Allen Buckner served as first lieutenant of the 25th Illinois Infantry at Pea Ridge before becoming major, then colonel, of the 79th Illinois Infantry, assuming command after his predecessor fell at Murfreesboro. He led the regiment through Shiloh, Stones River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and the Atlanta and Nashville campaigns. Known as the ‘Fighting Parson,’ he later served as a Methodist minister and Kansas state senate chaplain.