Memorial Day did not become a moveable picnic until June 28, 1968. By then I was grown and had already left home. But I remember the traditional date because of my father. He was a World War II veteran, his birthday was May 30th, and his avocation was race cars, so we always listened to the Indy 500 on the radio--May 30th was a big deal around our house. While my dad didn't make any kind of fuss about his military service, I always knew it was important. We had an old Springfield training rifle, and I was taught the Manual of Arms using it, even though when I started my "studies" that old training rifle was pretty near as tall as I was. And I can remember my dad's mother referring to May 30th as Decoration Day, although I wasn't really sure why. So I still remember the traditional date, and I'll be flying my flag again this week, in honor of tradition, and as a memorial to my father.
As an adult I found out the reason Grandma called May 30th Decoration Day was because what they did when she was a girl was decorate the graves of the Civil War veterans. As I'm sure you all know we are in the midst of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, and in commemoration of that I've been reading a number of books about our greatest national tragedy, to reacquaint myself with things I have not studied in more than 30 years.
John Buford
Among the books I've recently finished was a biography of
John Buford by Edward Longacre. I have also been scouring the Internet for digital versions Civil War photographs, especially high resolution portraits by Mathew Brady. I have been colorizing those I find which are of men whose biographies or memoirs I have been reading.
John Buford was a career Army man, as was my father, and his biggest contribution to the Union cause was as a cavalry general. My dad started his military career in the cavalry of the Illinois National Guard, and became a member of the US Cavalry when the Guard was Federalized. By the time the Second World War started the Army had converted the Cavalry from horses to mechanized transportation, and my dad went from there to the regular infantry.
Buford began his career at West Point, and upon graduation he was sent to the Dragoons, which are not quite the same as the cavalry. That experience probably led him to use his cavalry troopers in a different way than other commanders used theirs--he was using them the way the motorized cavalry eventually did. The horses carried his men quickly to where there was fighting, and they would dismount and fight like infantry. And thus he had his greatest success, and his greatest influence on the outcome of the Civil War, for his troopers were the first major Union force at Gettysburg, and it was he who selected the ground for the Union to defend. He dismounted his men and had them hold the Confederates off, while he sent messengers asking for speedy reinforcements. General John Reynolds got there in time to keep Buford's men from being over-run, which allowed the Union to keep the superior positions that Buford had established. Reynolds was killed shortly after his arrival. Buford survived the battle, and rendered further important service in Virginia. But while campaigning he contracted typhoid and after a fairly protracted battle with the disease finally died of it in mid-December 1863. Nearly twice as many soldiers died of disease as died in battle during the Civil War.
The most poignant story relating to his death is that he was appointed a Major General shortly before the end, and when he was told this he asked if it were true. He was assured that it was, and replied: "It is too late, now I wish I could live."
My father also died young, by today's standards. He was just 50. So May 30th I'll be remembering those who died far too young, and the terrible wastage of war.