Born in Argyll, Scotland Buchanan immigrated to the United States and settled in Vermont.

[1] As Captain of Company D of the Phillips Georgia Legion Cavalry Battalion, he was wounded in the chest on June 11, 1864, at the Battle of Trevilian Station.

[2] Buchanan was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, but his credentials were not presented to the House as the State had not been readmitted to representation.

He was appointed judge of the superior court of the Coweta circuit in August 1872 and served until September 1880.

[1][3] This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress