He graduated, at West Point in 1853, served for two years in the artillery, was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point in 1855-1860, and while on leave (1860-1861) was professor of physics at Washington university, St Louis.
The first American-built loccmotive, the Best Friend, of Charleston, was made at the West Point Foundry, New York, in 1830, and was put to work on the South Carolina railroad in that year.
A second engine, the West Point, also built at West Point Foundry for the South Carolina railroad, differed from the Best Friend in having a horizontal boiler with 6 or 8 tubes, though in other respects it was similar.
It is served by the Southern, the Central of Georgia, the Georgia, the Seaboard Air Line, the Nashville, Chattanooga & St Louis (which enters the city over the Western & Atlantic, one of its leased lines), the Louisville & Nashville, the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic, and the Atlanta & West Point railways.
Van Buren's son Abraham (1807-1873) graduated at West Point in 1827, served under General Winfield Scott against the Seminole Indians in 1836, and was made captain of the First Dragoons.
