John Buford Jr. was born in March 1826 and died in December 1863. He was a cavalry officer with the rank of brigadier (brigadier general) during the Civil War (1861–1865). He served in the Union Army. John Buford Jr. came from a family with a strong military tradition, and many of his male family members were either in the US War of Independence (1775–1783) or later in the Civil War. Given the above, it is not surprising that John Buford Jr. entered the West Point Academy, from which he successfully graduated. In the period before 1861, he served in cavalry units, including the 1st and 2nd Regiments of US Dragons. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he remained faithful to the Union and fought in its ranks in the Army of the Potomac in the Second Battle of Bull Run and Antietam. He also played a very important role on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863), skillfully commanding his subordinate unit and repelling the attacks of Confederate troops under the command of General Heth. General John Buford Jr. (promoted after Gettysburg to the rank of major general) died of typhus in December 1863.