Pierce Mason Butler

  General Notes:

Pierce Mason Butler, born in Edgefield district, South Carolina, 11 April, 1798; killed in the battle of Churubusco, Mexico, 20 August, 1847, received a military education, and entered the army in 1819 as second lieutenant of infantry. He displayed from the first abilities that promised distinction, was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in 1823, and attained the grade of captain in 1825. After four years of service, he resigned his commission, and in 1829 became a resident of Columbia, South Carolina, and was elected president of a bank established at that place. In 1836 he resigned the office and accepted the appointment of lieutenant colonel in Goodwyn's regiment of South Carolina volunteers, raised to aid in suppressing the Seminole Indians of Florida. He served throughout the war, and won distinction in several hard-fought battles. On his return from Florida, he was in 1838 elected governor of South Carolina. At the end of his term, having given great satisfaction to the state by the dignity and ability that he displayed in the office, he was appointed by the president Indian agent, and filled that place to the satisfaction of the government until the beginning of the war with Mexico in 1846, when he resigned it to enter the army. He organized the Palmetto regiment, was elected its colonel, and led it with the greatest gallantry in the fierce conflicts in which it took part, winning marked distinction in the battle of Cerro Gordo. At the battle of Churubuseo, 22 August, 1847, Col. Butler was wounded in the early part of the engagement, but would not retire from the field, and continued to lead his men in the impetuous charge upon the Mexican lines until he was shot through the head and killed instantly. Col. Butler was over six feet in height, finely proportioned, his features classical, his face beaming with the ardor of his heroic spirit, and his bearing full of soldierly dignity.