| Napoleon Bonaparte Buford | |
| [[Image:File:NBBuford.jpg|center|200px|border]]Napoleon Bonaparte Buford | |
| Born: | January 13, 1807 |
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| Died: | {{{died}}} |
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| Allegiance: | United States of America Union |
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| Branch: | United States Army Union Army |
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| Rank: | Brevet Major General |
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| Battles: | American Civil War |
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Napoleon Bonaparte Buford (January 13, 1807 – March 28, 1883) was an American soldier, Union general in the American Civil War, and railroad executive.
Birth and early years[]
Buford was the son of John and Nancy Hickman Buford. He was born in Woodford County, Kentucky on his family's plantation, "Rose Hill." He graduated from West Point in 1827 and served for eight years in the artillery. He studied law at Harvard, was assistant professor at West Point, and in 1835 resigned from the service to become an engineer. He thereafter engaged in iron manufacturing and banking at Peoria, Ill., and became president of the Rock Island and Peoria Railroad, which went bankrupt when major Southern bonds were defaulted with the start of the Civil War.
Civil War service[]
In the Civil War, he first served as colonel of the 27th Illinois Infantry, fighting at the Battle of Belmont. He then commanded the so called "Flotilla Brigade" of the Army of the Mississippi during the Battle of Island Number Ten. This was a brigade of infantry which served onboard the gunboats of the Western Flotilla.
On April 15, 1862 Buford was promoted to Brigadier General of U.S. Volunteers and commanded the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Army of the Mississippi during the siege and Battle of Corinth. In the final days of 1862, he served on the court-martial that convicted Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter of cowardice and disobedience. On November 29, 1862 he was promoted to Major General of U.S. Volunteers but this appointment expired on March 4, 1863. For the rest of the war Buford served as commander of the District of East Arkansas. On March 13, 1865 he was brevetted major general of volunteers and was mustered out of the army in August 1865.
His younger half brother, John Buford, was also a West Point graduate (Class of 1848) and a general in the Union Army during the Civil War, commanding the 1st Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac. A cousin, Abraham Buford, was a general in the Confederate States Army.
Buford was government inspector of the Union Pacific Railroad from 1867 to 1869 and a special commissioner of Indian affairs in 1867–68.
He died in Chicago, Illinois, and is buried in Rock Island, Illinois
See also[]
References[]
- Template:NIE
- Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.