Woodford County's Civil War Generals
Historical marker location:Major General Charles William Field, 1828-1892, soldier, engineer; West Point, 1849. Frontier service in southwest to 1855, instructor in cavalry tactics West Point to 1861. Colonel 6th Virginia Cav. 1861. Brig. gen. infantry brigade 1862. Opened battle at Mechanicsville; fought at Cedar Mt., 2nd Bull Run, in latter seriously wounded, never fully recovering. 1864, maj. gen. in command Hood's Texas div. Bore heavy part in battles at Cold Harbor and Petersburg. His division half of Lee's army and only effective fighting unit intact left to surrender at Appomattox.
Brig. General James S. Jackson, 1823-1862, Union soldier, lawyer, Congressman, veteran Mexican War. Authorized by Lincoln, he recruited 3rd Ky. Cav. in fall 1861. For a time commanded Buell's entire cavalry. Commissioned brig. gen., assigned to command 10th Div. of Buell's army, July 1862. Leading troops at Perryville, he was killed Oct. 8, 1862. Forney wrote: "To die such a death, and for such a cause, was the highest ambition of a man like James S. Jackson. . . . He was a Union man for the sake of the Union; and now with his heart's blood, he has sealed his devotion to the flag."
Maj. General Eli Long, 1837-1903, Union soldier, graduated from Kentucky Military Institute, 1855. Frontier service against Indians until 1861. Organized 4th Ohio Cavalry as colonel, 1862. Commissioned brig. general, 1864. Commanded brigade during Atlanta campaign, 1864. He led an assault at Selma, Alabama, March 1865, where his bravery inspired the troops in Union's greatest cavalry victory and for which he was breveted maj. gen. During the Civil War he was wounded five times and cited for gallantry five times. After war lived at Plainfield, New Jersey, and is buried there in Hillsdale Cemetery.
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Woodford County's Civil War Generals - Brigadier General Abraham Buford, 1820-1874; Confederate cavalryman; cousin of John and N. B. Buford. Graduate West Point, 1841; frontier service Kansas and Indiana terr., 1842-1846; brev. capt. Mexican War; raised, equipped a Kentucky Brig. for CSA, commissioned brig. general, 1862. Covered Bragg's retreat from Ky.; in Vicksburg campaign; twice raided Western Ky. and Paducah, capturing horses and vast supplies, spring 1864; led brigade in CSA victory, Brice's Cross Roads, Miss., June 1864; covered Hood's retreat after defeat at Nashville December 1864; defeated at Selma, Ala., March 1865. He lived at Bosque Bonita in Woodford Co., owning famous race horses Nellie Gray, Inquirer, Crossland, and Versailles.
Maj. Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte Buford, 1807-1883, Union soldier, graduate West Point 1827. Artillery school, 1827-1828; professor philosophy, West Point, 1834-1835; engineer Licking River improvement, 1835-1842; businessman, banker, Rock Island, Illinois, colonel Illinois Reg., 1861; brig. gen. 1862; commander District of East Arkansas; breveted maj. gen. 1865; U.S. Comm. to inspect Union Pacific R.R., 1867-1869.
Maj. Gen. John Buford, 1826-1863, Union cavalryman, graduate West Point 1848. Scouting, fighting Indians in west and southwest, 1848-61. Great endurance, fine disciplinarian, brig. gen. cav., 1862, and chief of cavalry, Army of Potomac. He fought at 2nd Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville; scouted Lee's move into Penn., selected strategic defense positions at Gettysburg and held CSA advance until Union infantry arrived. He died of overexertion and wounds, at age 37, Dec. 16, 1863, holding a major general commission signed by Abraham Lincoln.
Originally dedicated on April 11, 1964.