Abraham Buford II
| Abraham Buford | |
|---|---|
Brigadier General Abraham Buford
|
|
| Born |
January 18, 1820 Woodford County, Kentucky |
| Died | June 9, 1884 (aged 64) Danville, Indiana |
| Place of burial | Lexington Cemetery Lexington, Kentucky |
| Allegiance |
United States of America Confederate States of America |
| Service/branch |
United States Army Confederate States Army |
| Years of service | 1841–1854 (USA) 1862–1865 (CSA) |
| Rank |
 Captain (USA) Brigadier General (CSA)
|
| Commands held | Buford's Cavalry Brigade Buford's Cavalry Division |
| Battles/wars | |
| Other work | Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder |
Abraham "Abe" Buford II (January 18, 1820 – June 9, 1884) was an American soldier and landowner. After serving in the United States Army during the Mexican-American War, Buford joined the Confederate States Army in 1862 and served as a cavalry general in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. After the war, he retired to his native Kentucky and became a thoroughbred horse breeder.
Abraham Buford was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, the son of Frances W. Kirtley and her husband, William B. Buford (1781–1848). He was named for his great-uncle Abraham who was a Continental Army officer during the American Revolutionary War. He descended from a Huguenot family named Beaufort who fled persecution in France and settled in England before emigrating to America in 1635. His cousins, John and Napoleon Bonaparte Buford, who grew up nearby, were generals in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Buford studied at Centre College before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1837. Graduating in 1841, as a second-lieutenant with the First dragoons from 1842 through 1846, he did Frontier duty in the Kansas Territory and the Indian Territory. He then served in the Mexican–American War in which he was appointed brevet captain for bravery at the Battle of Buena Vista. When that war ended, he was dispatched for further duty on the Frontier and in 1848 was part of the Santa Fe Trail expedition. In 1849, Buford escorted the mail from Santa Fe, New Mexico to the east, using, in part, the new Cherokee Trail. He was then sent to the Army's cavalry school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania but in October 1854 he resigned his commission and returned to his native Kentucky where his family owned a farm property near Versailles in his native Woodford County.
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