BU'FORD, Jonx (1826-63). An American soldier, prominent as a cavalry leader on the Federal side in the Civil War. Lie was born in Woodford County. Ky., graduated at West Point in 184S; was assigned to garrison duty in the West : participated, as first lieutenant. in the Sioux expedition of 1855, and in the Utah expe dition of 1857-58: and from 1859 to 1861 was stationed at Fort Crittendon, Utah. In Novem ber, 1861, he was appointed assistant inspeetor general with the rank of major, and in July, 1862, after having served for several months in the defenses at Washington, was raised to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers. He was then placed in command of a cavalry brigade in the Army of Virginia, took a prominent part in General Hooker's campaign of 1862, and was wounded in the second battle of Bull Run. In McClellan's Maryland campaign, he served as chief of cavalry in the Army of the Potomac, and took a prominent part in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. replacing Stoneman on McClellan's staff after the latter. Soon after wards, upon the reorganization of the cavalry by Burnside, Buford was placed in command of the Reserve Cavalry Brigade, and in this capa city took part in the battle of Fredericksburg, in the famous Stoneman's Raid. and in the spir
ited cavalry engagements at Brandy Station. He then served under Meade in the Pennsylvania campaign, was engaged in numerous cavalry skirmishes, and displayed remarkable gallantry in the battle of Gettysburg, which he began, be fore the arrival of Reynolds, on July I. By many he is credited with having deliberately chosen the field on which this great battle was fought, and with having so manteuvred as to bring Meade and Lee together here. Thus the Comte de Paris says, "It was Buford who selected the battlefield where the armies were about to measure their strength" (HiRtory of the War in America, Ill., 545). Buford pursued the Con federates to Warrenton, and was afterwards en gaged in many operations in Central Virginia, rendering a particularly valuable service in covering Meade's retrograde movement to Bull Run in October, 1863. Ile withdrew on siek leave in November, and on December 16 died in Washington, receiving a commission as major general on the day of his death. monument was erected to his memory on the Gettysburg battlefield in 1895. Consult a biographical sketch in the Proceedings of the Buford Memorial (New York, 1895).