Constantine B. Kilgore

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Constantine B. Kilgore

| image = C. B. Kilgore (Texas Congressman).jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| office = Judge for the Southern District of the United States Court for the Indian Territory

| term_start = March 20, 1895

| term_end = September 23, 1897

| appointer = Grover Cleveland

| predecessor = Position established

| successor = Hosea Townsend

| state1 = Texas

| district1 = {{ushr|TX|3|3rd}}

| term_start1 = March 4, 1887

| term_end1 = March 3, 1895

| predecessor1 = James H. Jones

| successor1 = C. H. Yoakum

| office2 = President pro tempore of the Texas Senate

| term_start2 = 1885

| term_end2 = 1886

| predecessor2 = William Russell Shannon

| successor2 = William Henry Pope

| office3 = Member of the Texas Senate

| term_start3 = 1884

| term_end3 = 1886

| predecessor3 =

| successor3 =

| party = Democratic

| birth_name = Constantine Buckley Kilgore

| birth_date = {{birth date|1835|2|20}}

| birth_place = Newnan, Georgia, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1897|9|23|1835|2|20}}

| death_place = Ardmore, Indian Territory, U.S.

| resting_place = White Rose Cemetery
Wills Point, Texas, U.S.

| module = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes

| allegiance = {{flag|Confederate States of America}}

| branch = {{army|CSA}}

| unit = Army of the Tennessee

| rank = Adjutant general

| battles = American Civil War

| serviceyears =

}}

Constantine Buckley Kilgore (February 20, 1835 – September 23, 1897) was a U.S. Representative from Texas.

Early life and Confederate Army service

Constantine Buckley "Buck" Kilgore was born on February 20, 1835, in Newnan, Georgia. In 1846, his family moved to Rusk County, Texas, where Kilgore attended school.{{cite journal |last1=Creel |first1=Von Russell |title=Fifteen Men in Ermine: Judges of the United States Court for the Indian Territory, 1889-1907 |journal=Chronicles of Oklahoma |date=Summer 2008 |volume=86 |issue=2 |pages=158-185 |url=https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2006469/m2/1/high_res_d/4_158-185_Creel_IT_Bench_MSS.pdf |access-date=12 September 2024}} He also studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Rusk County, Texas. During the Civil War, Kilgore entered the Confederate States Army as a private and by 1862 attained the rank of adjutant general of Matthew Ector's brigade in the Army of the Tennessee.{{cite web |title=Kilgore, Constantine Buckley |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/K000173 |work=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |publisher=United States Congress |access-date=17 September 2024}} During the war he was wounded during the Battle of Chickamauga and was captured. He was a prisoner of war for the rest of the war.

Political career

File:The Honorable Buck Kilgore in his great act of kicking the capstone from the Washington Monument.jpg

Kilgore was elected Justice of the Peace in 1869. In 1872 the city of Kilgore, Texas was named in his honor after the International–Great Northern Railroad acquired land for a depot.{{cite web |last1=Long |first1=Christopher |title=Kilgore, TX (Gregg County) |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/kilgore-tx-gregg-county |website=tshaonline.org |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=17 September 2024 |language=en |date=February 1, 1995}} He served as a member of the Texas Constitutional convention in 1875 and was elected to the Texas Senate in 1884 for a term of four years. He was voted president of that body in 1885 for two years. He resigned from the State senate in 1886 after winning an election to Congress.

Kilgore was elected as a Democrat to the Fiftieth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1895). When House Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed attempted to end the "silent filibuster" in 1890, a process by which the minority party could stop House business by calling quorums but then not answering when their names were called, Reed ended the process by directing the House Clerk to record those not answering to their names when the roll was called as present but not voting. Kilgore famously attempted to avoid being counted by kicking through a locked door to escape the House chamber.{{cite book |last1=Butterfield |first1=Roger |title=The American Past |date=1947 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York |page=254 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.73263/page/n261/mode/2up |access-date=17 September 2024}}

In 1895, President Grover Cleveland appointed Kilgore judge for the southern district of the United States Court for the Indian Territory. He served from March 20, 1895 until his death in Ardmore, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) on September 23, 1897. Kilgore was interred at White Rose Cemetery, Wills Point, Texas.