Lieutenant-Colonel John Butler ( – May 12, 1796) was a

British Indian Department The Indian Department was established in 1755 to oversee relations between the British Empire and the First Nations in Canada, First Nations of North America. The imperial government ceded control of the Indian Department to the Province of Cana ...

officer, landowner and merchant. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, he was a prominent Loyalist who commanded

Butler's Rangers Butler's Rangers (1777–1784) was a Loyalist provincial military unit of the American Revolutionary War, raised by American loyalist John Butler. Most members of the regiment were Loyalists from upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania. T ...

. Born in

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the outlet of the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, which empties into Long Island Sound. The cit ...

, he moved to New York with his family, where he learned several Iroquoian languages and worked as an interpreter in the fur trade. He was well-prepared to work with the Mohawk and other

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

nations who became allies of the British during the rebellion. During the Revolutionary War, Butler persuaded the Seneca and Cayuga to participate in the St. Leger's Expedition in New York. Afterwards he was given permission to raise a "corps of rangers" to work closely with Britain's Indigenous allies. Butler's Rangers participated in raids in New York and Pennsylvania, including the Battle of Wyoming and the Cherry Valley massacre. After the war Butler resettled in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

, where he was given a grant of land by

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

for his services. Butler continued his leadership in the developing colony, serving in public office, and helping to establish the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

and the Masonic Order in what is now

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Early life

John Butler, the son of Walter Butler and Deborah Ely, was born in 1728 in

. In 1742, his father moved the family to Fort Hunter on the frontier in the Mohawk Valley near the modern village of Fonda, New York. John married Catharine (Catalyntje) Bradt of Dutch ancestry about 1752. The couple raised five children including Walter Butler. Two others died in infancy. Having learned several Iroquoian languages, Butler was frequently employed as an interpreter in the lucrative

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

French and Indian War

In 1755, John Butler was appointed to the rank of lieutenant in the

. He served in the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

under Sir William Johnson and was promoted to captain. In 1758, he saw action with James Abercromby at

Fort Ticonderoga Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in northern New York. It was constructed between October 1755 and 1757 by French-Canadian ...

and John Bradstreet at the Battle of Fort Frontenac. In 1759, he served under Johnson as second-in-command of the Indigenous forces at the Battle of Fort Niagara, where he played a crucial role in flanking the French reinforcements. In 1760, he continued as second-in-command of the Indigenous warriors in Jeffery Amherst's force during the capture of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Pre-American Revolution years

After the war, Butler returned to the Mohawk Valley in New York. He acquired more land, building an estate of at Butlersbury near the major Mohawk village of Caughnawaga. He was second only to Sir William Johnson, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, as a wealthy frontier landowner, and worked under Johnson for the British Indian Department. In 1772, Butler was appointed a judge in the Tryon County court and was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of Guy Johnson's regiment of Tryon County militia. Butler was elected as one of the two members representing Tryon County in the New York assembly.

American Revolutionary War

John Butler returned to service, as a Loyalist, when the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

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 Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York and, later, Brantford, in what is today Ontario, who was closely associated with Great Britain du ...

, a Mohawk leader. On July 7, they reached

Fort Oswego Fort Oswego was an 18th-century trading post in the Great Lakes region in North America, which became the site of a battle between French and British Army forces in 1756 during the North American phase of the Seven Years' War, known in the United ...

and in August, Montreal. Butler participated in the defence of Montreal against an attack led by

Ethan Allen Ethan Allen ( – February 12, 1789) was an American farmer, writer, military officer and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of Vermont and for the capture of Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolutionary War, and wa ...

. In November, Guy Carleton, Governor of the

Province of Quebec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

, sent Butler to

Fort Niagara Fort Niagara, also known as Old Fort Niagara, is a fortification originally built by New France to protect its interests in North America, specifically control of access between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great L ...

with instructions to keep the Iroquois neutral. His son, Walter, enlisted as an ensign in the 8th Regiment of Foot, but his wife and other children were detained by the American rebels. In March 1776, John Butler sent a party of about 100 allied warriors to Montreal to force the Americans out of Quebec. In May 1777, he received instructions to bring as many Iroquois warriors as he could to

for an attack on Fort Stanwix as a part of the Saratoga Campaign. Butler persuaded about 350 Seneca and Cayuga warriors to participate, and was appointed second-in-command of the Indigenous forces under Daniel Claus. Butler successfully coordinated the ambush of rebel militia and Oneida warriors at the Battle of Oriskany. As a result he was commissioned a

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

and given authority to raise his own

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

, which became known as Butler's Rangers, initially with a strength of eight

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether natural, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specifi ...

. He returned to Fort Niagara, and completed recruiting the first company in December. In July 1778, Butler led his Rangers and Indigenous allies at the Battle of Wyoming, in which he defeated Lieutenant-Colonel Zebulon Butler's militia and Continentals and captured Forty Fort. Later, the battle was referred to as the "Wyoming Massacre" because of the many Patriots who were killed and scalped as they fled the battlefield. In the days following the battle, homes, barns and mills in the area were looted and burned, however, the inhabitants were not harmed. Butler commanded his Rangers from his headquarters at Fort Niagara. In 1779, he was defeated at the Battle of Newtown, the only major engagement of the

Sullivan Expedition The 1779 Sullivan Expedition (also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, the Sullivan Campaign, and the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign) was a United States military campaign under the command of General John Sullivan (general), John Sullivan duri ...

against the Iroquois. He was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel in the winter of 1780. In 1780, Butler commanded the four companies of Rangers that participated in the large-scale raid on the Schoharie and Mohawk valleys. The raid culminated in the inconclusive Battle of Klock's Field on October 19, 1780. Later in the war, the Rangers were active from Niagara to Illinois County, Virginia.

Post-war years and death

At the end of the Revolution, John Butler was given a land grant in the Niagara region by the Crown for his services during the war and as compensation for his property in New York having been confiscated. He developed it for agriculture. He became one of the political leaders of

, later called Ontario. He was appointed as 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 what is now Ontario. Butler worked with his superior in the Indian Department, Sir John Johnson, 2nd Baronet, in negotiating the acquisition (Johnson-Butler Purchase or Gunshot Treaty of 1787–1788) of lands east of the Toronto Purchase of 1787. Butler died, at his home, at age 68 in Niagara, Upper Canada,

British Canada British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

, now Niagara-on-the-Lake,

, on May 12, 1796. His wife had died three years previously. Butler was survived by three sons and a daughter. John Butler is interred in the family burial ground in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Legacy

*Col. John Butler School in Niagara-on-the-Lake was named after him, as are numerous other public and private 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 established after the War of 1812. The latter has been designated as a National Historic Site. *In 2006, a life-sized bronze bust of Butler was installed at the Valiants Memorial in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. Alongside Mohawk leader

, he is considered a key player in the founding of British North America and late eighteenth-century Canada. *In 2010, a bust was installed on top of a memorial

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

at the site of his homestead on Balmoral Drive in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

References

External links

The Butler papers
Brock University Library Digital Repository {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, John 1728 births 1796 deaths British Indian Department Politicians from New London, Connecticut American pioneers Canadian Anglicans Colonial American Indian agents Loyalist military personnel of the American Revolutionary War American emigrants to Canada People from colonial New York People of New York (state) in the American Revolution People from colonial Connecticut American slave owners People of the Sullivan Expedition