brevet first lieutenant for gallantry at Churubusco and Contreras, but declined the honor in part because reports of his participation at Contreras were in error—he had been fighting in San Antonio at the time. Later, he was offered and accepted the same rank solely based on his conduct at Churubusco. Buckner was again cited for gallant conduct at the Battle of Molino del Rey, and was appointed a brevet captain. He participated in the Battle of Chapultepec, the Battle of Belen Gate, and the storming of Mexico City. At the conclusion of the war, American soldiers served as an army of occupation, which left them time for leisure activities. In April 1848 Buckner was a part of the successful expedition of Popocatépetl, a volcano southeast of Mexico City. Buckner was accorded the honor of lowering the American flag over Mexico City for the last time during the occupation. Buckner joined the Aztec Club, a military society of officers who served during the Mexican War, in 1891. Interbellum After the war, Buckner accepted an invitation to return to West Point to teach infantry tactics. Just over a year later, he resigned the post in protest over the academy's compulsory chapel attendance policy. Following his resignation, he was assigned to a recruiting post at Fort Columbus. Buckner married Mary Jane Kingsbury on May 2, 1850, at her aunt's home in Old Lyme, Connecticut. Shortly after their wedding, he was assigned to Fort Snelling and later to Fort Atkinson on the Arkansas River in present-day Kansas. On December 31, 1851, he was promoted to first lieutenant, and on November 3, 1852, he was elevated to captain of the commissary department of the 6th U.S. Infantry in New York City. Previously, he had attained only a brevet to these ranks. Buckner gained such a reputation for fair dealings with the Indians, that the Oglala Lakota tribe called him Young Chief, and their leader, Yellow Bear, refused to treat with anyone but Buckner. Before leaving the Army, Buckner helped an old friend from West Point and the Mexican–American War, Captain Ulysses S. Grant, by covering his expenses at a New York hotel until money arrived from Ohio to pay for his passage home. On March 26, 1855, Buckner resigned from the Army to work with his father-in-law, who had extensive real estate holdings in Chicago, Illinois. When his father-in-law died in 1856, Buckner inherited his