Edmund or Edmond Butler (March 19, or September 19, 1827 – August 21, 1895) was a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

officer who served with the Union Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

and later became a prominent Indian fighter in the

Northern Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, a ...

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

and

southwest United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, N ...

in the post-Civil War era. In 1894, he was awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...

for gallantry against the Sioux and Cheyenne at

Battle of Wolf Mountain The Battle of Wolf Mountain (also known as the Battle of the Wolf Mountains, Miles's Battle on the Tongue River, the Battle of the Butte, Where Big Crow Walked Back and Forth, and called the Battle of Belly Butte by the Northern Cheyenne) was a ...

Biography

Edmond Butler was born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States as a young man. Shortly after arriving in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

, he enlisted in the

and commissioned as a second lieutenant in the

5th U.S. Infantry The 5th Infantry Regiment (nicknamed the "Bobcats") is an infantry regiment of the United States Army that traces its origins to 1808. Origins: War of 1812 The 5th Infantry Regiment was created by an Act of Congress of 3 March 1815,

in October 1861. He was also assigned to special duty with the inspector of volunteer units in

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. In 1862, he was sent to the New Mexico Territory and later assisted in the reconstruction of

Fort Bliss Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Bliss h ...

after its recapture by the Union. Promoted to captain in 1864, he was eventually reassigned to

Fort Wingate, New Mexico Fort Wingate was a military installation near Gallup, New Mexico. There were two other locations in New Mexico called Fort Wingate: Seboyeta, New Mexico (1849–1862) and San Rafael, New Mexico (1862–1868). The most recent Fort Wingate (186 ...

and, in 1865, commanded an expedition against the

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest fe ...

s living in

Canyon de Chelly Canyon de Chelly National Monument ( ) was established on April 1, 1931, as a unit of the National Park Service. Located in northeastern Arizona, it is within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation and lies in the Four Corners region. Reflecting ...

. Intercepting a Navajo raiding party under Manuelito Grande, he recovered a number of sheep and other livestock taken from the neighboring Apache. After a period of 22 days, in which he had covered 720 miles, 31 Navajos were killed while another 27 were captured. He was also involved in the relocation of 3,000 Navajo to the Fort Sumner Reservation on the

Pecos River The Pecos River ( es, Río Pecos) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico ...

. Transferred to Kansas in 1866, he spent two years there before being assigned to the

Beecher Island Beecher Island is a sandbar located along the lower course of the Arikaree River, a tributary of the North Fork of the Republican River near Wray in Yuma County, Colorado. The site is notable for having been the scene of an 1868 armed conf ...

-site in December 1868 to bring in the bodies of the soldiers killed during the

Battle of Beecher Island The Battle of Beecher Island, also known as the Battle of Arikaree Fork, was an armed conflict between elements of the United States Army and several of the Plains Native American tribes in September 1868. Beecher Island, on the Arikaree River ...

. Despite a large Sioux presence in the area, Butler successfully removed the bodies from the site despite being "under the fire of the main body of Sioux". However, he was unable to find the remains of Lieutenant

Fredrick H. Beecher The Battle of Beecher Island, also known as the Battle of Arikaree Fork, was an armed conflict between elements of the United States Army and several of the Plains Native American tribes in September 1868. Beecher Island, on the Arikaree Riv ...

and Acting Surgeon J.H. Mooer, suggesting their bodies had been removed by the Sioux "probably in revenge for rifling Sioux graves on the Republican (earlier by camp followers)". During 1869, while assigned to guard the

Fort Wallace Fort Wallace ( 1865–1882) was a US Cavalry fort built in Wallace County, Kansas to help defend settlers against Cheyenne and Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of ...

–

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

stage route, Butler volunteered to join an expedition under Lieutenant Colonel

Charles R. Woods Charles Robert Woods (February 19, 1827 – February 26, 1885) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general during the American Civil War. He is noted for commanding the relief troops that first attempted to resupply Fort Sumter ...

against the

Pawnees The Pawnee are a Central Plains Indian tribe that historically lived in Nebraska and northern Kansas but today are based in Oklahoma. Today they are the federally recognized Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, who are headquartered in Pawnee, Oklahoma. T ...

. Returning to Kansas in October 1871, he was assigned to operations to control "organized land-leaguers" in the southeast. Three years later, he served with Lieutenant General

Nelson A. Miles Nelson Appleton Miles (August 8, 1839 – May 15, 1925) was an American military general who served in the American Civil War, the American Indian Wars, and the Spanish–American War. From 1895 to 1903, Miles served as the last Commanding Gen ...

during the Red River Campaign and in the

Black Hills War The Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of battles and negotiations that occurred in 1876 and 1877 in an alliance of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne against the United States. The cause of the war was the ...

in which he led six companies in pursuit of

Sitting Bull Sitting Bull ( lkt, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake ; December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. He was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Roc ...

. Although Sitting Bull and Gall escaped to Canada, he was involved in the capture of eight other Sioux chieftains and around 700 lodges. On January 8, 1877, Butler took part in the engagement against the Sioux at Wolf Mountain. In command of Company C, he was commended for his actions during the battle for ''"conspicuous gallantry in leading his command against greatly superior numbers of hostile Indians, strongly entrenched"'' and receiving a brevet of major and awarded the Medal of Honor. Later that year, he escorted

Chief Joseph ''Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt'' (or ''Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it'' in Americanist orthography), popularly known as Chief Joseph, Young Joseph, or Joseph the Younger (March 3, 1840 – September 21, 1904), was a leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa ...

and other Nez Perce to

Fort Buford Fort Buford was a United States Army Post at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Dakota Territory, present day North Dakota, and the site of Sitting Bull's surrender in 1881.Ewers, John C. (1988): "When Sitting Bull Surrend ...

between October and November 1877. During the early 1880s, he was stationed at

Fort Snelling, Minnesota Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint Anth ...

and

Fort Keogh, Montana Fort Keogh is a former United States Army post located at the western edge of modern Miles City, in the U.S. state of Montana. It is situated on the south bank of the Yellowstone River, at the mouth of the Tongue River. Colonel Nelson A. Miles ...

and guarded construction parties of the

Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, wh ...

. He also held numerous staff positions and eventually awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel on the day of his retirement on March 9, 1891. He died in Trouville, France three years later and, his body being returned to the United States, later buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...

References

*Greene, Jerome A. ''Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877: The Military View''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. *Thrapp, Dan L. ''Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: In Three Volumes, Volume I (A–F)''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988.
Civil War Officers

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Edmond 1827 births 1895 deaths 19th-century Irish people Irish emigrants to the United States American people of the Indian Wars United States Army Medal of Honor recipients Nez Perce War People of the Great Sioux War of 1876 Union Army officers United States Army colonels Irish-born Medal of Honor recipients Irish soldiers in the United States Army American Indian Wars recipients of the Medal of Honor

Biography

See also

References

Further reading

External links