Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/86

 BUSSEY.

BUTLER.

BUSSEY, Cyrus, soldier, was born at Hub- bard, Trumbull county, Ohio, Oct. 5, 1833; son of Rev. A. Bussey, a ijrominent Methodist clergj-- man. At sixteen he commenced business on his own account at Dupont, Ind., having acquired two years* experience in a dry-goods store. In 1855 he removed to Bloomfield, Iowa, established himself in a mercantile business, and became prominent in politics. In 1858 he was elected as a Democrat to the Iowa senate, and in 1860 was chosen a delegate to the national Democratic con- vention which nominated Stephen A. Douglas for the presidency. In 1861 he was appointed aid- de-camp on the staff of Governor Kirkwood, and vvas charged with the defense of the southern borders of the state. Hearing, in July, that the Confederates Avere massing near the northern frontier of ]Missouri preparatory to entering Iowa and taking Keokuk by storm, he seized a con- signment of a thousand guns, in transit from the war department to some point in the west, and arming the 4th Iowa infantry, he forestalled the proposed movement hj advancing into Missouri and dispersing the invaders. He was appointed colonel of the 3d Iowa cavaliy, a vohmteer regi- ment, which he had raised, and being ordered to join the armj- of the southwest, then stationed at Sugar Creek, Ark., he covered the distance of tw^o hundred miles in four days. He commanded a brigade at the battle of Pea Eidge, and after the engagement pursued the defeated foe as far as the Boston mountains. His gallantry on this occasion won the enthusiastic admiration of his men, who presented him with a handsome sword. In the Ai'kansas campaign of 1862 he commanded a brigade, and in 1863 was assigned first to the command of the district of east Arkansas, and later to the command of the 2d cavah-y division of the army of the Tennessee. In the Vicksburg campaign he led the advance, under General Sherman, in pursuit of Johnston, whom he over- took and defeated in an engagement at Canton, Miss. , finally forcing him to retreat across Pearl river. His conduct in this engagement was rewarded in January, 1864, with promotion to the rank of brigadier -general, and he Avas given command of a division of the 7th corjjs, and also of the district including western Arkansas and the Indian territory. At the close of the war he retired to private life with the rank of brevet major-general, and engaged in the commission business at St. Louis, later removing to New Orleans, where he was president of the chamber of commerce for six years, and was conspicuously identified with the procuring of the congressional appropriation for the Eads jetties at the mouth of the ^Mississippi river. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention, 1868. and in the convention of 1884 he was an active sup-

porter of Mr. Blaine's candidacy. In 1889 he was appointed assistant secretary of the interior, and in adjudicating the appeals from the adverse decisions of the pension commissioners some of his rulings attracted great attention, and the department collected and publLshed these rulings in four large volumes. General Bussey resigned from the interior department in 1893, and opened an oQice in Washington, D. C, where he con- ducted a general law practice betore the district courts, the departments and congressional com- mittees.

BUSTEED, Richard, lawyer, was born in Cavan, Ireland, Feb. 16, 1822; son of George Washington Busteed, a colonel in the British army, and afterwards a barrister at Dublin. The father was a strong emancipationist, which fact caused his removal from his office as chief secre- tary of the island of St. Lucia in 1829. He left Ireland and settled in London, Canada, where he published the True Patriot. During his boyhood Richard worked as a compositor in the office of his father and followed the same trade subse- quently at Cincinnati, Ohio ; at Hartford, Conn. , and at New York, where he also engaged in local preaching, by license of the Methodist church. He was admitted to the bar in 1846, and his able defense of a number of extradition cases assured his success as a lawyer. From 1856 to 1859 he was corporation counsel of New York city. He supported Douglas in the presidential campaign of 1860, and joined the Union army in 1861. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, and commanded a brigade at Yorktown, Va., but he sent in his resignation to President Lincoln March 10, 1863, hearing that the strong combina- tion likely to be brought against him on account of his attitude in the slavery question would pre- vent the confirmation ot his appointment by the senate. In the following year he was appointed U. S. district judge for Alabama by President Lincoln; his appointment being unanimously confirmed by the senate. His decisions, especially as to the unconstitutionality of the test oath prescribed by Congress, as appKed to attorneys practising in U. S. coui'ts, which were after- wards confirmed by the U. S. supreme coui-t, and his rulings in regard to the habeas corpus act in 1875, are noteworthy. In 1874 he resigned his office and returned to New York. He died in New York city, Sept. 14, 1898.

BUTLER, Andrew Pickens, senator, was born in Edgefield district, S. C, Nov. 17, 1796; son of William Butler, revolutionary soldier. He was graduated at South Carolina college in 1817, was admitted to the bar in 1819, and soon rose to a prominent position in his profession. He became a member of the state legislature in 1824. com- manded a cavalry regiment during the nuUifica-