He Held The Ground At Gettysburg

Union Cavalry officer Brigadier General John Buford Jr died December 16th 1863.

John Buford Jr was born March 4th 1826 in Versailles, Woodford, Kentucky. When he was eight the family moved to Rock Island, Illinois. Buford attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois for one year before getting an appointment to the United State Military Academy at West Point. He graduated 16th out of 38 in the class of 1848. Buford was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the United States Dragoons and served in Texas, and as part of the peacekeeping in Kansas and in Utah.

When the Civil War started in 1861, Buford chose to stay with the Union, despite having several relatives who sided with the Confederacy. With the rank of Major in November 1861 Buford was appointed assistant inspector general of the defenses of Washington, DC. In 1862 he was promoted in rank to Brigadier General and posted under Major General John Pope as commander of the Cavalry II Corps Union Army of Virginia. They fought with distinction at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Buford was wounded in the knee, it wasn't serious but was painful. When he returned to service it was in a staff position and he wanted a field command. In 1863 when Major General Joseph Hooker took over the Army of Potomac, Buford was given the Reserve Brigade of Cavalry in the 1st Division. He led his new division at the Battle of Brandy Station June 9th 1863.

On July 1st 1863 Buford set up his troops west of the town of Gettysburg. The Cavalry mostly fighting dismounted, they held off a superior number of Confederates at Gettysburg, until the Union Army’s 1st Corps could come up and deploy. During the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg, Buford’s Cavalry pursued the Confederates, in Warrenton, Virginia, they engaged them several times. Then his men covered Union Major General George Gorden Meade’s retrograde movement in the Bristoe Campaign in October 1863.

Buford contracted Typhoid during the Rappahannock Campaign and by December 1863 it was obvious he was dying. He went to Washington DC to the home of his friend General George Stoneman. On December 16th 1863 at Stoneman’s request President Abraham Lincoln promoted Buford to Major General, for meritorious and distinguished service at the Battle of Gettysburg. At the end of his life he was surround by many old friends, but his wife Pattie traveling from their home in Rock Island, Illinois didn't get there in time. Buford died December 16th 1863. His body was transported to West Point for burial, in the United State Military Academy Post Cemetery.

He Left West Point

Confederate Major General Pierce Manning Butler Young was born November 15th 1836.


Pierce Manning Butler Young the son of doctor R M Young, was born November 15th 1835 in Spartanburg South Carolina. The family moved when Young was a child to Cartersville, Bartow County Georgia, where his father hired private tutors for his children. At thirteen he began attending Georgia Military Institute, then in 1857 Young received an appointment to the United State Military Academy at West Point. He was a few months short of graduation in 1861, when Georgia seceded and he resigned.

Young was appointed Second Lieutenant in the 1st Georgia Infantry, upon his return home. In July he was attached to Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s staff. By November Young was a Lieutenant Colonel and commanding cavalry in Cobb’s Legion. His unit was attached to Wade Hampton’s brigade which was part of JEB Stuart’s cavalry. Young was promoted to Colonel for service at the Battle of Brandy Station and Huntertown Pennsylvania, which was part of the Gettysburg campaign. He was wounded in August 1863, and promoted to Brigadier General shortly after, Young took over command Hampton’s brigade. The brigade saw more action at Bristoe Station and in the Mine Run Campaign. Young’s final promotion came in December 1864 while in defense of Savannah to Confederate Major General.

Following the Civil War Young returned to Georgia and took up the life of a planter. He served four terms in the United State House of Representatives, as a consul-general in Russia and the Untied States Minister to Honduras and Guatemala. Young died in New York City July 6th 1896.

A Month Long Infection

Confederate General Carnot Posey was mortally wounded at the Battle of Bristoe Station, and died November 13th 1863.

Carnot Posey the son of John Brooke and Elizabeth [Screven] Posey was born August 5th 1818 near Woodville, Wilkinson County, Mississippi. He studied the law at the University of Virginia, setting up a practice in Woodville. In May 1840 he married Mary Collins and they had two children before she died four years latter.

Posey excepted a commission of First Lieutenant in the 1st Mississippi Rifles at the start of the Mexican American War. He was wounded at the Battle of Buena Vista. Following the war he returned to Woodville, where he married Jane White. Posey took an appointment as the District Attorney of Southern Mississippi from President James Buchanan, a position he held until 1861.

When the Civil War began Posey became the Colonel of the 16th Mississippi. He was wounded at the Battle of Cross Keys during the Valley Campaign. His regiment successfully repelled an Union attack at Fredericksburg, and Posey received a promotion to Brigadier General. His brigade had limited action at the Battle of Chancellorsville. As a part of General Ambrose Powell Hill’s third Corps; Posey’s brigade took part of the July 2nd 1863 Battle of Gettysburg in the fight on Cemetery Ridge. He was wounded in left leg at the Battle of Bristoe Station on October 14th 1863. He received medical attention at Culpeper Court House, but the leg became infected. After fighting the infection for a month, Posey died at the house of a friend, Dr John Davis in Charlottesville, Virginia November 13th 1863. He is buried in the cemetery at the University of Virginia.

Not Hill's Finest Day

October 14th 1863 found General Robert E Lee’s soldiers destroying the Orange and Alexandria Railroad.

Confederate General Ambrose Powell Hill’s Corp stumbled onto a couple of retreating Corps of Union forces near the Bristoe Station, that he believed was the end of Union General George Gordon Meade‘s army. Hill reinforced his line, but still didn’t make any ground against Union troops. The Union army was withdrawing toward Manassas, with Meade carefully protecting his western flank. Lee’s offensive at Bristoe had petered out, with Meade well entrenched and the Confederates running low on supplies. Lee pulled back slowly toward the Rappahannock River and tore up the Orange and Alexandria Railroad as they left the area. For the Confederate forces it was a costly battle, with their losses being 1,300 to the Union’s 546. Hill lost standing with his commanding officer after battle with responsibility for the high losses of men being placed on him.