John Buford

John F. Buford (March 4, 1826 – December 16, 1863) was an American cavalry officer during the American Civil War. His actions at the beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg allowed the Army of the Potomac to retain favorable ground , which would prove to be a major factor leading to Union victory.

Buford was born in Kentucky but raised in Rock Island, Illinois. He graduated in the 1848 class of West Point, and fought with the dragoons in the West. He was stationed at Fort Crittendon, Utah, from 1859 to 1861. When Civil War broke out, he returned to the East from his post in Utah. Buford was regarded as a man who drove himself too hard, which might have contributed to his success. He had relatives who fought for the South, and upon receiving an offer of a commission in the Confederate Army, legend has it he crumpled it up and threw it on the ground, declaring that he would "Live and die under the flag of the Union".

In November, 1861, he was appointed assistant inspector general with the rank of major, and in July, 1862, after having served for several months in the defense of Washington, was raised to the rank of brigadier general of volunteers. Buford was given his first position in 1862, under Major General John Pope. He was given the Reserve Cavalry Brigade, which fought with distinction at the Battle of 2nd Bull Run. Buford personally led a charge late in the battle, but was badly wounded in the knee and left for dead. He returned, though, and served as a cavalry "advisor" to Maj. Gens. George B. McClellan and Ambrose E. Burnside. In McClellan's Maryland campaign he served as chief of cavalry in the Army of the Potomac and was in the battles of Stone Mountain and Antietam, replacing Stoneman on McClellan's staff. Under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, however, Buford was given the Reserve Brigade again, and he helped introduce the dragoon technique of fighting while dismounted.

After the Battle of Chancellorsville, Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton was given command of the Cavalry Corps, although Hooker later agreed that Buford would have been the better choice (Pleasonton was too flashy and rather incompetent as a cavalry leader). In the Pennsylvania campaign, he is credited with having selected the field of battle at Gettysburg. Buford's division was the first to arrive at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and successfully held off Maj. Gen. Henry Heth's Confederate division so that Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds' U.S. I Corps could hold the high ground west of town. Afterwards, Buford's tired troopers were (wrongly, as it turns out) sent to Emmitsburg, Maryland to resupply and refit. They saw no more action at the eventual Gettysburg victory, of which Buford had been a key component.

He pursued the Confederates to Warrenton and was afterward engaged in many operations in central Virginia, rendering a particularly valuable service in covering Meade's retrograde movement to Bull Run in October, 1863. Buford was stricken with typhoid fever and died on December 16, 1863, receiving a commission as major general on the day of his death. He was one of the ablest cavalry officers in the Union Army; in fact, most historians would agree that only Philip Sheridan even competed with him as the best cavalry officer in the Army of the Potomac. Had he been given command of the Cavalry Corps, the course of the war in the East (so hampered by bad intelligence) may have been totally changed.

In 1895, a bronze statue of Buford designed by artist James E. Kelly was dedicated on the Gettysburg Battlefield.

In popular media

Buford was portrayed by Sam Elliott in the 1993 film Gettysburg, the film adaptation of Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels.

In the alternate-history book Gettysburg, written by Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen, Buford was killed on July 2, 1863, apparently horribly wounded by canister fire. He was discovered by General James Longstreet shortly before dying.

Publications

Proceedings of the Buford Memorial Association (New York, 1895)
History of the Civil War in America (volume iii, p.545)

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)