At Buffalo Presbyterian Church on May 13, 1861, Confederate Capt. William E. Fife mustered the Buffalo Guards, the militia company he had raised in 1859. Families of church members who served in the company included the Alexanders, Bronaughs, Bryans, Craigs, Fraziers, and Sterrets. The unit was soon designated Company A in Col. John A. McCausland’s 36th Virginia Infantry, and Fife later rose to lieutenant colonel of the regiment. The company assembled in the church shortly before marching away, and Rev. Neely delivered a farewell sermon. Later in the war, the pews were removed and stored in a nearby barn when the church served as a military hospital. The 36th Virginia Infantry was first posted in this area, then the western part of Virginia, and fought at the Battle of Carnifix Ferry on September 10, 1861. It was also at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, where the regiment was captured when the fort was surrendered in February 1862, but was soon exchanged. The Buffalo Guards later fought at Cloyd’s Mountain and Piedmont in Virginia in 1864, and the unit’s last battle was at Waynesboro, Virginia, on March 2, 1865. Of 52 original Guards, 3 were killed, 6 were wounded, and 3 died later. During the first half of the 19th century, Presbyterian membership grew in this part of the state. Ministers from neighboring Point Pleasant Church conducted services regularly in Buffalo between 1834 and 1855, when the Presbyterian governing body in Greenbrier recognized the need for a church building there. The structure was completed in 1857 and dedicated on August 22 with 20 charter members. Built in the Greek Revival style, it was constructed with separate entrances for men and women, as was typical for Presbyterian churches of the time, and it still retains its original interior, including a slave balcony and stairs. Its organ is not original but is more than a century old.