Josiah H. Busbey, book-keeper, Okaland; born in Coles Co., Ill., Jan. 6,1847, where he engaged in farming and attended school until Feb. 24, 1864, when, he enlisted in the 66th I. V. I., and went forward to battle for the Union; the 66th was composed of picked men from the various Northwestern States, elected for their skill and accuracy in handling the rifle, and in the army was known as the Western Sharpshooters; they always led the advance, and in important battles were detailed in squads to silence rebel bat-tries, which duty they often accomplished by their unerring aim, and many a Union soldier to-day owes his existence to the skill and bravery of the gallant 66th; he was with Sherman on his march to and at the siege and capture of Atlanta; at Lay’s Ferry, being in the advance, they fought their way, step by step, for eight miles, losing heavily in killed and wounded; in the battles of Rome Cross Roads, Dallas and Kenesaw Mountain, they Suffered severely; he was with Sherman on his march through Georgia to the sea, arriving in Savannah to spend the Christmas of 1864; he then marched with his regiment north through North and South Carolina, being engaged in many battles until reaching Morrisville Station, N. C., when the 66th again had their position in the advance of Sherman, not to deadly conflict- as they had many times been before, but to receive the surrender of Johnston and his army; he then marched to Richmond, Va., then to Washington, where, after the review of the army, he went to Louisville, Ky., where he was mustered out of the service July 7, 1865; in 1864, while coming North upon a furlough, he was made prisoner, but paroled, and at the expiration of his furlough, again joined his regiment, and remained until the close of the war. After being mustered out of service, he returned to Oakland, and worked at harness making for two years, when he went to Kansas, where he clerked eight months, returning to Illinois, he worked at his trade for six months, which he then abandoned on account of ill-health, and, in 1870, engaged as a book-keeper and head clerk in the dry goods house of L. S. & S. M. Cash, which position he has since held, with the exception of three years, which he spent in Virginia, on account of the ill-health of his wife. He married Nov. 18, 1869, Mary B. Cash, daughter of Cary J. Cash, and niece of L. S. & S. M. Cash; she was born in Amherst Co., Va., July 15, 1851; one child was the fruit of the union-011ie May, deceased.
