BUSTEED, Richard, lawyer, born in Cavan, Ireland, 16 February, 1822. His father, George Washington Busteed, was a Dublin barrister, and at one time held a colonel's commission in the British army. In 1829 the elder Busteed was appointed chief secretary of the island of St. Lucia, but his zeal in the cause of emancipation led to his removal from office, and, after returning to Ireland, he immigrated to London, Canada, where he established a paper called "The True Patriot." Richard began work on this paper as a type-setter, and afterward accompanied his father to Cincinnati, Ohio, to Hartford, Connecticut, and finally to New York, where he worked on the "Commercial Advertiser." At this time he was licensed as a local preacher in the Methodist church. After a visit to Ireland for his health in 1840, he began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1846. His management of the defense in several celebrated extradition cases soon made his reputation, and he became a successful lawyer. In 1856 he was elected corporation counsel of New York City, holding the office till 1859, and in the presidential campaign of 1860 he was a supporter of Douglas, and a bitter opponent of Lincoln, but after the attack on Sumter he became a strong union man. On 7 August, 1862, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers by President Lincoln, and assigned to duty, first in New York and then in Washington.

In December, 1862, he took command of a brigade at Yorktown, Virginia. General Busteed's course in support of the administration, and on the slavery question, had raised against him many enemies, who determined to prevent his confirmation. The five colonels of his brigade sent a joint letter to the senate, testifying to the improvement in discipline made by their commands under him. His name, however, was not sent to that body for confirmation, as on 10 March, 1863, he sent his resignation to the president. On 17 September, 1863, General Busteed was appointed by President Lincoln to be United States district judge for Alabama. The senate unanimously confirmed him on 20 January, 1864, and in the autumn of 1865 he opened the court. He decided that the test-oath prescribed by congress was unconstitutional, so far as it applied to attorneys practicing before United States courts, and judges in other states followed this decision, the Supreme Court afterward delivering a similar opinion. In November, 1865, Judge Busteed had a controversy with the United States military authorities in Alabama, which excited great interest, and involved important questions relating to the suspension of the habeas corpus act. In 1874 he resigned and resumed the practice of law in New York city.