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Charles J. Buchanan was born of Scoth-Irish ancestry in New Berlin, Chenango county, N. Y., December 27, 1843, and received his preliminary education in the common schools and academy of his native town. Of studious habits he was ambitious to acquire the benefits of a college course, but the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion fired his youthful ardor and patriotism and caused him to enlist in the Union cause. In the autumn of 1861 he enlisted as a volunteer in the 1st Regiment of U. S. (Berdan's) Sharpshooters and joined the army of the Potomac, in which he served with distinguished gallantry for three years, rising to the rank of first lieutenant and acting adjutant. He participated in many battles and skirmishes, from Yorktown in 1862 to Appomattox in 1865, among them Hanover Court House, the Seven Days' Fight before Richmond, Antietam, Wapping Heights, Fredericksburgh, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, Deep Bottom, the mine explosion at Petersburgh, Weldon Railroad, the siege of Petersburgh, etc. He was never away from his regiment until his final discharge and was never sick nor wounded while in the service. At the close of the war in 1865 he accepted an appointment as clerk in the Quartermaster-General's office at Washington and for a time was stationed at Fort Snelling, Minn. After about a year he resigned this position to complete his academic studies, which his enlistment had interrupted. In 1867 General Hancock offered him a lieutenancy in the regular army, which he declined, and this same year he was appointed by President Johnson a cadet to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, where he made valuable use of his time. In October, 1870, he resigned his cadetship to study law, which he had contemplated for several years. Entering the offices of Smith, Bancroft & Moak, one of the ablest law firms ever known in Albany, he was admitted to the bar at the January General Term, 1874, and the next year became a partner in this firm.
This partnership continued until the death of Mr. Bancroft in January, 1880, when the firm became Smith, Moak & Buchanan. Upon the death of Mr. Smith in Decem- ber, 1884, the firm of Moak & Buchanan was formed. These several firms enjoyed large and successful practices, having important and intricate cases in the various courts. Mr. Moak died September 17, 1892, since which time Mr. Buchanan has continued the practice of the law at the same oflfices occupied by his former partnerships.
Mr. Buchanan has always taken great interest in military affairs. On July 3, 1889, he delivered the oration at Gettysburg on the dedication of the monument to the 1st Regiment of V. S. Sharpshooters, which was subsequently issued in pamphlet form and is replete with interesting historical facts and reminiscences. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic; has been first vice-president and a member of the board of managers of the Young Men's Association (a literary institution founded by Amos Dean); is a life trustee of the Young Men's Association; is a trustee and secretary of the board of trustees of the Albany Law School; is a trustee of the National Savings Bank of Albany; has been for several years a member and treasurer of the board of commissioners of Washington Park; is a member of the Fort Orange and Albany Clubs; and of the St. Andrews Society; and of the Albany Burns Club (of which last named club he has been president); and the Buchanan Society of Scotland. He is judge advocate, with the rank of major, of the 3d Brigade, N. G. N. Y. He was active in raising the Harmanus Bleecker Hall fund, and has always taken a keen interest in the advancement of the city of Albany, with so many of whose institutions he is so prominently identified. In politics he is a staunch Republican. He is public spirited, patriotic and progressive, and liberally encourages all worthy public movements. Mr. Buchanan is a member of the first class of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, which, as is well known, is composed of those who were commissioned officers in the war of the Rebellion.
In October, 1875, Mr. Buchanan was married to Miss Caroline Van Valkenburg, daughter of the late Isaac Van Valkenburg, of Northville, Fulton county, N. Y.
