Cyrus Marion Butt Sr. (September 30, 1833 – August 27, 1921) was an American farmer, lawyer, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer.
[2] He was admitted to the bar in 1859, and that same year he was elected district attorney of Vernon County, Wisconsin, running on the Republican Party ticket.
He was narrowly defeated in the 1861 election by Norman S. Cate, who had been nominated as a Union candidate, losing by just 87 votes.
[3] After losing the Senate election, Butt volunteered for service in the Union Army and was enrolled as first lieutenant of Company A in the 25th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment.
[1] The regiment mustered into federal service on September 14, 1862, but rather than proceeding south to the front, they were sent west to Minnesota to deal with the Dakota War of 1862.
[4] During Sherman's March to the Sea, Butt was detached from his regiment and assigned acting ordinance officer for the 1st division, XVII Corps.
In August 1865, the regiment was assembled and assigned to guard mail and other government material through Indian territory in central and western Kansas.
[6] Almost immediately after returning from the war, Butt was appointed treasurer of Vernon County to replace James Lowrie, who had resigned.
In 1882, he was the Republican nominee for United States House of Representatives in Wisconsin's 7th congressional district, but lost a close election to Democrat Gilbert M.
In January 1882, he had been appointed an agent by his former Union Army colleague, Governor Jeremiah McLain Rusk, to disburse overdue wages to rioting railroad laborers on the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway.
Butt, who was then a strong proponent of free silver, was nominated by the populists as their candidate for Secretary of State, and was therefore adopted by the Democrats also as their nominee.
[16] Butt died at his home in Viroqua on August 27, 1921, after suffering from a series of strokes over his last several years.
[2] His son Cyrus Jr., who had been his one-time law partner, died young of a sudden acute illness in 1909.
[18] His surviving son, William Edward Butt, became a prominent physician in Viroqua and lived there until his death in 1946.