Private Buck was born Gideon Judson Buck in Louisville, KY April 4, 1840, the son of a Baptist minister. Giddings was a family nickname for him. After graduating from Union College in KY in 1857 he moved to the Salado, TX area. The widow of one of his father’s church members operated a boarding house there. He knew the family and would marry the daughter. Giddings served in Co F, 30th TX Cavalry. The 30th Cavalry Regiment [also called 1st Texas Partisan Rangers] was organized at Waco, TX, during the summer of 1862. It was formed with about 800 from Waco and Round Rock, and Hill Country. Assigned to D.H. Cooper's, Gano's, and Parsons' Brigade, Trans-Mississippi Department, it fought in Arkansas and later in the Indian Territory. The unit reported 16 casualties at Poison Spring and 19 at Cabin Creek. During May, 1865, it disbanded at Austin, TX. Colonel Edward J. Gurley, Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas W. Battle, and Major John H. Davenport were in command.
After the War Giddings returned to Texas and founded Salado College. His parents and some siblings moved from Alabama to Waco, TX to join him. Giddings was not only an educator but a lawyer and writer. After the college failed, he moved to Waco and practiced law and served as the Waco DA for a time. He also wrote for the Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express, and the Waco Examiner newspapers. Being a devout Baptist, Giddings also wrote a book titled “The Free Christian”, a study of conflicts between science and religion. He died while on a trip to El Paso, TX on March 25, 1912. His body was sent back to Waco where he is buried alongside his wife in Greenwood Cemetery. Two of Giddings brothers fought for the Confederacy and his father Rev. Buck served as Army Chaplain. Giddings’s son Raymond Elliot Buck was a lawyer, educator, and judge in Fort Worth, TX and Raymond’s daughter Mary Adine Buck was my dad’s mother.
Private Buck is the 2nd great grandfather of Compatriot Jefferson M. Loveless of NMSCV Camp 2075.