History of Dupont, (Jefferson County) Indiana United States of America

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Cyrus Bussey, soldier, was born at Hubbard, Trambull county, Ohio, Oct. 5, 1833; son of Rev. A. Bussey, a prominent Methodist clergyman. 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 convention which nominated Stephen A. Douglas for the presidency. In 1861 he was appointed aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Kirkwood, and was charged with the defense of the southern borders of the state. Hearing, in July, that the Confederates were massing near the northern frontier of Missouri preparatory to entering Iowa and taking Keokuk by storm, he seized a consignment 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 by advancing into Missouri and dispersing the invaders. He was appointed colonel of the 3rd Iowa cavalry, a volunteer regiment, which he had raised, and being ordered to join the army of the southwest, then stationed at Sugar Creek, Ark., he covered the distance of two hundred miles in four days. He commanded a brigade at the battle of Pea Ridge, 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 Arkansas 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 2nd cavalry division of the army of the Tennessee. In the Vicksburg campaign he led the advance, under General Sherman, in pursuit of Johnston, whom he overtook 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 was given command of a division of the 7th corps, 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 supporter 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 published these rulings in four large volumes.. General Bussey resigned from the interior department in 1893, and opened an office in Washington, D. C., where he conducted a general law practice before the district courts, the departments and congressional committees.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Dupont, (Jefferson County) Indiana

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