BUSSEY, Cyrus, soldier, born in Hubbard, Trumbull coounty, Ohio, 5 October, 1833. His father was a Methodist minister. When fourteen years old he became a merchant's clerk in Dupont, Indiana, and at the age of sixteen began business on his own account, becoming a prosperous merchant. From this time until he was twenty-two he devoted several hours a day to study, and for two years studied medicine with his brother. Mr. Bussey was elected to the state senate as a democrat in 1858, and was a delegate to the Baltimore convention that nominated Stephen A. Douglas for president. At the outbreak of the war he came forward strongly to the support of the government, and was appointed by Gov. Kirkwood to the command of the militia in the southeastern part of the state, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. On 10 August 1861, he became colonel of the 3d Iowa volunteer cavalry, which he had raised, and joined the Army of the Southwest. He commanded a brigade in the battle of Pea Ridge, participated in the Arkansas campaign of 1862, and on 10 July led the 3d brigade of Steele's division. He commanded the district of eastern Arkansas from 11 January 1863, till the following April, when he took charge of the 2d cavalry division of the Army of the Tennessee. He was chief of cavalry at the siege of Vicksburg, doing good service in watching Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's attempts to raise the siege, led the advance in Sherman's movement against Johnston, and defeated Jackson at Canton, 17 July, 1863.

He was made brigadier-general, 5 January 1864, for "special gallantry," and shortly afterward was given command of western Arkansas and the Indian territory, with the 3d division of the 7th corps. This district had been in a disorganized state. Fort Smith, its headquarters, was the resort of dishonest contractors, who cheated the government and plundered the residents, and drunkenness and theft prevailed among the troops to an alarming extent. With a view to breaking up corruption and restoring discipline, General Bussey was given command there, and he succeeded in a short time in accomplishing this difficult task. He was brevetted major general on 13 March, 1865, and after the war resumed business as a commission merchant, first in St. Louis, and then in New Orleans. He was a delegate to the republican convention of 1868, which nominated General Grant for president, was for six years president of the New Orleans chamber of commerce, and chairman of a committee of that body that obtained from congress the appropriation for Captain Eads's jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi. Genearl Bussey engaged in business in New York City in 1881, and in 1884 took an active part in the canvass for Mr. Blaine.