Roderick Randum Butler (April 9, 1827 – August 18, 1902) was an American politician who represented Tennessee's 1st district in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

from 1867 to 1875, and again from 1887 to 1889. He also served several terms in the

Tennessee state legislature The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title ...

, and briefly served as a state court judge. An opponent of secession, Butler represented Johnson County at the

East Tennessee Convention The East Tennessee Convention was an assembly of Southern Unionist delegates primarily from East Tennessee that met on three occasions during the Civil War. The Convention most notably declared the secessionist actions taken by the Tennessee sta ...

in 1861, and afterward joined the Union Army.

Early life

Butler was born in

Wytheville, Virginia Wytheville is a town in, and the county seat of, Wythe County, in southwestern Virginia, United States. It is named after George Wythe, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and mentor to Thomas Jefferson. Wytheville's popula ...

, on April 9, 1827, the youngest son of George Butler. His father died before Roderick was one year old.Butler, Tennessee: Colonel Roderick Random Butler's Namesake
WataugaLakeMagazine.com, September, 2007. At age 13, he was bound out as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

to John Haney of

Newbern, Virginia Newbern is an unincorporated community in Pulaski County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. From 1839 until the court house burned in 1892, Newbern was the county seat of Pulaski County A large share of the early settlers being natives of Switzerl ...

, to learn the

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

's trade. After a six-year apprenticeship, he moved to Taylorsville, Tennessee (modern Mountain City) to work as a tailor.William S. Speer,
Hon. Roderick Random Butler
" ''Sketches of Prominent Tennesseans'' (Genealogical Publishing Company, 2010; originally published 1888), pp. 50-52. At the age of 21, Butler began

reading law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under th ...

with Carter County attorney Carrick W. Nelson. He was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (un ...

in 1853, and practiced in Johnson County and Carter County in partnership with Nelson until the outbreak of the Civil War. At a young age, Butler aligned himself with the Whig Party.William Horatio Barnes,
Roderick R. Butler
" ''Biographies of Members of the House of Representatives of the Forty-third Congress'' (W.H. and O.H. Morrison, 1874), pp. 77-80. He was appointed

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of Taylorsville by President

Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853; he was the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former member of the U.S. House of Represen ...

, and was elected to a county judgeship in 1855. He was also a major of the First Battalion of the Tennessee Militia, having been elected to the rank around 1850.

Civil War

Butler was elected to the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to cons ...

in 1859, representing Johnson and Carter counties, and was reelected in 1861. He was one of fifteen legislators to vote against the state's military alignment with the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confede ...

in May 1861. He was a member of the Johnson County delegation at both the Knoxville session (May 30–31) and Greeneville session (June 17–20) of the

, which petitioned the state legislature to allow East Tennessee to break away from Tennessee and form a Union-aligned state. Described by fellow Unionist

Oliver Perry Temple Oliver Perry Temple (January 27, 1820 – November 2, 1907) was an American attorney, author, judge, and economic promoter active primarily in East Tennessee in the latter half of the 19th century.Mary Rothrock, ''The French Broad-Holston Country: ...

as "unshrinking" and "outspoken,"Oliver Perry Temple,
R.R. Butler
" ''Notable Men of Tennessee'' (Cosmopolitan Press, 1912), pp. 77-78. Butler was arrested by Confederate authorities and charged with treason in 1862, but was acquitted due to lack of witnesses. He was arrested on a similar charge a short while later, but was released with the help of friends, and fled to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

. He was authorized by General

Ambrose Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor ...

to raise a Union Army regiment, but this new regiment was consolidated with the

13th Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry The 13th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was originally designated 12th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, but was changed by order of Governor Andrew Johnson ...

under Colonel John K. Miller in late 1863. Butler received the rank of lieutenant colonel, and served until 1864, when he resigned for health reasons. Butler was a delegate to the

Republican National Conventions The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

in 1864, 1872 and 1876. In 1865, he was a delegate to the Tennessee state constitutional convention. That same year, he was elected to the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any issue reg ...

, but resigned to accept an appointment by Governor

William G. Brownlow William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow (August 29, 1805April 29, 1877) was an American newspaper publisher, Methodist minister, book author, prisoner of war, lecturer, and politician who served as the 17th Governor of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and ...

as judge of the state's First Judicial Circuit Court. He was chairman of the first state

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or again ...

executive committee of Tennessee. He was also a delegate to the Baltimore Border State Convention in 1867.

Postwar political endeavors

In 1867, Butler was elected as a Republican to the

Fortieth United States Congress The 40th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1867, ...

, winning over 86% of the vote in a race against Democrat James White. He ran virtually unopposed in 1868. He was

censure A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a Debate (parliamentary procedure), debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a ster ...

d by the House of Representatives on March 17, 1870, for accepting payment in return for recommending the appointment of a cadet to

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

(a vote to expel failed). He was narrowly reelected later that year in a three-way race against White and former congressman

Nathaniel Green Taylor Nathaniel Green Taylor (December 29, 1819 – April 1, 1887) was an American lawyer, farmer, and politician from Tennessee. He was United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1854 to 1855, and again from ...

. Though the state legislature

gerrymandered In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

his district, he was nevertheless reelected to a fourth term in 1872, winning 56% of the vote in a race against William B. Carter, the leader of the East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy. He was finally defeated for reelection in 1874, garnering just 44% of the vote against the Democratic candidate, William McFarland.Candidate Roderick R. Butler
''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved: 3 May 2013. During the

40th Congress The 40th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1867, ...

(1867–1869), Butler served on the Committee on the Revision of Laws (now part of the Judiciary Committee). During the

41st Congress The 41st United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1869, ...

, he served on the Committee on Elections and the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. For the

42nd Congress The 42nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1871, ...

, he was a member of the Committee on Freedmen's Affairs, and for the

43rd Congress The 43rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1873, ...

, he was a member of the Committee on Indian Affairs. In 1878, Butler was elected to the

, where he would serve until 1885. In 1887, Butler was again elected to Congress, defeating his old opponent, James White, with about 60% of the vote. In 1887, he failed to win his party's nomination for reelection, but ran in the general election as an Independent Republican. He was narrowly defeated by rising politician

Alfred A. Taylor Alfred Alexander Taylor (August 6, 1848 – November 25, 1931), known as Alf Taylor, was an American politician and lecturer from eastern Tennessee. He served as the 34th governor of Tennessee from 1921 to 1923, one of three Republicans to hold t ...

. In 1893, he was elected to the

, where he served until 1901. In a letter to editor William S. Speer, who was compiling information for his book, ''Sketches of Prominent Tennesseans'', Butler stated:

If my time were to go over, I would attend to my profession and nothing else; I would never go into politics; there is no money in it, it is a dog's life; the politician is a pack-horse for everybody, has to go everybody's security and neglect one's private affairs.

Butler died in Mountain City, Tennessee, on August 18, 1902 (age 75 years, 131 days). He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at Mountain View Cemetery in Mountain City.

Family and legacy

Butler married Emeline Jane Donnelly, the daughter of a wealthy Taylorsville area farmer, in 1849. The couple had 11 children. A grandson of Butler,

Robert Reyburn Butler Robert Reyburn Butler (September 24, 1881 – January 7, 1933) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Representative from Oregon from 1928 to 1933.. He also served in the Oregon State Senate and as a state circuit co ...

, represented an

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1928 to 1933. His private residence in Mountain City, the Butler House, is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

.Carolyn Sakowski (2007),
Touring the East Tennessee Backroads
', John F. Blair, Publisher. , . Pages 28-29. After the Civil War, the Johnson County community of Smith's Mill was renamed

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some al ...

in his honor.

References

External links