John Butler (pioneer)
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- For other people named John Butler, see the John Butler disambiguation page.
John Butler (1728-1796) was a Loyalist who led an irregular unit known as Butler's Rangers on the northern frontier in the American Revolutionary War. He led Seneca and Cayuga forces in the Saratoga Campaign. He later raised and commanded a regiment of rangers. He is described as a fat man of medium stature.
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[edit] Background
John was born to Walter Butler and Deborah Ely in New London, Connecticut in 1728. His family soon moved to the frontier in the Mohawk Valley near modern Fonda, New York. In 1752, he married Catherine Bradt, and the couple raised five children. He knew several Indian languages and was employed as an interpreter.
In 1755, he was made Captain in the Indian department and saw service in the French and Indian War. He saw action at Fort Ticonderoga, Battle of Fort Frontenac, Battle of Fort Niagara, and Montreal. At Battle of Fort Niagara he was second in command of the Indians.
After the war he came home, and built his estate up to 26,000 acres (105 km²) at Butlersburg, near Caughnawaga. He was second only to Sir William Johnson as a wealthy frontier land owner. He was a judge in the Tryon County court. he was appointed Lt. Colonel of Guy Johnson's regiment of Tryon County militia. Butler worked under Sir William Johnson in the Indian department. Butler was one of the two members representing Tryon County in the Province of New York assembly.
[edit] Revolutionary War
Butler returned to service as a Loyalist when the American Revolution turned to war in 1775. In May, 1775 left for Canada in the company of Daniel Claus, Walter Butler, Hon Yost Schuyler and Joseph Brant. On July 7th, they reached Fort Oswego and in August Montreal. He was involved in the defense of Montreal against an attack lead by Ethan Allen. In November, Carleton sent him to Fort Niagara with instructions to keep the Indians neutral.
His oldest son Walter Butler served with him, but his wife and other children were detained by the American rebels.
In March, 1777 he sent a party of about one hundred Indians to Montreal to force the Americans out of Quebec. In May, Butler received instructions to employ a body of the Six nations in an attack on New York. On June 5 he received instructions to send as many Indians as he could to Fort Oswego for an attack on Fort Stanwix as a part of the Saratoga Campaign. He was put second in command of the Indians after Daniel Claus.
He led this same band of Indians along with a small number of Loyalists in a successful ambush in the Battle of Oriskany. He traveled to Quebec to settle his accounts. As a result, after this expedition he was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel and given authority to raise his own regiment, which became known as Butler's Rangers, initially with a strength of eight companies. He traveled back to Fort Niagara and the first company was completed in December.
In the June of 1778, Butler led 20 of his rangers and Iroquois allies in the battle of Wyoming Valley (now Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania). He defeated Zebulon Butler, took Forty Fort. The Patriots were virtually annihilated and around 1,000 homes in the area were burned. Later, the battle was referred to as Wyoming Valley Massacre because some of the victorious Loyalists and Iroquois executed and scalped the remaining prisoners and fleeing Patriots. Later that year after the burning of Tioga, his son Captain Walter Butler led two companies of rangers and 300 Iroquois allies in a raid which was later referred to as the Cherry Valley massacre. The name of Butler was thereafter anathema to the rebels.
His unit of rangers was spread through frontier outposts from Niagara to Illinois. Butler himself commanded from Fort Niagara. In 1779, he lost a fight against the Sullivan Expedition, and withdrew to Fort Niagara.
[edit] Post-war years
At the end of the Revolution, Butler once again turned to farming in the Niagara region. He became one of the leaders of Upper Canada, later called Ontario. He was a Deputy Superintendent for the Indian Department, a Justice of the Peace, and the local militia commander. He was also prominent in establishing the Anglican Church and Masonic Order in Ontario.
Butler died at Niagara on May 12, 1796. His wife had died earlier. He was survived by three sons and a daughter.
[edit] Legacy
In 2006, Lt-Col Butler was honoured by the Canadian Government with a life-sized bronze bust located at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. He was a key player in the founding of British North America.
[edit] References
- An account of the actions of John Butler and his son Walter Butler during the American Revolution can be found in Williams, Glenn F. Year of the Hangman: George Washington's Campaign Against the Iroquois. Yardley: Westholme Publishing, 2005.
- Cruikshank, Ernest, The Story of Butler's Rangers and the Settlement of Niagara, 1893
