William Calmes Buck

William Calmes Buck (1790–1872) was an American Baptist minister, author and editor, and commentator on slavery.

Buck was born on August 23, 1790, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, near what is now the town of Front Royal.

In spite of having only a basic formal education, he became a prominent Baptist minister, editor, author and denominational leader serving in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.

His grandparents, Charles and Letitia (Sorrel) Buck were among the early settlers of the Shenandoah Valley and had owned about 3000 acres of land.

[1] William Calmes Buck married Maria Lewright on Dec. 1, 1815 in Jefferson County, Virginia.

About 1820, he moved to the “wilderness” of Kentucky (Union and Woodford counties) where he founded several churches but supported his family by farming because preachers were not paid at the time.

For fifteen years William preached in small churches around Union and Woodford Counties, almost complete wilderness.

Paid nothing for his gospel labors (he later wrote his total receipts for his first twenty-four years in the ministry were $724, mostly merchandise!

[1] Buck preached the annual sermon before the Alabama state convention which met in Gainesville in 1858.

[3] Although in his 70s during the Civil War, W. C. Buck served as a travelling chaplain to various Confederate Army sites and hospitals.

In his typical fashion, using the Bible, definitions and logic, he wrote that slavery benefited the slave who was unable to govern himself.

Moreover, he wrote that there was a class of slave owners whose chief concern was “to instruct them into the knowledge of salvation by Christ Jesus.” Although Buck’s book (actually a pamphlet) is sometimes used to imply that he endorsed slavery as it existed, this is not the case.

[4] James M. Pendleton, a friend and colleague of W. C. Buck, disagreed with his editorials on slavery and wrote his own series of letters intended for publication in the Baptist Banner.