Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-06-29

you the whole confederate army will
concentrate al Gettysburg. There the
battle will be fought. They will at
tack us in force in the morning before
our infantry can come up. They will
come booming with skirmishers three
deep. We will have to fight like very
devils to hold our own until the in
fantry in force can get here. Our
enemies know the importance and
strength of this position and will try
to occupy it. We must hold them back
and if we can do that for awhile, we
will do mighty WELL
$50 by General BufOrd's orders his
entire cavalry division was saddle1
and standing to horse ready for battle
at sunrise July l, 1868. And it was
well for our country and our country's
cause that this was so. Just as he
! predicted to Devin, one corps of the
/ enemy from the north and another
| from the west advanced in unison Oh
! Gettysburg early that morning. AT
once Buford reported this back to Cen
eral Meade and to General Reynolds
who was in command of the First
corps. Unless Buford fiercely and
against fearful odds, opposed this ad
vance, as he did, the enemy would have
occupied the town and the heights
early in the day, and the battle OF
Gettysburg would have been fought
elsewhere, and with perhaps vers
different outcome General Buford de,
ployed his troops in a long scattered
line, concealed as much as possible by
the trees, in order to disguise the
weakness of his force. He sent one
brigade under Devin TO the north to
oppose the enemy there and he with
his other brigade deployed, facing the
west and across the Cashtown road
Here the Eighth Illinois cavalry fired
the first shot at Gettysburg. Buford
had a single battery OF horse artillery
(Calefs), and this he distributed in
sections of two guns each along his
line, conveying to the enemy the i'm
preston of at least three batteries. His
troops were dismounted and fighting as
infantry.
Boldly Defends Line.
$50 fiercely and boldly was Buff
ord's line held that the confederate
commanders believed they had a
strong force of infantry in their front
and the entire confederate division OF
infantry of General Harry Heath was
deployed to assault what was believed
to be a heavy battle line. Just as Blu
ford predicted to Devin the night be-
fore, the grey lines of battle now came
forward booming" "a favorite express
sion of General Buford), with lines OF
skirmishers three deep in their ad
vance. The true history of Buford and
of his few regiments holding in cheek
that terrible attack by the most des-
perate fighting against fearful odds il
shining at last in letters of truth on
the pages of American history that
tell of Gettysburg. Buford held his
line stubbornly until TO his relief came
the First corps under the lamente1
Reynolds, and the first day of the great
battle was then fought. 1t was by
Buford's heroic resistance of the con-
federate advance that the corps OF
Hancock and Howard were able tC
seize and occupy Cemetery Ridge and
the adjoining heights before the enemy
could seize them.
Was Modest Hero.
General Buford never reaped the
laurels he so grandly won but died the
following winter from illness and
sheer exhaustion brought on by over
exertion and continued exposure in
the field. But the most precious leg
acy left by General Buford to his
country was his rare and wholly ad-
nirable character. He was as modes:
AS he was brave and honest. He was
kindhearted and idolized by his officers
and men but he was at the same time
a strict disciplinarian. Like Murat or
Sheridan he was born to be field mar
shall of cavalry. He knew what to do
at once and his plans were formed and
carried out like lightning. AS General
Wesley merritt, NOW a major general
in the army and commanding at Chi
cagol SO well says: He despised the
false flourish and noisy parade Of the
charlatans of the service and avoided
too much, perhaps, the proper praise
due 10 his glorious actions and sought
TO depreciate prompted by his inherent
modesty. the contemporary gloritica-
ton which less worthy men coveted
For this reason he was not known 10
the newspaper world as were many
others. who will sink into insignih-
canoe while the name of Buford will
occupy bright page in the history OF
his country"