What do you think?
Rate this book
General John Buford
The film Gettysburg introduced the general public to Union cavalry leader John Buford and his key role on the first day of the battle; no full-length biography of the general has ever been written until now.
312 pages, Paperback
First published October 20, 1995
13 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 6, 2009
John Buford is perhaps best known for his aggressive actions on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. However, he merits more consideration than for one day's worth of sound generalship. This book does a good, solid job of introducing readers to General Buford.
Although born in Kentucky, he later moved to what was to become Rock Island, Illinois. In the late 1840s, he entered West Point and graduated in good standing. Some of those whom he came into contact with at "The Point" included Ambrose Burnside, George Stoneman, George Steuart, William Jones, John Tidball, and Hugh Ewing (William Tecumseh Sherman's foster brother). In the "old Army," he was a trooper, including serving in "Bleeding Kansas" and into the Valley of the Saints, as the United States aimed to chastise the Mormons.
As the Civil War began, Buford was assigned to administration, although he wanted to be "in the saddle" as an active cavalry officer. After considerable frustration, he earned an active command. He did good service before Second Manassas/Bull Run, trying to alert General Pope of Longstreet's advance through Thoroughfare Pass, threatening Pope's flank. Alas! The significant intelligence never found its way to the right people. Indeed, this illustrates one of Buford's strength--gathering and passing on crisp intelligence (one function of the cavalry was to serve as "the eyes" of the army). However, later, he was consigned once more to administrative work.
When Joe Hooker became commander of the Army of the Potomac, Buford's luck changed again, as he was given an active command. After the debacle at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee began his raid northward. Here, Buford played a key role. First, in gathering intelligence. Second, for his role at Brandy Station, when his cavalry put great pressure on one wing of JEB Stuart's cavalry, beginning to tarnish the reputation of the irrepressible Stuart's command.
Then, on to Gettysburg, where he arrived on June 30, assessed the land and the military features around the village, and decided to make a fight of it, fully realizing that his two cavalry brigades were facing Early's corps moving south toward Gettysburg from Carlisle and York and Hill's corps moving east along the Chambersburg Pike. As everyone knows, he held long enough for John Reynolds Union First and O. O. Howard's 11th Corps to arrive and join the battle.
After, Buford continued his good work, although he would face reverses as he pursued Lee's retreating army. Once the Army of the Potomac re-entered Virginia, he continued to play a role. However, illness cut short his career.
All in all, a useful biography of a figure who deserves to be better known. Indeed, the author originally refused the offer to write this book, because he did not think that there was enough information to do a competent biography. Readers ought to be appreciative that Longacre's assessment was wrong.
Although born in Kentucky, he later moved to what was to become Rock Island, Illinois. In the late 1840s, he entered West Point and graduated in good standing. Some of those whom he came into contact with at "The Point" included Ambrose Burnside, George Stoneman, George Steuart, William Jones, John Tidball, and Hugh Ewing (William Tecumseh Sherman's foster brother). In the "old Army," he was a trooper, including serving in "Bleeding Kansas" and into the Valley of the Saints, as the United States aimed to chastise the Mormons.
As the Civil War began, Buford was assigned to administration, although he wanted to be "in the saddle" as an active cavalry officer. After considerable frustration, he earned an active command. He did good service before Second Manassas/Bull Run, trying to alert General Pope of Longstreet's advance through Thoroughfare Pass, threatening Pope's flank. Alas! The significant intelligence never found its way to the right people. Indeed, this illustrates one of Buford's strength--gathering and passing on crisp intelligence (one function of the cavalry was to serve as "the eyes" of the army). However, later, he was consigned once more to administrative work.
When Joe Hooker became commander of the Army of the Potomac, Buford's luck changed again, as he was given an active command. After the debacle at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee began his raid northward. Here, Buford played a key role. First, in gathering intelligence. Second, for his role at Brandy Station, when his cavalry put great pressure on one wing of JEB Stuart's cavalry, beginning to tarnish the reputation of the irrepressible Stuart's command.
Then, on to Gettysburg, where he arrived on June 30, assessed the land and the military features around the village, and decided to make a fight of it, fully realizing that his two cavalry brigades were facing Early's corps moving south toward Gettysburg from Carlisle and York and Hill's corps moving east along the Chambersburg Pike. As everyone knows, he held long enough for John Reynolds Union First and O. O. Howard's 11th Corps to arrive and join the battle.
After, Buford continued his good work, although he would face reverses as he pursued Lee's retreating army. Once the Army of the Potomac re-entered Virginia, he continued to play a role. However, illness cut short his career.
All in all, a useful biography of a figure who deserves to be better known. Indeed, the author originally refused the offer to write this book, because he did not think that there was enough information to do a competent biography. Readers ought to be appreciative that Longacre's assessment was wrong.
April 17, 2020
Great biography on one of the most famous cavalry leaders in US history, best known for his instrument role during the battle of Gettysburg. The author concludes that Buford’s operational flexibility, speed, and mobility have “significantly influenced the conduct of every major conflict since World War 2,” making Buford’s death wish - “that he might live on in his profession” a current reality.
November 27, 2022
The development of the man and the soldier and the final months of his life put into perspective his famous actions on the first day of Gettysburg and in the battles just before and after it. A class act. Far better than most military leaders. Page 221 says it all.
November 29, 2009
As mentioned in the other reviews the author was limited in the amount of primary resource material available to him whilst writing this biography. Taking that into consideration he has produced an excellent account of General John Buford. I found the narrative was fluid and easy to read and the chapters concerning Gettysburg and after very interesting. The book is 312 pages in length, contained in 12 chapters with 6 maps and 16 photos. Overall this is a well presented and researched book but does not offer an extensive account of this man's life due to the lack of material. I would think that any person who enjoys Civil War history should find this an enjoyable account of a professional Union cavalry officer.
December 17, 2009
Longacre does a good job with admitted poor resources. It leads Longacre to make many suppositions because there aren't any resources available about Buford. He does a good job with what he has with the payoff being a good insight into Buford's stand at Gettysburg. well worth the read for anyone who has read Sharra's Killer Angels or watched mesmerized by Sam Elliot's performance of Buford to understand who the real Buford was.
October 6, 2019
It’s unfortunate that General Buford died in 1863, before the war’s end. We lack his post-war memoirs—should he felt like writing them—and are the poorer for it. Still, there are fifteen pages of sources, from which a fairly respectable biography was fashioned. Buford’s “greatest hit” was his delaying action on July 1, 1863, the first day of the battle of Gettysburg. He bought just enough time for Reynolds’ I Corps to come up and start the real infantry fight. Interestingly, Sam Elliot was in his mid-forties when filming his role as Buford at Gettysburg; Buford was thirty-seven when he died.
The book could have used more maps, especially of the campaigning in Virginia after Gettysburg. In the introduction, the author writes of Buford’s “…major influence…on mounted tactics through much of the Civil War and well into the twentieth century” and then…
This is great stuff and a remarkable achievement, but the reader doesn’t get to see it happening in the main narrative. When did Buford decide to implement this? How did he sell it to the rest of the cavalry? Was it resisted (most good ideas are)? We see it in action at Gettysburg; was this the first time used? How was it refined and improved, if such was needed? Here is the disappointment, leaving the reader with a narrative of campaigns and one battle. Too bad there wasn’t more which could be included.
The book could have used more maps, especially of the campaigning in Virginia after Gettysburg. In the introduction, the author writes of Buford’s “…major influence…on mounted tactics through much of the Civil War and well into the twentieth century” and then…
John Buford left an enduring imprint on mid-nineteenth century mounted operations, precursor of the mobile, mechanized warfare of today. (Buford) almost singlehandedly overturned the practice, prevalent in virtually every theater of operations, to cast the mounted forces of the Union in the mold of European heavy cavalry. In place of the mounted, saber-reliant shock tactics the army’s hierarchy had borrowed from the Age of Napoleon, Buford substituted the light cavalry tactics he had mastered during the prewar campaigns against the Plains Indians. His emphasis on dragoon-style operations featuring dismounted fighting with carbine and pistol helped transform the Yankee horsemen from a poor imitation of cuirassiers into a potent, mobile, versatile arm of the service capable of taking its rightful place in battle beside infantry and artillery comrades.
This is great stuff and a remarkable achievement, but the reader doesn’t get to see it happening in the main narrative. When did Buford decide to implement this? How did he sell it to the rest of the cavalry? Was it resisted (most good ideas are)? We see it in action at Gettysburg; was this the first time used? How was it refined and improved, if such was needed? Here is the disappointment, leaving the reader with a narrative of campaigns and one battle. Too bad there wasn’t more which could be included.
February 11, 2018
A nice survey of General Buford's career. Focus is almost exclusively on his military career. There is apparently a paucity of correspondence from or about the general, so the book, while attempting to present the character of this officer is hamstrung by the lack of sources. The author does a good job of extrapolating character traits from what observations of the subject are available, as well as inferring traits based on the general's career, experiences and actions. A worthwhile read, but I still do not feel like I know John Buford like I had hoped to upon completion of the book.
January 12, 2022
There are a number of US Army leaders whose contributions to the ultimate suppression of the rebellion have been obscured over the years by the combination of a paucity of sources and the Lost Cause fallacy. Buford is an example of an officer whose achievements, particularly when fighting Stuart, deserve wider acknowledgement. Longacre does a fine job of pointing out that fact.
March 24, 2020
His actions at Gettysburg May have not only won the battle but possibly the war. As he died five months later at 37, his biography is necessarily short. He never had a chance to write his own story.
December 23, 2017
Excellent book. I would have rated 5 except author had to conjecture on a lot of conversations/events as they were not recorded.
November 24, 2020
This was a very comprehensive book with some maps but lots of details. Great read
December 23, 2025
A good biography of the Union Cavalry General that was largely responsible for the Union victory at Gettysburg in July of 1863. Sadly he gied of illness before the end of that year.
February 22, 2012
A splendid book well deserving of a lengthy review. [Note that it will be impossible to comment on this, or actually any, biography without giving "spoilers"]. Here we have the life of Civil War Union General John Buford, perhaps best known to modern day folks through the portrayal of him by actor Sam Elliot in the movie "Gettysburg". Buford was a West Point graduate who fought in the Indian wars in the West prior to his service as a cavalry commander in the Civil War, rising up the ranks to the level of Brigadier General by the end of his career. He was a combination of the two types of generals in that conflict; first the strategist general, such as Lee and McClellan, who while never engaging in personal combat during the war were expert in field command (Buford's decisions at Gettysburg are ample proof of this); but also the fighting general, like Forrest and Stuart, who were in the thick of the fight alongside their troopers. Buford saw combat at Second Bull Run (where he was slightly but painfully wounded), Brandy Station (the largest cavalry battle ever to take place in the Western Hemisphere, I have read), as well as others. His enduring fame, however, will ever be his against-all-odds delaying action on the first day of the battle of Gettysburg, as well as his spirited answer when asked by his just-arrived superior John Reynolds "What's the matter, John?", to which Buford replied, "The devil's to pay!". His positioning of his men along the roadways leading to the town in order to block the advancing Confederates was excellent, and herein lies one of the values of the book itself. Its detailed and precise accounts of battles gives the reader quite an education of the first half of the Civil War itself, at least in the Eastern theater where Buford fought. The map of this area on p. 79 as well as the first day of Gettysburg map are very helpful, although a better composite map showing all the forts out West during Buford's early days is sorely needed. One point of which the reader will have to be aware and tolerant is the author's repeated use of such phrases as "Buford no doubt felt that", "Buford is believed to have", and the like. This is due in no part to the author's lack of research but rather to the scarcity of primary source materials. Buford, who died at the age of 37 just months after Gettysburg, left no diary or memoirs, and few letters in comparison to many other Civil War figures. Mr. Longacre is, in fact, to be highly commended for giving to the reading public such a complete portrait of a sadly neglected yet important figure when he had, in comparison, so little material to work with. The resulting account should inspire all who invest their time in this book. John Buford was a fine, dutiful, and dedicated soldier, so much so that Sherman offered him the command of all the cavalry in the West (an opportunity he did not live to fulfill)and further attested by the fact that at his funeral in Washington D.C., no less a personage than Abraham Lincoln was in attendance.
February 27, 2013
I enjoyed the book. A very straight forward story that adequately covers his military career. It moved along and I would have given it a 3.5 if I could have, mainly because of the reliance on secondary sources. The author had few options to overcome that issue.
Longacre's issue was that primary source material is so scarce, and the fact that Buford died in 1863 at a young age made the book seemingly stop right in the middle. The General did great work at Gettysburg but he is not that well known. Sam Elliot's performance in the movie "Gettysburg" seems to be consistent with the biography. Buford was not a political newspaper General, and that hurt his career. The fact that he could not write his bio after the War did not help.
A good read for Civil War Buffs, however, most general readers will find the book dry
Longacre's issue was that primary source material is so scarce, and the fact that Buford died in 1863 at a young age made the book seemingly stop right in the middle. The General did great work at Gettysburg but he is not that well known. Sam Elliot's performance in the movie "Gettysburg" seems to be consistent with the biography. Buford was not a political newspaper General, and that hurt his career. The fact that he could not write his bio after the War did not help.
A good read for Civil War Buffs, however, most general readers will find the book dry
November 14, 2015
When I first skimmed this book and took a look at the chapter on Gettysburg, I thought that I would not read it. I did read it and I am glad I did. The book is short but its very brevity helps to bring out the point the author is making of the development of a fine tactician and leader.
The humdrum life of a quartermaster developed General Buford's administrative skills. His experience on the frontier developed his sense of the maximum use of the weapon he was using, the cavalry. He learned how to use his force as part dragoon (mounted infantry) and part cavalry (charge on horseback with spears and swords). Buford used those skills well at Gettysburg.
And the lead up to Gettysburg, the interminable going back and forth, fighting small battles, gave a sense of the ennui and terror of war.
The humdrum life of a quartermaster developed General Buford's administrative skills. His experience on the frontier developed his sense of the maximum use of the weapon he was using, the cavalry. He learned how to use his force as part dragoon (mounted infantry) and part cavalry (charge on horseback with spears and swords). Buford used those skills well at Gettysburg.
And the lead up to Gettysburg, the interminable going back and forth, fighting small battles, gave a sense of the ennui and terror of war.
January 17, 2008
In a period with so many personalities around whom legends have grown, it's refreshing to see a lesser-known but hardly unimportant character from the Civil War given respectable attention. Buford found some prominence as a personality at Gettysburg, but his career has been given scant attention over the years. Longacre's account is relatively short and to the point, with most detail being rightfully reserved for the events at Gettysburg. Buford's ability was certainly validated years after his death, as his methods of combat became a model for future leaders. The book succeeded in giving me--a good ole southern boy--a whole new respect for one of the Union's most effective fighters.
August 25, 2009
A very decent effort on Buford, but even the author admits he was reluctant to write a bio on this important, but obscure Civil War figure as there wasn't much original resource material to rely on. He decided to go through with the project after the movie Gettysburg came out in which Buford played such a dominant role on the first day. but the basic lack of resource material shows over and over in the book as the author is reduced to infering what Buford thought, and in some cases what he actually did.
August 13, 2007
I picked this book up after reading Longacre's masterwork on Chamberlain, hoping for more of the same on Buford, a relative name that's been forgotten in the annals of the war. However, I came back disappointed as the book did not really come off as anything to me. It didn't leave any type of imprint on me. It seemed that the author forgot about all the emotions and work he injected into Chamberlain's work and just narrated all his collected sources into a book.
December 20, 2019
Sometimes it’s hard to understand why the decision was made to write a book. Now I would say that the author did the best he could with the material he had access to.
General Buford was important and does deserve to be known and read about. But with the absence of letters and other personal documents, it was really hard to flesh him out as he deserves.
It’s not the fault of the author and this is certainly well done, but sometimes the material available can’t really make a compelling book.
General Buford was important and does deserve to be known and read about. But with the absence of letters and other personal documents, it was really hard to flesh him out as he deserves.
It’s not the fault of the author and this is certainly well done, but sometimes the material available can’t really make a compelling book.
December 27, 2013
One of the few biographies of John Buford. This book gets past his actions at Gettysburg and discusses reconnaissance and security operations throughout his career from the Indian Wars to Brady Station and beyond. This book gives the reader a good appreciation of the man and Soldier beyond what we know of his actions the first week of July in 1863.
April 12, 2014
This is a little-known, but brilliant soldier who was an asset to the Union Army, particularly at the Battle of Gettysburg. I do believe that General Buford and his leadership on the battlefield is what kept the Union army from collapsing on Day 1 at Gettysburg. Sadly, he wasn't used again in this battle and died a short time later from illness. A tragic loss to the Army and the United States.
February 7, 2017
In this age of overblown heroes, John Buford is my type. Quiet, humble and competent, a man who made all the right decisions on a critical day: the first day of Gettysburg. The Union owes him much more acclaim than he ever received. Longacre does a great job with sparse information.
February 12, 2013
Really liked this book. Have admired Buford since going to Gettysburg the first time..early 70's I'd guess. His untimely death by illness hampered what should have been an illustrious career in the War. Plan to find more material on him ASAP!!
July 12, 2014
A quick read about the officer made famous in Killer Angels. The book is well-researched but is forced to surmise quite a lot, since little material by Buford survives. That said, it does a nice job of summarizing his exploits.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews