Governor John Price Buchanan

Buchanan's single term was squeezed from two sides. He came to office in 1891 as president of the Tennessee Farmers' and Laborers' Union, leading a legislature with fifty-four Alliance members that passed little for farmers. Then East Tennessee coal miners rose against convict leasing. Buchanan enforced the law and looked weak to industrialists and Alliance men alike when the unrest continued. In 1892 he lost the Democratic nomination to Peter Turney, ran as an independent Democrat, and lost.

What the plaque says

Governor John Price Buchanan 1847-1930 John P. Buchannan, the 28th governor of Tennessee, was born in Williamson County on October 24, 1847. After serving in the Confederate Army, he moved to Rutherford County. In 1887, he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives. Three years later, Buchannan was elected governor, the only Rutherford Countian to be so honored. During his administration (1891-93), the secondary school system was established and pensions were granted to confederate soldiers. Buchann's home was two miles southwest of here. He died May 14, 1930, and is buried in Murfreesboro's Evergreen Cemetery.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stones River National Battlefield — 9.7 mi
  The Murfreesboro battlefield of December 1862, with a national cemetery built by Black soldiers, a Trail of Tears route and the story of the freedmen's settlement called Cemetery.
• Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration — 19 mi
  The Shelbyville show grounds where the Tennessee Walking Horse has been crowned world grand champion each late summer since 1939, and where the practice of soring is part of the story.
• Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park — 23 mi
  A 2,000-year-old enclosure of piled stone and earth on the bluffs above the forks of the Duck River, built by Native people between about 80 and 550 A.D., with a museum and waterfall trails.
• Henry Horton State Park — 24 mi
  A Duck River park on Governor Henry Horton's former farm in Marshall County, with a mill ruin from 1845, kayak floats and the grave of a governor the House declined to impeach.

More markers nearby

• Black Fox Camp Spring — 3.5 mi
• Rutherford County — 3.9 mi
• Army of the Cumberland, June 24-26, 1863 (Christiana) — 4.7 mi
• George Smith Patton, Jr. — 4.7 mi