I recently finished reading "Generals in Bronze" which essentially are the notes from the sculptor James E. Kelly who made this statue of Buford. Veterans in the group that commissioned the statue of Buford were furious that he wasn't portrayed on horseback. The reason Kelly gave for not portraying Buford mounted was because his cavalry fought as dismounted infantry.
That’s a well-taken point. Buford died before the end of the war, a soldier’s death. He deserves a statue. Between him and the “Fighting Professor,” Joshua Chamberlain, Gettysburg was saved. I really think we’d be two nations today if not for those two men.
Reynold’s boys slowed ‘em and Buford’s stopped ‘em, and, with the Yankees on the ridgelines, the whole battle was purt near over, on day one, if you’re asking me. Lee just wasn’t quite the same Lee outside his own little backyard, and Old One-leg Ewell reinforced the late Stonewall’s value. And at teh same time, out at Vicksburg, U.S. Grant was winning the battle that would finish the whole war.