Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

leagues, and a wide influence. He was
made chairman of the committee on
Indian affairs during a period when pub-
lic attention was earnestly fixed upon the
responsibilities of our government toward
its wards, and threw himself with great
intensity into the work. Those who
would make the necessities of the Indian
their own greedy opportunity found in
him no friend. As a member of the committee
on commerce his extensive and
practical experience gave weight and au-
thority to his opinions. He was not an
orator; but his speeches were marked by
clearness, force and great earnestness.
He was a corporate member of the
American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions president of ;
the American
Missionary Association, the Western
College and Education Society, and moderator
of the first national council of Con-
gregational churches, at Boston, in 1865.
He was a prominent member of the Second
Congregational Church, and one of
the founders of the Broadway Church of
Norwich, in which he was an officer until
his death.
He was also one of the founders of
the Norwich Free Academy and president
of its board of trustees. He gave generously
to Yale College and a chair was
named in his honor in the Divinity School
of that institution. The secret of Gov-
ernor Buckingham's influence lay in the
wonderful balance of his powers, physi-
cal, intellectual and moral. He was everywhere
and always the impersonation of
courtesy. His power of reaching the core
of a difficult question was almost intuitive
; and his tact in dealing with men
under trying circumstances was extraor-
dinary. His love for children was very
strong ; he
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
would sometimes leave the
writing of an important state paper to
frolic in his library with an interrupting
32
grandchild. The gentleness of his man-
ner would have led a superficial observer
to underrate his strength of character. It
was in the fervid expression of his intensest
convictions that the full man was
revealed.
Governor Buckingham was married, at
Norwich, September 27, 1830, to Eliza,
daughter of Dr. Dwight and Eliza (Coit)
Ripley, by whom he had two children
William, born October, 1836, and died in
December, 1838; Eliza Coit, born December
8, 1838. She married General William
A. Aiken, one of Governor Buckingham's
staff during the Civil War, and
who was the first to reach the seat of government
with dispatches from the North,
when Washington was beset with ene-
mies, and the approaches to the capital
were obstructed. He delivered these dis-
patches in person to President Lincoln.
Mrs. Buckingham died April ig, 1868.
The family life of Governor Buckingham
was most attractive, the spirit of the
household being one of cheerfulness, kind-
ness and boundless hospitality. He died
at his home in Norwich, Connecticut,
February 5, 1857, a short time before his
senatorial term was completed. The day
of his funeral was observed throughout
the State, and was of general mourning in
the city of his residence. His hospitable
home, which had included among its
guests Lincoln, Grant, Garfield, and many
other notable men, was thronged for
hours by a ceaseless procession of the
high and the lowly, to take a last look at
the face they had loved and reverenced.
Upon his monument in Yantic Cemetery
in Norwich is this inscription : "William
Alfred Buckingham, Governor of Connec-
ticut (1858-1866), United States Senator
(1869-1875). His courage was dauntless.
His will inflexible. His devotion to duty
supreme. His faith in God absolute."
: