Despite what GMT-centric WordPress may say regarding date-stamping, I cannot let July 1 wind down without singing the praises of the Man of the Day, Gen. John Buford.

Buford was, of course, the Union cavalry commander who made the conscious decision to provoke the fight that began this day in 1863 just to the west of the little Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg.  Two days later, the Confederate Army slunk back to Virginny with a serious bloody nose. 

I’ve read Buford’s biography.  What’s most interesting about it is the fact that he was an intelligent, hard-working, professional soldier who spent most of his career fiddling about in frustration and drudgery.  And yet, he just so happened to be the man on the spot on that fateful morning who recognized the advantages of the terrain and realized what would happen if his small force could hold up Lee’s army to the west and north of Seminary Ridge even for a little while.  One wonders: How many other commanders in his position would have recognized the tactical situation and acted on it so forcefully?

These days, it’s fashionable to state that history ought to be taught “from the bottom up,”  with emphasis on what the little people were doing and thinking and believing at any given time.  Well, that’s all very well, but the fact of the matter is that Kings and Battles still count:  Individual men and women, most of them in positions of power and authority, have changed the course of history through their actions.  One simply cannot deny either the fact or the need to know such fact.

UPDATE:  Per fellow port-swiller Groovy Vic’s request, the book I mentioned is General John Buford: A Military Biography by Edward Longacre.  Published in 1995 in response (I believe) to interest generated by the movie Gettysburg, I understand it’s the first book to review Buford’s entire military career, from West Point through his service on the Plains, in the Border States and later in the Civil War.