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John Butler (pioneer)
Encyclopedia
John Butler was a Loyalist
who led an irregular militia 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.
in 1728. In 1742, his father moved the family to Fort Hunter on the frontier in the Mohawk Valley
near modern Fonda, New York
. The Walter Butler Homestead
was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1976. In 1752, he married Catherine (Catalyntje) Bradt, and the couple raised five children (two others died in infancy). 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
under William Johnson. He saw action at Fort Ticonderoga
, the Battle of Fort Frontenac
, the Battle of Fort Niagara
, and Montreal
. At the 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 Butlersbury, 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 and 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 New York
assembly.
turned to war in 1775. In May, 1775, he left for Canada in the company of Daniel Claus
, Walter Butler
, Hon Yost Schuyler
and Joseph Brant
. On July 7, they reached Fort Oswego
and in August, Montreal. He was involved in the defense of Montreal against an attack led 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, under Daniel Claus
.
He led the Indians and a small number of Loyalists in a successful ambush in the Battle of Oriskany
. As a result, after this expedition he was commissioned 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 July 1778, Butler led his rangers and Iroquois allies at the Battle of Wyoming, in which he defeated Zebulon Butler
and took Forty Fort
. The Patriots suffered heavy losses, and after the battle many homes in the area were burned. Later, the battle was referred to as the Wyoming Valley massacre because some of the victorious Loyalists and Iroquois were said to have executed and scalped prisoners and fleeing enemy soldiers.
The American novelist, Joseph Altsheler referred to John Butler as "Indian Butler" in a novel about the Wyoming Massacre, and called him a turncoat and villain who sided with the Indians against the white settlers.
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 was defeated by the Sullivan Expedition
at the Battle of Newtown
, and withdrew to Fort Niagara.
, 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 three years prior. He was survived by three sons and a daughter. He is interred in the family burial ground in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
In 2006, Lt-Col Butler was honoured by the Canadian Government with a life-sized bronze bust located at the Valiants Memorial
in Ottawa. Alongside Joseph Brant, he is considered a key player in the founding of British North America and eighteenth-century Canada.
In 2010, a bust was installed on top of a memorial cairn at the site of his homestead in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
who led an irregular militia unit known as Butler's Rangers
Butler's Rangers
Butler's Rangers was a British provincial regiment composed of Loyalists in the American Revolutionary War, raised by Loyalist John Butler.Most members of the regiment were Loyalists from upstate New York...
on the northern frontier in the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. He led Seneca
Seneca nation
The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...
and Cayuga
Cayuga nation
The Cayuga people was one of the five original constituents of the Haudenosaunee , a confederacy of American Indians in New York. The Cayuga homeland lay in the Finger Lakes region along Cayuga Lake, between their league neighbors, the Onondaga to the east and the Seneca to the west...
forces in the Saratoga campaign
Saratoga campaign
The Saratoga Campaign was an attempt by Great Britain to gain military control of the strategically important Hudson River valley in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War...
. He later raised and commanded a regiment of rangers.
Background
John was born to Walter Butler and Deborah Dennison, née Ely, in New London, ConnecticutNew London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
in 1728. In 1742, his father moved the family to Fort Hunter on the frontier in the Mohawk Valley
Mohawk River
The Mohawk River is a river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk flows into the Hudson in the Capital District, a few miles north of the city of Albany. The river is named for the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy...
near modern Fonda, New York
Fonda, New York
Fonda is a village in Montgomery County, New York, United States. The population was 810 at the 2000 census. Fonda is the county seat of Montgomery County...
. The Walter Butler Homestead
Walter Butler Homestead
Walter Butler Homestead, also known as Butlersbury, is a historic home located near Fonda in Montgomery County, New York. It is a -story, 40-foot-long, 30-foot-wide, 18th-century farmhouse. It has a limestone block foundation and cellar and attic. The dwelling was built by Lt. Walter Butler...
was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1976. In 1752, he married Catherine (Catalyntje) Bradt, and the couple raised five children (two others died in infancy). 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
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
under William Johnson. He saw action at Fort Ticonderoga
Battle of Ticonderoga (1759)
The 1759 Battle of Ticonderoga was a minor confrontation at Fort Carillon on July 26 and 27, 1759, during the French and Indian War...
, the Battle of Fort Frontenac
Battle of Fort Frontenac
The Battle of Fort Frontenac took place on August 26–28, 1758 during the Seven Years' War between France and Great Britain. The location of the battle was Fort Frontenac, a French fort and trading post which is located at the site of present-day Kingston, Ontario, at the eastern end of Lake...
, the Battle of Fort Niagara
Battle of Fort Niagara
The Battle of Fort Niagara was a siege late in the French and Indian War, the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War. The British siege of Fort Niagara in July 1759 was part of a campaign to remove French control of the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions, making possible a western invasion...
, and Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. At the 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 Butlersbury, near Caughnawaga. He was second only to Sir William Johnson
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet was an Anglo-Irish official of the British Empire. As a young man, Johnson came to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Admiral Peter Warren, which was located amidst the Mohawk, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League...
as a wealthy frontier land owner. He was a judge in the Tryon County
Tryon County, New York
Tryon County, New York was a county in the colonial Province of New York in the British American colonies. It was created from Albany County on March 24, 1772. It was named for William Tryon, the last provincial governor of New York. Its boundaries extended far further than any current county...
court and was appointed Lt.-Colonel of Guy Johnson
Guy Johnson
Guy Johnson was an Irish-born military officer and diplomat for the Crown during the American War of Independence. He had migrated to the Province of New York as a young man and worked with his uncle, Sir William Johnson, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the northern colonies. He was...
's regiment of Tryon County militia
Tryon County militia
-Militia regiments:On March 8, 1772, The Province of New York passed a bill for the establishment of organized militia in each county. In 1775, at the start of the American Revolution, the Tryon County militia comprised four regiments, formed according to their geographical locations:* 1st...
. Butler worked under Sir William Johnson in the Indian department. Butler was one of the two members representing Tryon County in the New York
Province of New York
The Province of New York was an English and later British crown territory that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania...
assembly.
Revolutionary War
Butler returned to service as a Loyalist when the American RevolutionAmerican Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
turned to war in 1775. In May, 1775, he left for Canada in the company of Daniel Claus
Daniel Claus
Christian Daniel Claus was a commissioner of Indian affairs and a prominent Loyalist during the American Revolution.He was born September 13, 1727 at Bönnigheim, Württemberg the son of Adam Frederic Claus and his wife Anna Dorothea. He arrived in America in 1749...
, Walter Butler
Walter Butler (Loyalist)
Walter Butler was a British Loyalist officer during the American Revolution. He was born near Johns town, New York, the son of John Butler, a wealthy Indian agent who worked for Sir William Johnson...
, Hon Yost Schuyler
Hon Yost Schuyler
Johannes Justus Schuyler was a Tory with patriot roots, who was used by American General Benedict Arnold to repel the British and Indian forces of Colonel Barry St. Leger and Joseph Brant from their siege of Fort Stanwix following the Battle of Oriskany during the American Revolution.He was the...
and Joseph Brant
Joseph Brant
Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York, who was closely associated with Great Britain during and after the American Revolution. He was perhaps the most well-known American Indian of his generation...
. On July 7, they reached Fort Oswego
Fort Oswego
Fort Oswego was an important frontier post for British traders in the 18th century. A trading post was established in 1722 with a log palisade, and New York governor William Burnet ordered a fort built at the site in 1727. The log palisade fort established a British presence on the Great Lakes....
and in August, Montreal. He was involved in the defense of Montreal against an attack led by Ethan Allen
Ethan Allen
Ethan Allen was a farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, and American Revolutionary War patriot, hero, and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of the U.S...
. In November, Carleton sent him to Fort Niagara
Fort Niagara
Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built to protect the interests of New France in North America. It is located near Youngstown, New York, on the eastern bank of the Niagara River at its mouth, on Lake Ontario.-Origin:...
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
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
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
Siege of Fort Stanwix
The Siege of Fort Stanwix began on August 2, 1777, and ended August 22. Fort Stanwix, in the Mohawk River Valley, was then the primary defense point for the Continental Army against British and Indian forces aligned against them in the American Revolutionary War...
as a part of the Saratoga campaign. He was put second in command of the Indians, under Daniel Claus
Daniel Claus
Christian Daniel Claus was a commissioner of Indian affairs and a prominent Loyalist during the American Revolution.He was born September 13, 1727 at Bönnigheim, Württemberg the son of Adam Frederic Claus and his wife Anna Dorothea. He arrived in America in 1749...
.
He led the Indians and a small number of Loyalists in a successful ambush in the Battle of Oriskany
Battle of Oriskany
The Battle of Oriskany, fought on August 6, 1777, was one of the bloodiest battles in the North American theater of the American Revolutionary War and a significant engagement of the Saratoga campaign...
. As a result, after this expedition he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
and given authority to raise his own regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
, which became known as Butler's Rangers, initially with a strength of eight companies
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
. He traveled back to Fort Niagara and the first company was completed in December.
In July 1778, Butler led his rangers and Iroquois allies at the Battle of Wyoming, in which he defeated Zebulon Butler
Zebulon Butler
Zebulon Butler was a soldier and politician from Connecticut who served during the American Revolutionary War. He represented the Wyoming Valley in the Connecticut Assembly....
and took Forty Fort
Forty Fort
Forty Fort was a stronghold built by settlers from Connecticut on the Susquehanna River in Westmoreland County, Connecticut, now Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.It was a place of refuge for displaced settlers during the Battle of Wyoming in 1778....
. The Patriots suffered heavy losses, and after the battle many homes in the area were burned. Later, the battle was referred to as the Wyoming Valley massacre because some of the victorious Loyalists and Iroquois were said to have executed and scalped prisoners and fleeing enemy soldiers.
The American novelist, Joseph Altsheler referred to John Butler as "Indian Butler" in a novel about the Wyoming Massacre, and called him a turncoat and villain who sided with the Indians against the white settlers.
Later that year, after the burning of Tioga
Tioga, New York
Tioga is a town in Tioga County, New York, United States. The population was 4,840 at the 2000 census. The town is in the southwest part of the county and lies between Elmira and Binghamton. Tioga is in the Southern Tier District of New York.- History :...
, 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
Cherry Valley massacre
The Cherry Valley Massacre was an attack by British and Seneca forces on a fort and the village of Cherry Valley in eastern New York on the cold, snowy and rainy morning of November 11, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War. It has been described as one of the most horrific frontier...
. 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 was defeated by the Sullivan Expedition
Sullivan Expedition
The Sullivan Expedition, also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, was an American campaign led by Major General John Sullivan and Brigadier General James Clinton against Loyalists and the four nations of the Iroquois who had sided with the British in the American Revolutionary War.The...
at the Battle of Newtown
Battle of Newtown
The Battle of Newtown , also known as the Battle of Chemung, was the only major battle of the Sullivan Expedition, an armed offensive led by General John Sullivan that was ordered by the Continental Congress to end the threat of the Iroquois who had sided with the British in the American...
, and withdrew to Fort Niagara.
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 CanadaUpper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
, 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
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
Niagara-on-the-Lake is a Canadian town located in Southern Ontario where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region of the southern part of the province of Ontario. It is located across the Niagara river from Youngstown, New York, USA...
on May 12, 1796. His wife had died three years prior. He was survived by three sons and a daughter. He is interred in the family burial ground in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
Legacy
A school in Niagara-On-The-Lake is named after him as are numerous other establishments including a Best Western Hotel, a sports bar, a street leading to the family burial ground on land that was his former property, and the Butler's Barracks NHS built immediately after the War of 1812.In 2006, Lt-Col Butler was honoured by the Canadian Government with a life-sized bronze bust located at the Valiants Memorial
Valiants Memorial
The Valiants Memorial is a military monument located in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, commemorating fourteen key figures from the military history of the country....
in Ottawa. Alongside Joseph Brant, he is considered a key player in the founding of British North America and eighteenth-century Canada.
In 2010, a bust was installed on top of a memorial cairn at the site of his homestead in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
Further reading
- Cruikshank, Ernest, The Story of Butler's Rangers and the Settlement of Niagara, 1893