging to the settlers, and "went to Peoples houses, Scared the women and Children [and] took what they wanted." The militia were called in, and Patton ordered them to escort the war party out of Augusta County. The militia followed the warriors for two days, until one of the Indians made a detour into the forest near Balcony Falls, possibly to relieve himself, and a militiaman fired at him. The Indians then attacked and killed the militia captain, John McDowell. In the battle that followed, three or four of the Indian warriors and eight or ten militiamen were killed.Draper, Lyman C. Action at the Galudoghson December 14, 1742; Colonel James Patton, Captain John McDowell and the First Battle with the Indians in the Valley of Virginia; with an Appendix Containing Early Accounts of the Battle. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1995McCleskey, Nathaniel Turk, "Across the first divide: Frontiers of settlement and culture in Augusta County, Virginia, 1738-1770". Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623794, College of William and Mary, 1990.Patton, James. James Patton Letters, 1742; Dec. 18-22. Accession 21603. Archives and manuscripts: Personal papers collection. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA According to Colonel Patton, the Indians fled into the forest and were pursued for "several hundred yards" by Captain Buchanan and eight militiamen."Notes and Queries: Letters of James Patton, 1742, and Governor Gooch, 1743." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 30, no. 1: January, 1922

On 18 November 1752, Buchanan was promoted to colonel of horse and foot.

Following the Draper's Meadow massacre of July 1755, Buchanan sent a company from the Augusta County militia to pursue the Shawnee warriors responsible for the massacre, but they were unable to locate them. On 11 August Governor Robert Dinwiddie wrote to Buchanan: "I am sorry the Men You sent after the Murderers did not come up with them." Dinwiddie, Robert. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751-1758. Vol. II. Robert Alonzo Brock, ed. Richmond: Virginia Historical Society, 1884. In late 1755, he succeeded Colonel Patton as commander-in-Chief of the Augusta County Militia. The next spring he moved to Cherry Tree Bottom Plantation at Looney's Ferry on the James River, where he was visited by Colonel George Washington in October.

In February–April 1756, Buchanan led a company of rangers on the Sandy Creek Expedition, intended to assault the Shawnee village known as Lower Shawneetown, from which raids on Virginia settlements had been launched. The expedition was forced to turn back due to harsh weather and lack of supplies."Sandy Creek Expedition," West Virginia Encyclopedia

On 27 July 1756, Buchanan presided over a council of war, held at the Augusta County Courthouse, "to meet and consult on the most proper places to build forts along the fronteers for the protection of the Inhabitants." Present were Colonel David Stewart, Major John Brown, and ten captains, all officers of the Augusta County militia. The council decided on the locations of fifteen forts to be built in a "chain" across the county. The council determined that 680 men would need to be recruited to man these and several other existing forts."From George Washington to Robert Dinwiddie, 4 August 1756," Founders Online, National Archives. Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 3, 16 April 1756–9 November 1756, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1984, pp. 312–323. Samuel Stalnaker represented the Holston Settlement and recommended that stockade forts be built at Dunkard's Bottom on the New River and Davis' Bottom at the middle fork of the Holston River."George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Augusta County, Virginia, War Council, July 27, 1756, Proceedings," US Library of Congress

On 23 August 1756, Governor Dinwiddie wrote Peter Hog: “I have recommended Colo. Buchanan to him [Clement Read] for Augusta Coty. I have a bad Opinion of Colo. Stewarts Conduct, & before he receives any Mony, I shall make a Strict Scrutiny into his Demands, & think it must go through Buchanan's Hands.""From George Washington to Robert Dinwiddie, 10 October 1756," Founders Online, National Archives. Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 3, 16 April 1756–9 November 1756, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1984, pp. 430–435.

In 1758, Buchanan supervised the construction of Fort Fauquier, which replaced Robert Looney's Fort, built in 1755 near Looney's FerryKathy Walker, "Looney's Ferry" historical marker, Historical Marker Database, December 24, 2019 in Botetourt County.North American Forts: Southwestern VirginiaA Seed-bed of the Republic: A Study of the Pioneers in the Upper (Southern) Valley of Virginia, by Robert Douthat Stoner, Roanoke Historical Society, 1962

On 17 November 1768 he qualified as Lieutenant of Augusta County.Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County, 1745-1800. Vol I, Augusta County Court Records, Daughters of the American Revolution, 1912

Legal roles

Buchanan served as an Orange County magistrate for the Augusta district from 3 November 1741 to 10 October 1745, at which time the Virginia Council included him as the third most senior magistrate (subordinate only to James Patton and John Lewis) in the first Augusta County commission of the peace Wilmer Hall, ed., Executive journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia,, vol V, November 1, 1739— May 7, 1754; Virginia State Library, Richmond: Commonwealth of Virginia, 1945 In 1742 he was appointed tax collector and exterminator of wolves. On 9 December 1745, Buchanan was appointed justice in the newly formed Augusta County, and on 9 December 1745 he qualified as a deputy sheriff. On 16 July 1746, he qualified as sheriff.Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County, 1745-1800. Vol I, Augusta County Court Records, order Book No. 1. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1999 At that time Buchanan was also a deputy surveyor under Thomas Lewis.

On 18 November 1752, Buchanan qualified as coroner. In 1759 he was appointed collector of duty on skins and furs, and in 1761 Sheriff of Augusta County.

Religious activities

In 1746, by order of Governor William Gooch, Buchanan and eleven other men were elected to the Augusta County Vestry.Waddell, Joseph Addison. Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871. Virginia Historical Society, Staunton VA: C. R. Caldwell, 1902.

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