Google is also one of the books that this man has written. Renownedational speaker and the authority on Union Calvary, particularly operations in the east. What i like about his canon of books, he has been boldly exploring all sorts of things and taking his expiration in neat directions. He is working on a mini script about George Gordon meade. Does not necessarily seem like a cavalry operation to me and it makes him one of the most interesting historians working in the field today. Coming to us from columbus, his awardalk about winning book on john buford, eric wittenberg. It is always up pleasure to be here and i appreciate the opportunity to be here today. It is also always nobody wants to be the guy who goes right after work after lunch. If anybody falls asleep because of the good food, i promise i wont be offended. And bear with me, im not good at standing still. Chris was talking about the fact that i have written a lot of books, i have a bad case of adult add, which also means i have a trouble standing still. And being a trial lawyer, im used to walking in front of a jury. We are going to talk about great defenses. This particular one is a favorite of mine. Of whatyou have heard john buford accomplished during the battle of gettysburg. It looks like we are having problems with the remote. Lets do this. Brigadier general john buford kentucky, 4, 1846 in member of the west point class of 1848, graduated 16th and his class, ends up being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the first degree and and is transferred to the dragoons. Gon he is known as one of the best horseman in the army. He is known as the best horse dr. In the army. Being a kentuckian, his grandfather and uncle were founders of the horseracing industry in kentucky. They were among the elite leaders of third bed thoroughbred breeders. In the early stages of work he was working in the Attorney Generals Office inspecting horses, found himself stuck behind a desk. Pope made a great decision and plucked john buford out to do some extraordinary work, some of the best of the war. He ended up being slightly wounded at the second bottle of. Battle of bill run he is struck by a spent ball that leaves a nasty bruise. Instead, he ends up being appointed the administrative head of calvary for the army of the potomac. It is a paper pushing job, andnt entail field command he will hold this until the spring of 1863 until john hugger orders the massing of the men forming a core structure for the first time. At his own request, john buford commandinted to reserve , which consisted of the four regular cavalry armies and also my favorite, the sixth pennsylvania cavalry. He would command them through the stem and raid stoneman raid. Let me digress. Imagine if you will, you are a career calvary man. You have spent your entire adult life as a cavalry officer. Your job is to spend your days mounted on a horse. Mostne you have the horrific case of hemorrhoids you can possibly imagine and you stoneman, often described as being di dyspeptic. He made a great scapegoat for huggers defeat at chancellorsville and was not interested in further service under hooker. Leave totook medical seek treatment for his hemorrhoids and never commanded troops again. This means that out for in pleasanton, ended up becoming the calvaryy of core, his appointment doesnt become permanent until 1863. When pleasanton becomes the corps commander, buford becomes the commander of the first division. Of 1863,te spring after the battle of chancellorsville, there became a massing of cavalry. Five brigades will ultimately combine forces there. This made joe hooker very nervous. You remember jeff stewarts first two rides around the army, he was bound and determined he wasnt going to be the victim of the third. As he is watching the concentration of calvary grow, it is the first week of june, he sends orders for an expedition to culpepper county. Remember these words to destroy or disperse the great concentration of calvary there. This leads to the battle of brandy station. Buford is a Wing Commander, they end up withdrawing. Im forcefully, the great concentration is neither destroyed nor dispersed and pleasanton will lie, but that is what he did. He had a terrible allergy to telling the truth, couldnt do it. Just like bill sheridan, a common malady. After brandy station, the armys begin to move north. The confederate calvary screaming the advance of the army into Shenandoah Valley into pennsylvania, and the Union Calvary will follow. Buford will follow behind with the first cavalry division. He has a proximally 2900 men in his division. Divided into three brigades aired the first is commanded by william gamble, an irishman, 45 years old, served as a dragoon in the british army. He then immigrates to the united a successfulhe has engineering practice in evanston, illinois when the war breaks house is fair and Mission Office at northwestern university. War he isutbreak of enlisted to join a regiment being formed by john rankling an influential republican congressman who is called the eighth illinois calvary. The fake abolition regiment they called it. John farnsworth was a politician. Bill gamble toon train these troops and they will become one of the finest units in the army. He does not return to duty until after brandy station. He has a veteran brigade consisting of his own eight illinois, eighth new york. Cavalry andnois. Alf the word indiana cavalry he commenced the second brigade, a kernel from new york city. Never had any formal military training. In the spring of 1861 when buford inspects his regiment, he writes i can tell colonel devon anything about cavalry anything that he knows. He ended up as a Major General in the first cavalry division. That small brigade consists of between thesein has 2900des, he troopers. He also as he advances toward first u. S. A, artillery. Now that john tybalt has become a Brigade Commander it is now commanded by this baby faced member of the west point class of 1863. He has six guns divided into three sections of two. He has approximately 100 men to man those guns. Is one of those superb regular artillerys who did a great deal to win civil war by the united states. To show you how slow advancement came, when john caleb came he was a kernel. Never even made general. Late in the day on the 29th of june 1863. They will cross the masondixon line. For hel then call is heading for fountain dale. He will camp up there that night. He sees hundreds and hundreds of confederate campfires. A great battle will be fought. He was absolutely correct about that. Is camp around the town, which would be up here on the map. Some elements are down watching the mountain passes around jacks mountain. So there is a pass near the is also a great water source, picked it on the map. It runs right along here. 30, theirg of june mission. On the 28th of june, just outside of frederick maryland. Spotted a guy who is acting very suspiciously. Buford determines a man is a spy but he is ordered to be hanged from a tree. The man is hanged and his body is left there. This enrages frederick and they sent a delegation out to buford. He doesnt have a lot of patience. They have learned that day that have beenor officers promoted to brigadier general. There are a lot of of regular army guys irritated with this. One of them says why dont you send that men back to washington to be interrogated. Does that tell you what you need to do what you need to show . The vast majority of his column is going to take the road out. The rest of the common is going to run into the 42nd. Buford is under orders to go to emmitsburg. They dont have a lot of troops out there. They fire a couple of shots at each other. Is important intelligence because there is this big force of confederates. He will end up breaking off and withdrawing. Emmitsburg. Finds quarters of john fulton reynold. He is the commander of the right wing of the army. He and buford have worked together extensively. They have a close working relationship area he reports confederates and moves on towards gettysburg, where they will end up coming to the town. Are 10 roads that come together in gettysburg. Confederates have made it all under commande before they are ordered on june 29 that the Confederate Army is going to concentrate right here in the coming days. The entire Confederate Army is going to concentrate. They are also going to join up hate andreet and ap health division. Approximately 11 30 in the morning, captain harry sparks and his company in third indiana clatter into town at the south end of gettysburg and buford will establish his headquarters there. He has seen there is good ground to the north and west of gettysburg. He will begin to develop his scheme. Gamble and devon are sent to the western outskirts of the town to create a network of tickets to detect the movement of the confederates as it begins. The pride of North Carolina. It is anticipated that James Johnson pettigrew, graduate of the university of North Carolina will succeed him. He has done very well in the warm in this commanding the brigade. They happened on a china find out what union forces are in town. Him. See this big call they see where the Union Cavalry is going to engage them. The Union Cavalry is under orders to engage. They send a few scouts out. We arentdecides going to have a fight. He turns his column back. Phil says it cant be. They cant be here, it has to be malicious. Phil asks what is going on. And he repeats the same sentiment. It has got to be a militia. He gets permission from hill to 1 andhe morning of july what will become the great buford that night will call together his Brigade Commanders and have an officers call. Is going to tell him what his plans are, hes to hold off the confederate infantry for the first core to come up and relieve them. Tom devon, always spoiling for a fight, the general will hold. Three lines deep, three lines. Buford was going to the sign that going to design a defense for the confederate inch for the confederate infantry. I used to call it that myself. I came to realize i wasnt wrong about that. Seeks to delay rather than prevent the advance of the enemy to the reused as fortification for field works. Of a truexamples are defense. Look at gil housman revenue houserie war at gill during the revolutionary war. Off half ofld hold shermans army. With three prepared defensive positions. It takes sherman time to push through this one, at the end of that short march day he sees this line over here and on the black river, meaning it cant be turned. He wants no part of it. That night under the cover of darkness, his command will leave thus setting the stage for the battle of bentonville. This is the best example of a true defense in the american civil war. Mind isn buford has in what we can call the covering force action. Its a force operating apart from the main force for the ,urpose of intercepting engaging, delaying, disorganizing the enemy before anybody orck detachment of troops, which provide security for a large force by observation reconnaissance attack or defense, that is a covering force. What he is going to do is design a covering force action. Covering force action operates independently from the main audie. It is selfcontained, it seeks to become decisively engaged and it traits time for space, allowing the unit to delay the advance of the enemy long enough for the main body to come up and engage. This is what john buford is going to design, it precisely what he implements. They still teach this at west point today. Everyone talks about how novel and unique his tactics were weird i have to tell you it was nothing novel or unique about it. Comes out of the 1863 field manual for commissioned officers, which spells out how to layout these tactics and conduct them. Im sure youve all heard the word the mounted century in front of an army. Consistently lists two or three men. It can be 50 feet apart. The grand guard is the reserve and finally the main body is justt it spent the what it sounds like. The object is to guard the bridge over the river. They can be reinforced by the grand guard. And fighting withdrawal. Until such time the main body ises up. This is what buford going to design from gettysburg. Let me just throw something at you. Back when the cold war was raging their worst till to germanys. Natos doctrine. Was exactlyctrine what i described to you. We write tanks instead of horses. Army calvary to delay the advance of the soviet armory long enough for the infantry to come up. The more things change the more they make it same. Delaying action, Recovery Force action. Going to extend them the hanover road. , to theewville road chambers road. Down to the fairfield road. He knows the confederates operating in the cash town. Net is manned and their job is to send the an early warning. Their job is to provide as much advance notice as possible that the enemy is perching is approaching. This is the house of the matt smith that of the blacksmith. Overlooking the valley of march creek down here. Commanded by Sergeant Levi schaeffer. He has with him three privates. Sergeant schieffer looks to the west and sees a large billowing cloud of dust. He knows the confederates are coming. He will send a courier to find marsalis jones, the commander of the debt reserve in that area, and lieutenant jones will,. He will barge up to arrow sergeant schieffers glasses. And he will borrow his carbine. Fence postted on a and will squeeze off a shot. Moment, i need a to dispel a myth for you. That bufords command had spencers at gettysburg. You oneg to quotes from of the great military philosophers of the 20th century. Horse hockey. Ive have personally reviewed the 92 nance returns of of bufords companys that were reported, not one single spencer was reported to be there. Impossibility. L it didnt go into mass production until september of 1863. There may have been a few prototypes but that may have been at. All of the fifth and companies of the michigan cavalry brigade assigned to kill patricks third cavalry division. And they were fighting a battle in hanover pennsylvania and nowhere near the battlefield of gettysburg. What buford will accomplish, he will accomplish with single shot carbine. Such as primarily the sharks but also including the ballard star and burnside. Who designed to cavalry carbine. These weapons trade rapidfire for short range. Is about 300 range yards. When lieutenant john squeezes off that shot he hits nothing but dirt because they were well beyond the respect of range. It was to send up the arm. The other picket post open firewall jones goes back to notify the major that the confederates are coming. Heath will hear that shot. This is the marker on the grounds of the property, marking the shot where that was first fired. Go ahead, jim. This is harry heath, the commander of the division of confederate infantrys that is making this advance on gettysburg. A member of one of the first families of virginia. Harry was also known as the only man in the entire army in Northern Virginia that robert e. Lee called by his first name. He was the kind of guy you would love to have a beer with. Harry is real far from being the sharpest knife in the chore. In the door. Drawer. E he is arranging his forces in a really stupid formation. Why echo because the artillery is out in front. Open, he thents has to spend the next nearly two hours shaking out call him of march and infoline in battle. By virtue of firing the shot that hit nothing but are it, lieutenant jones has bought two hours. If confederates finally get their stuff together and begin the advance, and as they begin to have two brigades in front. They are now advancing on either side of the pike to the south of the chambers berg pike. His brigade is a good gate but they have been mauled and are out in front. Ashave Joseph R Davis mississippi, who by all accounts is a pretty good lawyer and pretty good guy. He was jefferson daviss nephew. On july 1, aday much worse they on july 3 and never commands troops in the field again. The joys of nepotism. Are going to advance on the south side of the chambersburg road. The Union Pickets will eventually drop back and they will fall back as they are designed to do to the in betweene ridge beaufort final destination. This dark structure you see right at the corner. Thats the Blacksmith Shop and house. It begins to the bridge. It takes confederates 45 minutes to drive the yankee pickets back to the ridge. Its important term or the cavalry. Every fourth man is detailed so that they are out of the line of fire. Decide you are going to fight and reduce your effective strength by 25 . That by 25 . Educe as the pickets fall back to take their first casualties. Major charles of the indiana cavalry will call to his friend and those will go tomorrow here. A says to him come have trinket with me because i wont survive today. Go ahead. This is John Fulton Reynolds. He is a colonel in the regular army. Hes a career regular army officer. Hes an artillery officer and a very capable guy. Him and buford have a good working relationship. He commands the army of the potomac, which consists of the first and 11th cores. The first cores when to become a because he is a Wing Commander. Buford starts worrying because he sees how make confederates are coming out. He also knows because of some very accurate intelligence is a larget there force of confederates coming down from carlisle. How do we know this . He sends back reports. And these reports providing credible accurate intelligence. It is likely the first shots fired at the battle of gettysburg were not fired on the chambersburg hike but fired up north. Let me dispel in their myths previously heard the myth that robert e. Lee had no cavalry at gettysburg. Wrong. Withgade of calvary was the force and lead their way down from carlisle and is likely the first shots of the battle of gettysburg at 4 30 in the morning were fired by one of jenkins guys leading the way. They know this big forces coming. You have also always heard that ae battle of gettysburg is laundering together of two armies. A meeting engagement is where two forces come together unexpectedly and it develops into a general engagement. This was no meeting engagement. George gordon that the new command of the army of the potomac, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Dickinson to go see buford. He hears what bufords plans are. Rides to he briefs reynolds. Reynolds tells dickinson what his plans are, and dickinson meets headquarters and tells George Gordon meade what it is buford and reynolds have in mind. They have perfect intelligence and know the entire disposition. They know there is a big force coming from the west, two divisions coming from the north. Earliest division is coming from the east. George gordon knew the entire disposition of the Confederate Army and buford has created design defense. Its a myth. I love dispelling myths, its fun. Officerends his signal up here of the lutheran seminary. This was taken by timothy osullivan. I think you can reasonably assume this is what looked like in the battle. Jerome is looking through his fieldglass, looking for fulton reynolds. This battle was intensifying. The commander of that italian that battalion gives orders. Marie opens fire and fires the first artillery shot. All this commotion is going around and he is standing there in the middle of the pike. Explodes, itfeet, was so he was so horrified and mortified he died of apoplexy two days later. Dont get hit by an artillery shell. They give caleb the distraction best the discretion the hotel burned down in 1960 and the current spot is occupied by 7eleven. He encounters one of double day Staff Officers. A confederate gun barks and buford looks at the guy and says thats wrong. And puts his thorough read horse grade eagle. Disposition and says i want you to take one section and move it 600 yards away. Why would he do that . Think back to the definition of the covering force to hinder the advance of the enemy. By changing the angle of its fire indices the enemy into king he has more than six guns. The lead elements are starting to come on the battlefield. They are going to come up over the crest of oak hill and engage with tom devons pick pickets. Over here in oak hill you have the pickets of the six new york and 17th pennsylvania over here. Name ofr by the Corporal Cyrus w james gets killed by one of the first confederate shots. He is mounted because he is on his way moving from one place to another. The horse throws him but his foot is tangled up. Intoags the poor bugger town dead, where the horse was stopped by the town constable. Goes inside, grabs his top hat and goes out the iron brigade. As these begin to get pushed back, devon is taking a lot of pressure. Along the way they finally spot the advance of John Fulton Reynolds and his staff. Lieutenant jerome sends for buford. Now we can hold the place. He sends Staff Officers to bring reynolds to him. Buford points to the long lines of advancing confederate infantry and says the devil list of pay. He comes down from the kubla. Nobody knows what was said. He seemed to point out the terrain features. The critical moment, the critical decision. Elements of the first arrive on the battlefield. And everybody disengages with the third indiana. John fultonime reynolds is doing something no Wing Commander should be doing. He is shot and killed. Saying he intends to barricade the streets and whole town. Here is what captain weld has to say. Later reynolds has been killed. The commander of the 11th core. The senior officer doubleday. Howard arrives and the ploys to the division of the 11th core. There is a low lacrosse the field. Get ready to advance again, they begin to advance against this position here on seminary ridge. They drive the union infantry. The Division Commander is drunk as a lord. Ultimately cashiered for his conduct that day. Ends up in command of troops primarily. Alexander at the end of the line. If you get down you cant be seen. James johnson pettigrews brigade is beginning to advance in a position where they cant be seen and they wont be seen until they are already around the flank. An interesting guy, he ends up beingthe commercial that the kernel. And the being governor of illinois. What does he do . He orders his men to make a mountain charge. All that commotion attracts the attention. What do you do . Calleds a Parade Ground you can deflect them. Their movement to do that orders his men to fall back from mcphersons ridge on seminary ridge. This fainted mounted charge that never even happen saves an entire division from getting its flank rolled up. Its during this phase of the of the third indiana shot and killed. And now like the northern end of the field we have a problem. A north a new york battery commander. Thinks he opens fire on him with his artillery. Confederate troopers are devonsond the range troopers, he has a couple of horses wounded. He does the only thing he can do, breaks off and with draws. This leaves the flank uncovered. They end up hitting that flank and rolling it up in the 11th core position as it collapses. Contact is going to be and they are going to advance down here. At this point Winfield Scott hancock is on the field. He and howard and the chief engineer of the army with some assistance from buford are cobbling together a defensive position on cemetery hill. The staff officer finds you for it and says to him, general howard sends his regards and directs that you do something to halt the advance of the enemy. Been fighting since 12 00 in the morning. He points at the confederates coming and says what is hell in dam nation am i supposed to do . The staff officer says i dont know general, but those are your orders. They form up and form a single rank, 2900 men mounted and prepared to make a charge. He talks about seeing the site of this magnificent sight of drawn up inopers the line of battle, unshaken and undaunted. They send the men out to tear down fences. The end of doing something to halt them. One Union Officer says they form square but it cant be cooperated. Corroborated. By this fainted charge they saved the end of the first core line and bought enough time for two fullback to the position on cemetery ridge. As important as the defense on Chambersburg Pike was this morning, the afternoon phase of the battle you never hear about, conducted by bill gamble and his troopers was every bit as important. On two different occasions he saved the left flank from being rolled up why the confederate. Going to skip over a lot of the stuff i normally cover because we have some time constraint. That night buford visits his camps. And heses john caleb says ive never seen guns so well served in my life. Which is quite a young quite a compliment. Here ands engage out it is troopers who make the discovery. That intelligence is passed on. At about 11 00 in the morning buford receives in order, ordering him to take his two them from thearch battlefield to westminster maryland, where they are to guard wagon trains and supplies. It will be the primary supply line for the army and potomac. Who better to defend that then the guy who is proven he can do so . They are out of the fight. He makes a critical error in that he never sends in a force of cavalry to guard that plank. He will end up moving his command. This is peter long street. Buford will miss the last two days. We were equal to it and all shall remember with pride that we did our country great. Now i want to tell a quick little story before i wrap up area this monument to john buford is in front of the monument to John Fulton Reynolds. What you notice is john buford is it was sculpted by a man names it was a trooper in new york by the name of jerome wheeler. He will ultimately make it up to the rank of major before busting back to captain. Wheeler is a great admirer of john buford. He ends up being the president of the mercantile empire, which he ultimately will sell. If you ever go to aspen you will find the wheeler op or a house and the jerome hotel, both named for him. He did hire the sculptor johnny kelly. It reflected the defense. If you take a good look at this it is an extraordinarily accurate depiction of john buford. It is that on. The monument before it was erected and that is him, that is john buford. It was dedicated on the battlefield in 1895. Anybody who is still alive from david calorie john bufords two brothers were there. He died of typhoid fever in 1863. Was broughtromotion to him, promoting to Major General effective july 1 1863. Too bad, now i wish i could live as he assigned his commission. Fitting roads for regular. He was buried at the cemetery of west point. Each contrary at a dollar to erect a handsome monument. This monument to honest john one of the people who attended the cemetery attended the ceremony was john caleb. Foresight tod the recognize the importance of what he had done in gettysburg. He was given new guns and the old ones retire. And he found three of them. They were in warehouses around the country. Before guns you see at the base of you for its monument of , three of theent four of them are actual guns of his battery. It can never speak again. Stands john buford looking west waiting for the advance of the confederates. John reynolds coming up behind him. Decisions critical that will ultimately lead to the union having the favorable defensive position. Its all because of john buford. Resolute troopers on july 1863. I thank you for your attention. We have time for one question. Going to ask matt and Carolyn Davis to come up to the front. Remember to introduce yourself. A quick question. Can you tell me about the relatives of john buford. Am going to have to think about distilling it down to a minute. , one of thed Company Commanders in lord dunmores roar dunmores war. His first cousin abraham. Abraham tried to stay neutral. He ended up casting his lot with the confederacy. A division under the forest. Namedad a half or other Napoleon Bonaparte buford, but i dont have time to tell it. Say you mrs. Grant hated Napoleon Bonaparte. The buford family has a great martial tradition. Great martial legacy and quickly to give you some sense of what john bufords politics were, his brothers he had was a halfbrother and brothers and sisters. That ought to give you some idea what the old mans politics were. I will be around if anybody
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