| James Needham Buffum | |
| Office: | 14th Mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts |
| Term Start: | January 1, 1872 |
| Term End: | January 6, 1873 |
| Office2: | 12th Mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts |
| Term Start2: | January 4, 1869 |
| Term End2: | January 3, 1870 |
| Term Start3: | 1873 |
| Term End3: | 1873 |
| Birth Date: | May 16, 1807 |
| Birth Place: | North Berwick, Maine, US |
| Death Place: | Lynn, Massachusetts, US |
| Signature: | James N. Buffum signature.png |
James Needham Buffum (May 16, 1807 – June 12, 1887) was a Massachusetts politician who served as the 12th and 14th Mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts.
Buffum was born in North Berwick, Maine on May 16, 1807, to Samuel and Hannah (Varney) Bufum.
Buffum was the Mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts from 1869 to 1870 and from 1872 to 1873. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He was a presidential elector in 1868.[1]
When Frederick Douglass was dragged out of a train car on the Eastern Railroad, Buffum helped Douglass fight off the mob.[2]
In 1845 Buffum went to Scotland with Douglass to protest against the Free Church of Scotland keeping money donated from American slaveholders.