Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/474

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BUELL
BUFFUM

abandonment of Lexington and Frankfort, and the removal of the state archives to Louisville, which city was threatened as well as Cincinnati. Gen. Bragg advanced from Chattanooga on 5 Sept., and, entering Kentucky by the eastern route, passed to the rear of Buell's army in middle Tennessee. The manoeuvre compelled Gen. Buell, whose communications with Nashville and Louisville were endangered, to evacuate central Tennessee and retreat rapidly to Louisville along the line of the railroad from Nashville to Louisville. The advance of Gen. E. Kirby Smith to Frankfort had already caused consternation in Cincinnati, which place, as well as Louisville, was exposed to attack. At midnight of 24 Sept., Buell's retreating array entered Louisville amid great excitement, as it was feared that Bragg would reach there first. On 30 Sept., by order from Washington, Buell turned over his command to Gen. Thomas, but was restored the same day, and on 1 Oct. began to pursue the confederates. On 7 Oct. the two divisions of the confederate army formed a junction at Frankfort. Bragg had already drained the country of supplies and sent them southward, which was the object of his raid, before Gen. Buell was able to meet him with equal numbers. As the confederates retreated the union troops pressed upon their heels, and at Perryville Gen. Bragg halted and determined to give battle. The two armies formed in order of battle on opposite sides of the town. The action was begun, after the opening artillery fire, by a charge of the confederates early in the afternoon of the 8 Oct., 1862, and soon became general, and was hotly contested until dark, with heavy losses on both sides. The next morning Gen. Bragg withdrew to Plarrodsburg. Tlie confederates retreated slowly to Cumberland Gap. and, though Gen. Buell pursued them, he was blamed for not moving swiftly enough to bring them into action again. On the 24th he was ordered to transfer his command to Gen. Rosecrans. A military commission, appointed to investigate his operations, made a report, which was first published in 1886. He was mustered out of the volunteer service on 23 May, 1864, and on 1 June resigned his commission in the regular army, having been before the military commission from 24 Nov., 1862, till 10 May, 1863, and after that time waiting orders at Indianapolis. He became president of the Green River iron-works of Kentucky in 1865, and subsequently held the office of pension agent at Louisville, Ky., from which he was removed in 1890.


BUELL, Jacob Dockstader, Canadian politician, b. in Brockville, Ontario, 4 Oct., 1827. He is a son of the late William Buell, of the 7th Leeds militia, who held the medal with clasps for the battle of Chrysler's Farm, 1813, and who sat as a representative for the county of Leeds in the Upper Canada assembly from 1828 till 1836. He was educated at the public schools of Brockville, studied law, and admitted to the bar in 1854. In 1872 he was elected to the House of Commons from Brockville, and re-elected for the same constituency in 1874. He is lieutenant-colonel in the 42d battalion, Brockville. He is a liberal.


BUELL, Rufus Freeman, missionary, b. in 1813; d. in Washington, D. C, 21 Feb., 1866. He studied at Madisoii university, and was graduated at Andover theological seminary in 1840. In the spring of the following year he set sail for Greece, where he and his wife labored as missionaries of the American Baptist missionary union, amid many discouragements, and in the face of violent opposition, until the Greek mission was abandoned in 1855. After their return they taught a young ladies' school in Providence, R. L Mr. Buell subsequently removed to Washington, where he held an appointment in the internal revenue office. He edited a "Life of Washington" in Greek.


BUFFINGTON, Adelbert R., soldier, b. in Wheeling, Va., 22 Nov., 1837. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in May, 1861. and made brevet second lieutenant of ordnance. During the civil war he served, first, in drilling volunteers at Washington, D. C, from. 7 May, till 5 June, 1861; was assistant ordnance officer at St. Louis arsenal from 8 June till 15 Oct., 1862, and was promoted first lieutenant of ordnance, 22 July. From 25 Oct., 1862, till 12 Sept., 1863, he was engaged in mustering Missouri and Illinois volunteers; aided with artillery and men in the defence of Pilot Knob, Mo. ; acted as assistant adjutant-general of the 5th division. Army of the West; drilled and organized the employees of the arsenal into a regiment of Missouri militia (of which he was commissioned colonel by Gov. Gamble); and also commanded the Wheeling. W. Va., ordnance depot. He was inspector of rifling sea-coast cannon from 19 Sept., 1863, till 13 July, 1864, and brevet major, 13 March, 1865. He was in command of the New York arsenal from 13 July, 1864, till September, 1865, and of Baton Rouge arsenal. La., from 14 Sept., 1865, till 15 Aug., 1866; was chief of ordnance, department of the gulf, from 15 Aug., 1866, till 26 March, 1867; of the 5th military district, Texas and Louisiana, in 1867-'8; was in command of the Watertown arsenal from May, 1868, till 20 Oct. of the same year, and assigned to the command of Detroit arsenal, 15 Dec, 1870, from which he retired, in February, 1872, to superintend the southern forts, first, as assistant, from Februarv, 1872, till April, and then as chief from that time till May, 1873. From 14 May till October, 1873, was assistant at Watervliet arsenal; was in command of Indianapolis arsenal, 15 Oct., 1873, till 19 April, 1875 ; was promoted major of ordnance, 23 June, 1874; and was in command of the Alleghany arsenal from 19 April, 1875, till December, 1880, and of Watervliet arsenal from December, 1880, till 3 Oct., 1881. He was on leave of absence, inspecting arms for the Egyptian government, from 6 Dec, 1865, till 22 April, 1876. On 1 June, 1881, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of ordnance, made a member of the board on heavy ordnance and projectiles, 13 July, 1881, till May, 1882, and on 3 Oct. of that year placed in command of the national armory. He has perfected the following inventions: A magazine fire-arm; carriages for light and heavy guns; parts of models of 1884 Springfield rifles, and several mechanical devices. He also introduced the gas-forging furnaces and improved methods, simplifying and reducing the cost of manufacture, at the national armory, of Springfield rifles, and was the originator of the nitre and manganese method of bluing iron and steel surfaces, which is used at the national armory for small arms.


BUFFUM, Edward Gould, journalist, b. in Rhode Island about 1820; d. in Paris, France, 24 Oct., 1867. He was the son of Arnold Buffum, a well-known philanthropist of New England. In early life he became connected with the "New York Herald," and continued his connection with this journal until the beginning of the Mexican war, when he joined Col. Stevenson's regiment of New York volunteers, with which he went to California in 1846 as a lieutenant. He served on the Pacific side of Mexico, and at the close of the war returned to California and took an active part in the explorations for gold. The fruits of his obser-