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 worked in the British Indian Department under Sir William Johnson, and led Seneca and Cayuga forces in the Saratoga Campaign. He later raised and commanded a regiment of rangers.
John Butler is considered a villain in the United States, but is considered a hero in Canada.
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[edit] Background
John was born to Walter and Deborah Butler 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 Brandt, and the couple raised five children.
He entered militia service in the French and Indian War, and saw action at Fort Ticonderoga, Fort Niagara, and Montreal. After the war he came home, and built his estate up to 26,000 acres (105 km²). He was second only to Sir William Johnson as a wealthy frontier land owner.
[edit] Revolutionary War
Butler returned to service as a Loyalist when the American Revolution turned to war in 1775. He joined Sir William's Indian Department, and in November he was posted to Fort Niagara. His oldest son Walter Butler served with him, but his wife and other children were detained by the American rebels.
In the summer of 1777, he led a detachment of Indians from Niagara to accompany Barry St. Leger's Mohawk Expedition as a part of the Saratoga Campaign. He led this same band in a successful ambush in the Battle of Oriskany. 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.
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 complanies 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 at Fort Niagara which, despite attacks, never fell to the Americans. In 1779, he lost a fight against the Sullivan Expedition, but withdrew and still held on at 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, but he was survived by three sons and a daughter.
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.
