Pierce Mason Butler (April 11, 1798 – August 20, 1847) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the 56th Governor of South Carolina from 1836 to 1838.

[1] Butler was appointed a second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1818 and rose to the rank of captain before resigning his commission in 1829.

Following his term as Governor of South Carolina, he became agent to the Cherokee at Fort Gibson (present day Muskogee County, Oklahoma), a post he held until 1846.

Others buried in the plot are his father, Major General William Butler, his mother, Behethland Foote Moore Butler, a sister, five of his six brothers, Colonel Zachariah Smith Brooks, grandfather of Preston Brooks, and two children of his brother William, the only sibling not buried there.

[2] James C. Gardner, who served from 1954 to 1958 as the mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, is a descendant of Pierce Mason Butler.