Civil War Tactician and Leader

On the morning of June 29, 1863, the streets of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania were deserted as Confederate Soldiers searched the town for shoes and other supplies. Little did Confederate General Henry Heth know that a corps of Union Cavalry, led by Brigadier General John Buford, was approaching the small city from the south. The decisions that Buford will choose to make over the next two days will later give Gettysburg the name, "the turning point of the Civil War for the Union Army" and leave Buford's name in the history books.

Founder of the Institution for Global Ethics, Rushworth M. Kidder, discusses the different types of courage in his book Moral Courage. He first divides them up into two categories, moral and physical. He defines physical courage using words such as bravery, dauntlessness, gallantry, and heroism. Kidder says, "Heroism, the common theme of these stories, often suggests an outsize, extreme, or radical sort of valor." Heroism is often used to remind us that courage is contextual and that exceptional valor is usually held in the eye of the beholder. Kidder quotes Scottish novelist, Compton Mackenzie, saying, "Moral courage is readiness to expose oneself to suffering or inconvenience which does not affect the body. It arises from firmness of mortal principle and is independent of the physical constitution." Judging by this definition, there is a list of potential downers including mockery, banishment, demotion, or loss of job. Moral courage does not require any physical courage, but it can be ruled out by the weakness or lack of physical actions. Specifically in military terms, moral courage is the act of making a decision based upon the risk for a leader's reputation in order to achieve the ultimate goal, vict...

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...ng with other officers. Buford was not morally courageous. He was only following orders. He was a good military tactician and leader, however, that does not require any moral courage.

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