 General Buford (Matthew Brady/Library of Congress/Public Domain) |
At that point, General Buford could have done the minimum required by simply reporting to his superior the Confederate's location then withdrawing.
As a professional who took his responsibilities seriously, he quickly analyzed what he just learned. He recognized that the terrain around Gettysburg may be the best place to repel the invasion. He included that in his report and added that he was digging in to hold that ground.
For several hours on the first day of the battle, General Buford and his cavalry delayed the advance of the Confederates until enough of the Union army arrived to secure most of the positions he identified.
President Obama is asking the intelligence community to drop their "what is the least I can do and still keep my job" attitude and start acting more like professionals in the tradition of General Buford.
General Buford died five months after the Battle of Gettysburg from an illness probably caused by contaminated water, a common cause of sickness and death among Civil War soldiers.
General Buford's Gettysburg story is dramatized in Michael Shaara's novel, The Killer Angels and General Buford is portrayed by Sam Elliott in Gettysburg, the movie based on the novel.
