Mathias Buss was born in Pennsylvania in about 1834, destined to be one of the Northern states in the American Civil War. But by 1860, according to the Federal census, he was living in Carthage, Missouri, working as a brick mason. Carthage was a new town, only founded in 1842, but by 1860 it had over 500 residents. Importantly for future events, Carthage is in the deep south of Missouri.
One year after that census Missouri was at war. Missouri’s
position in the Civil War was complicated. Unlike say, Georgia, the Missouri State
Government actually voted to stay in the Union. But many of the population
supported the Confederacy, especially after heavy handed intervention and the
massacre of civilians by a Union force under General Nathanial Lyon. The pro-Confederates,
including the Governor, withdrew to the south of the state in 1861, where a
successful general of the US Mexican war, Sterling Price, was appointed
commander of Missourian forces. Meanwhile, the Union started recruiting troops
from the north of the state. Thus, Missouri contributed troops to both sides in
the Civil War.
The initial clashes took place between Union troops and
Missouri State Guard units, supported increasingly by troops from other states.
Mathias is recorded as being at the following;
Cole Camp – June 19th 1861. 350 Missouri State
Guard attacked and routed about 500 Union militia in their camp and routed them.
The Missouri State Guard were poorly equipped, at least at the beginning. Many
reportedly used a white flannel arm band as uniform, whilst one major effect of
the battle at Cole Camp was to equip them with another 350 muskets.
Note that there was in fact a battle at Carthage in July 5th
1861, where the Missouri State Guard beat a (smaller) Union force, but Mathias
is not recorded as being there. This was the first proper Missourian victory,
and gave a great boost to morale, increasing pro-Confederate recruitment.
Wilson Creek – August 10th 1861, near Springfield
Missouri. Twelve thousand Missouri State Guard and Confederate troops, mainly
from Arkansas under Price beat 5,400 Union troops under Lyon, including some
Union Missouri regiments.
The Battle of Wilson Creek
Lexington – September 12th to 20th 1861.
15,000 Missouri State Guard under Price defeated 3,500 Union troops garrisoning
Lexington.
The Battle of Lexington
Elk Horn/ Pea ridge – March 7-8th 1862. Near Leetown, Arkansas. Despite their successes the previous year the Missouri forces, still technically independent of the Confederate army, were pushed back into Arkansas. In March the 15,000 pro-Confederate forces, consisting of the Missouri State Guard, Confederate forces mainly from Arkansas and Texas, and an Indian Brigade of Cherokees and Choctaws, counter attacked 12,000 Union troops. Despite some early successes including a massed cavalry charge, the Confederate forces were driven off, ending any chance of a return to Missouri. Missourian forces spent the rest of the war fighting outside their state, and Missouri itself degenerated into civil war.
There was then a pause allowing Price to organise the
Missouri State Guard into official units of the Confederate army. By April 1862,
Mathias was in the 4th Missouri Regiment of the Confederate army,
First Sergeant of F company. The 4th carried the Van Dorn battle flag.
Siege of Corinth -
April to May 1862. This was by far the largest battle Mathias had been involved
in. One hundred twenty thousand Union forces attacked the strategically important
town of Corinth, Mississippi, on the Mississippi river. The garrison of 65,000 Confederate
troops was forced to retreat after a month long siege, but most managed to
withdraw safely.
Battle of Iuka - Sept 9th 1862. A mixed force of about 3,000
Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana troops was
defeated by 4,500 Union and withdrew south.
On Nov 7th 1862, the 1st and 4th Missouri were combined,
presumably due to heavy casualties, with Mathias now First Lieutenant in Company B. Later he was
to become captain of company B.
Mathias ‘s next, and last, battle took place in May next
year. The 1st/4th Missourians were now in Mississippi,
part of the Confederate forces attempting to hold the Union before the fortress
city of Vicksburg. On May 17th they were part of a force of 5,000 troops
ordered to hold the bank of the Big Black (!) River, or rather a bayou in front
of the river, behind rough defences of logs and cotton bales. Unfortunately,
the Union troops out flanked them, charging into an inexperienced brigade from
Tennessee and breaking them. The Confederates broke and fled back to the Big
Black River, some got back across the bridge there, but many drowned in the
river or were captured.
And that was it for Mathias, the last battle he is recorded
as fighting in. He certainly survived, but possibly he was one of the 1,700
taken prisoner. The 1st/4th Missourians fought on without
him. They fought in the Atlanta Campaign, were part of Hood's operations in
Tennessee, and became part of the forces defending Mobile. Only a remnant
surrendered in May, 1865.
But Mathias survived. In the 1870 census he is living with a
young wife, Lucy, a Virginia girl 10 years his junior, and with two young
children, Elizabeth (2) and James (1). Working again as a brick mason. And life
went on. In 1881 he gave away his daughter to be married, to a Charles Jones in
Bates, Missouri. And in 1900 he passed away, and was buried in the Confederate
cemetery in Higginsville, Missouri, a long way from where he was born, but in
the state he had lived most of his life, and had fought for.
