Hezekiah Bussey

In 1860 he was a 20 year old law student living with his parents on their plantation (17 slaves) in Talbot County, GA. He enrolled as First Lieutenant of Company K, 27th Georgia Infantry on 10 August 1861 and was elected Captain on 10 September.

He commanded his company in battle at Turner's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862, and on orders from Lieutenant Colonel Zachry, led parts of two companies of his regiment to reinforce the 28th Georgia who were being overwhelmed nearby.

About this time the 27th began to fall back: the companies that had been sent to our [28th GA] relief, finding that the enemy by a flank movement had cut off all possibility of support getting to Capt. Garrison [28th Georgia], returned. The whole field was one sheet of fire.

He was a prisoner at Fort Delaware to 2 October, then sent to Aikens' Landing, VA for exchange, arriving on 6 October. He was formally exchanged to return to duty on 10 November 1862. He was sick in a Richmond, VA hospital on 23 September 1864 then furloughed home to Talboton, GA due to fever and general debility on 30 September, and remained there to the end of the year. He was appointed Major and Lieutenant Colonel on 27 September 1864, to date from 1 April and 25 June, respectively - he had been senior Captain and the regiment had been without a Major since March 1863. He was surrendered and paroled at Greensboro, NC on 1 May 1865.

In 1870 he was a prosperous dry goods merchant at Cusseta, Chattahoochee County, GA but moved to Columbus, GA in 1875 and in 1880 was a salesman there. By 1900 he was in the fertilizer business in Columbus and was President of the Home Mixture Guano Company in 1910.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3. The battle quote above from Private A.N. Medlock of the 28th Georgia in a narrative in the Sandersville, GA Central Georgian of 15 October 1862. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860-1910, and his obituary in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer of 6 November 1917. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Francesca Carolina Stokes (1843-1929) in November 1864 and they had 10 children.

04/18/1840; Talbotton, GA

11/05/1917; Columbus, GA; burial in Linwood Cemetery, Columbus, GA