Alfred Eliab Buck

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Alfred Eliab Buck (February 7, 1832 – December 4, 1902) was an American politician and diplomat who played a key role during and after the Civil War, and later served as the United States minister to Japan.

Buck was born in Foxcroft, Maine, and graduated from Waterville College in 1859. On his 20th birthday, he voiced strong support for immediate emancipation of enslaved people and praised radical abolitionists. He spoke out against the abduction of Anthony Burns and, during the Civil War, joined the Union Army. He rose from captain of the 13th Maine Volunteer Infantry to lieutenant colonel of the 91st United States Colored Troops, later transferring to the 51st USCT and earning a brevet promotion to colonel before leaving the service in 1866.

After the war, Buck worked with the Freedmen's Bureau in southern Alabama and entered politics. He was a delegate to Alabama’s 1867 constitutional convention and served as clerk of the Mobile County circuit court (1867–1868). He moved to Mobile, where he ran a turpentine business and, with his brother-in-law William B. Wood (who would later serve on the U.S. Supreme Court), entered the iron-smelting business. In 1868, Buck was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama’s 1st district, a region that included Selma and Mobile. The election occurred during Reconstruction when African American voters helped shape the outcome, and Buck’s victory came despite opposition from white supremacist groups. He served in the Forty-first Congress (1869–1871) and proudly identified as a Radical Republican. He did not seek reelection and later supported Benjamin S. Turner, an African American, who won the seat afterward.

Buck held several other government roles: he was president of the Mobile city council in 1873; clerk of the U.S. circuit and district courts in Atlanta (1874–1889); and U.S. marshal for the northern district of Georgia (1889–1893). He also led the Georgia Republican Party in 1896, helping to organize the party’s state convention.

In 1897, President William McKinley appointed Buck as Minister to Japan. He represented the United States in Tokyo during a period of important events, including the Spanish–American War, Hawaii’s annexation, the Boxer Rebellion, and the Open Door Policy. Buck served in Japan until his death in Tokyo on December 4, 1902, and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.