The President of the United States
in the name of
The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the
Medal of Honor |
to BUCKLYN, JOHN K.

Who was John Knight Bucklyn?

What did he do?

The father of John Knight Bucklyn was born a to "Bucklin" family, and his  siblings retained the "Bucklin" without the "y".  But John Knight's father changed the spelling of his name deliberately from Bucklin to Bucklyn (and even had some relatives reburied with the new spelling in the new grave markers).   Why the name spelling change?  We do not know.  Newspaper clippings show "Bucklyn" attending "Bucklin "family weddings and such events, so there apparently was no animosity that caused him to distinguish himself from his immediate family by using a different spelling.

John Knight Bucklyn was in Battery E of the 1st Regiment Light Artillery, which was organized at Providence 23 Sep 1861. Bucklyn enlisted as a private and rose through the ranks and officerships to become the Captain of the Unit/  The unit began its service at the effective start of the military campaigns fo the Civil War. being mustered out in June 1865, the unit participated almost continuously in battles, including many of the bloodiest and most important of the Civil War (including Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg).

Read our page on   John Knight Bucklyn's Medal of Honor citation, which records his heroic acts.

Read biographical material on John Knight Bucklin at our additional page on him.

Bucklyn's  tomb is in the Lower Mystic Cemetery (Fish Town) Mystic, CT.

Historian Steve Usler, of Warwick, Rhode Island, has written an article about John Knight Bucklin.  Volume 4, Civil War Historian (March/April 2008 issue). Usler is in the process of writing a book about John Knight Bucklyn.