Mordecai Buckner (ca. 1735 – 1787) was born in colonial Virginia and served as an officer in the French and Indian War. After the start of the American Revolutionary War he was appointed colonel of the 6th Virginia Regiment. He served in this capacity for about one year before he was cashiered and dismissed from the Continental Army. Buckner was the son of Thomas Buckner (died ca. 1755), a planter of Caroline Co., Virginia, who served as a justice of the peace and sheriff of that county, and Mary Timson. He married Elizabeth Beverly Chew in 1767 and the couple had at least two known children.