Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/216

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

for winning fame and fortune in a more populous community, and he removed to Danville, Virginia. Here his facile pen and his fluent and thoughtful speech quickly brought him prominently into notice, and in addition to his professional work he became owner and editor of the "Danville Register." Editorial work led naturally to politics, and political preferment was thrust upon him. in 1853 he served a single term in the \"n- ginia legislature from Pittsylvania county, declining a reelection. Returning to his work at the bar and at the editorial desk, he steadily grew in strength and popularity throughout his section of the state.

After the passing of the ordinance of secession, in the spring of 1861, he aban- doned a lucrative law practice and enlisted in the Confederate States army as a private from Pittsylvania county. He served in the Army of Northern Virginia until the fall of 1861, when the people of Pittsylvania again elected him to the house of delegates, and in this official position he was continued until the end of the war. While a member of the house he was commissioned lieutenant-colo- nel by brevet in the \^irginia militia by Gov- ernor John Letcher, and was assigned to special service in aid of the campaign in the field. While performing this duty he estab- lished what was aitectionately known as "Buford's Home." and many were the sol- diers who enjoyed its comforts, while multi- tudes of Confederate soldiers profited by his watchful care of the supplies which were designed ftir those in the field and were by him forwarded to their destination.

.\t the close of the war he returned to Danville, and in October. 1865. he was elected president of the Richmond & Dan- ville railroad. \Mien he assumed this office that railroad had but one hundred and forty miles of trackage. To its development he devoted that executive talent with which he v/as so largely endowed, and the untiring energy which always characterized his life work. In 1887, after he had carried the load for twenty-two years of masterful manage- ment through the depressing and continued difficulties which stood in the way of its de- velopment and laid heavy loads financially and personally upon his own shoulders, he turned it over to his successor in the presi- dency with a trackage of three thousand miles. The Southern railway is under very great obligations to him for the labors and hardships he underwent in building up this

very important part of the Southern rail- road.

Perhaps his crowning industrial achieve- ment was the building (with the most meagre resources at his disposal, and with- out available cash capital) of the Atlanta & Charlotte Railway. Of the thousands of passengers, pleasure-seekers from all parts of the country, as well as Virginians, who are now delightfully hurried over this fav- orite route of the country's pleasure-seekers, but few think of the miles of toilsome riding in the saddle in search of the most eco- nomical route which the zealous, industrious and sielf-sacrificing president of this line, Colonel Buford, put into the establishinent of the railroad, or of the hours of anxious and courageous planning required in the building of the first great railroad built by any Southern man after the war.

in 1866 he removed from Danville to Rich- mond, \'irginia. He represented Richmond in the legislature of \^irginia in 1877. When after twenty-two years of continuous reelec- tion as president of the Richmond & Dan- ville railroad, interests adverse to his estab- lished policy of administration came into control of the property, his own high spirit and sense of loyalty to what he believed to be the best interests of the people of his state led him to tender promptly and posi- tively his resignation of the office of presi- dent, although earnest assurances were /nade to him that his continued cooperation was regarded as a factor of the greatest im- portance in the further development of the company.

Freed from the especial official responsi- bility which had rested upon him for twenty- two years, he turned his attention toward the reconstruction and enriching of \''ir- ginia's great farm lands. For years he was an active member of the \'irginia Agricul- tural and Mechanical Society, and he was president for four years, establishing it upon a safe and sound basis. In 1893 ''"^ was ap- pointed by the governor of the state at the head of the \^irginia board of managers of the Columbian exposition at Chicago.

In May. 1893. a persistent and most com- plimentary call from many parts of the state demanded from him an announcement of his candidacy for the office of governor of Vir- ginia, and although the long existing organ- ization of the political powers of the state led to the choice for this office of Colonel Charles T. O'Ferrall, Colonel Buford in the