2nd Lt. Robert Buckles, Jr. was born in 1740 into a patriotic family led by Robert Buckles, Sr. and Ann Brown, who settled on the Virginia frontier in 1732 near the Potomac River in what was successively Frederick, Berkeley, and now Jefferson Counties. The area lies today in the far eastern panhandle of West Virginia.

Among the families that moved with them from Bucks County Pennsylvania, or elsewhere, at or around the same time were the Van Meters, the Lucases, the Darkes, the Shepherds, the Morgans, the Swearingens, the Lemons, the Engles, and the Chaplines - among others. Many members of these families would later distinguish themselves in public life and serve honorably as officers in the nation’s struggle for independence.

The people who settled in the area of the lower Shenandoah Valley in the early 1700’s were independent, rugged, and hardworking farmers filled with the spirit of pioneers. They cleared their land, planted crops, raised cattle, and scratched out a living. Over time, they intermarried, raised families, organized churches and communities, and towns emerged.

The area of West Virginia below the Potomac River has many important historical connections. As a young man, George Washington surveyed a number of farms in the area of old Frederick County and eventually stood for office there for the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1757 and 1758.

The independent settlers and homesteaders of this area knew also the value of interdependence and recognized the necessity of banding together with their neighbors to defend their property, their land, their families, and their lives from the frequent raids and attacks of Indians.

In the course of time, Robert Buckles, Jr., and his father Robert Sr., both served in the French and Indian War in companies organized by Col. George Washington of the Virginia Militia. Robert Jr.’s company was commanded by Capt. Robert Rutherford (1758-1759), while his father’s company was commanded by Richard Morgan (1755-1757). After his service in the French and Indian War, Robert Jr. married Rachel Van Meter in 1760 in Frederick County, Virginia and started his own family, a union which produced many children.

In the 1770s, Berkeley County was filled with patriots willing to make big sacrifices for their country. Four American generals lived there before or after the Revolutionary War (Horatio Gates, Charles Lee, Adam Stephen, and William Darke). James Madison married Dolley Madison there. Two of George Washington’s brothers, Charles and Samuel Washington, lived in the county, as did Robert Harper, the proprietor of Harper’s Ferry.

When the Revolutionary War became a reality in 1776, the Buckles family answered the call. Robert Buckles Sr. was too old to serve, but he donated 34 bushels of wheat to feed soldiers and to aid the cause of independence. In addition, at least three of the four sons of Robert Buckles, Sr. served as officers in the Revolutionary War in the Virginia Militia from Berkeley County (and both of his daughters’ husbands Sgt. Daniel Hendricks, husband of Jane Buckles, and William Osbourne, husband of Mary Buckles, served their country as soldiers as well). Another son, Abraham, died in 1777, and may have served, as a pension file identifies a “Captain Buckles” from Berkeley County who served at Fort Pitt in 1776.

2d Lt. Robert Buckles, Jr., the third oldest brother, answered the call in 1781. Robert Buckles, Jr. was sworn as a 2nd Lt. in the Virginia Militia from Berkeley County under Captain William Lucas on May 15, 1781 (McCallister, p. 189). This year was the worst of the war in Virginia. Much of the Virginia Line had been captured at Charles Town, and Cornwallis was threatening and menacing the state. Thomas Jefferson was in the final months of his governorship, and the legislature had been forced to retreat from Richmond to Charlottesville. Simply put, the situation was dire.

Of the thousands of sworn pension applications filed by Revolutionary War veterans, we learn that 2d Lt. Robert Buckles is identified as leaving Shepherdstown in 1781 under the command of Col. Robert Carter Willis. Soldiers from Berkeley County marched from Shepherdstown to Fredericksburg, from there to Richmond and Racoon’s Ford, and then on to Yorktown. Captain Lucas and Col. Willis, Lt. Buckles’ superior officers, are also identified by several as being present in the campaign against Cornwallis and at the Siege of Yorktown and surrender of Cornwallis. Indeed, Col. Willis was tasked with guarding prisoners taken from Cornwallis’ army at Yorktown after the British surrender.

Robert Buckles, Jr’s service in the Yorktown Campaign of 1781 follows in the tradition of his brothers. Captain James Buckles and 1st Lt. William Buckles, served in the Virginia Militia from Berkeley County in 1778. They served at Fort Pitt and its environs under Brig. Gen. Lachlan McIntosh and Brig. Gen. Edward Hand against Indians allied with their British sponsors. In 1779, Lt. William Buckles also served in the Virginia Militia from Berkeley County and marched with his men from Shepherdstwon to Falmouth and on to Norfolk in the far east of Virginia. Further, at least two of Robert Jr.'s wife Rachel's brothers, Captain Joseph Van Meter and Lieutenant Jesse Van Meter, served in 1779 and subsequent years as officers in the Virginia Militia at Fort Pitt and its surrounding forts.

Among the descendants of Robert Buckles, Jr. is Frank Woodruff Buckles who was the last surviving veteran of World War I and was officially recognized as such at the time of his death in 2011.