Butler's Rangers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Butler's Rangers (1777–1784) was a Loyalist (or "Tory") irregular militia regiment in the British Army during the American Revolutionary War. Originally a ranger company of General Sir John Johnson's King's Royal Regiment of New York under the command of Major John Butler, they were reorganized and expanded to regimental size on the orders of Sir Guy Carleton to serve with and lead the Iroquois forces of Joseph Brant against the Patriots.

Their uniforms consisted of a green coat and waistcoat faced with red, buff breeches, white leggings and a hat of the Foot Regiment pattern.

Most members of the regiment were Loyalists from upstate New York, and they fought principally in western New York and Pennsylvania, but ranged as far west as Ohio and Michigan and as far south as Virginia (where, in August, 1782, Rangers burned the Patriot settlement of Wheeling). They were accused of participating in — or at least failing to prevent — the Wyoming Valley massacre of July 1778 and the Cherry Valley massacre of November 1778 of white settlers (including some Loyalists) by Brant's Iroquois. These actions earned the Rangers a reputation for exceptional savagery.

Among the regiment were former black slaves, under arms in violation of the express policy of the British Army, which enlisted blacks only as non-combatant labourers or sappers. The total number of black soldiers in Butler's Rangers is unknown, with estimates ranging from two to "more than a dozen". Only one enters into the historical record: Richard Pierpoint, also known as Capt. Dick. Pierpoint would later found the Company of Coloured Men, an all-black militia unit that served with distinction at the battles of Fort George, Queenston Heights and Lundy's Lane during the War of 1812. Pierpoint would - in 1821 - found the Garafraxa Settlement, a black farming community near Fergus, Ontario, Canada, and a terminus of the underground railroad.

The regimental company commanders of Butler's Rangers, 1777-1784, were:

Capt. Andrew Bradt
Capt. Walter Butler (John Butler's son, killed in action, 1781)
Capt. William Caldwell, victor at the Battle of Sandusky and the Battle of Blue Licks
Capt. George Dame
Capt. Bernard Frey
Capt. Lewis Geneway
Capt. Peter Hare
Capt. John McDonell
Capt. John McKinnon
Capt. Benjamin Pawling
Capt. Peter Ten Broeck
Capt. Andrew Thompson

Butler's Rangers were disbanded in June 1784 at Fort George in Canada's Niagara Peninsula, and its veterans given land grants around St. Catharines, Ontario, as a reward for their services to the British crown. John Butler, however, organized a new militia regiment, the Nassau, filling its ranks with the demobilised officers and men of Butler's Rangers. This regiment exists today as the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, of St. Catharines, a reserve regiment of the Canadian army. Richard Pierpoint's 1812 Company of Coloured Men was attached to and commanded by white officers from the Lincoln Regiment.

There is a modern group of reenactors representing Butler's Rangers.

[edit] References

An account of the most significant actions of Butler's Rangers 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 and in E. Cruikshank, The Story of Butler's Rangers.