Walter Butler ( – October 30, 1781) was an American-born

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

military officer 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 born near

Johnstown, New York Johnstown is a city in and the county seat of Fulton County in the U.S. state of New York. The city was named after its colonial founder, Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Britain in the Province of New York and a major ...

, the son of

John Butler John Butler may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John "Picayune" Butler (died 1864), American banjo performer; may have been used by a number of performers * John Butler (artist) (1890–1976), American artist * John Butler (author) (born 1937), ...

, an

Indian agent In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the U.S. government. Agents established in Nonintercourse Act of 1793 The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the Un ...

who worked for Sir William Johnson. Walter Butler studied law, and became a lawyer in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

prior to 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 ...

. He was killed in battle in 1781.

Military career

At the start of the

, the women of the Butler family were taken captive in Albany while Walter was commissioned as an

ensign Ensign most often refers to: * Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality * Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to: Places * Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada * Ensign, Ka ...

in the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot, with which he served in the

Battle of Oriskany The Battle of Oriskany ( or ) was a major engagement of the Saratoga campaign during the American Revolutionary War. On August 6, 1777, an American column of Tryon County militia and Oneida people, Oneidas marching to relieve the siege of Fort ...

. When his father, John, formed

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 ...

, Walter Butler transferred to that company and was commissioned as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. In late 1777, he was captured by

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

troops while trying to recruit Rangers at Shoemaker Tavern in

German Flatts, New York German Flatts is a town in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 12,263 at the 2020 census down from 13,258 at the 2010 census. The town is in the southern part of Herkimer County, on the south side of the Mohawk River, ...

. He was sentenced to death for spying by Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willett and was imprisoned in Albany; but, after a few months, he escaped and returned to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. In 1778, he 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 chief, led a company of

British 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 culture ...

and

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 ...

in the raid that culminated in the Cherry Valley Massacre. He has been blamed for the deaths of perhaps 30 women and children who were killed on that occasion. He fought in the Battle of Johnstown and was killed on October 30, 1781, while retreating back to Canada in a skirmish with rebel troops of the 2nd Albany County Militia Regiment and the Tryon County militia under Marinus Willett in the

Mohawk Valley The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, ...

Cherry Valley massacre

Captain Butler was in command of the Loyalist raiding party that attacked Cherry Valley on November 11, 1778. In a November 17, 1778 letter to his superiors in Canada, Butler blamed Joseph Brant and his Indians for the massacre of the inhabitants of Cherry Valley. Contrarily, some Americans on the Patriot side asserted that it was Butler who ordered the killing of the women and children at Cherry Valley, not Brant. The following letter from J. H. Livingston to his brother serving in the Continental Congress is presented here, in part, verbatim from the original preserved in the New York State Library in Albany, New York. The fighting in upstate New York at times devolved into savage civil war between families and kin of whites who had lived in that region, with both sides in league with their own allies of native Amerindians. (Of the Iroquois Six Nations, the Oneida and many Tuscarora sided with the rebel forces; the Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga and Cayuga remained loyal to Great Britain.) John Brick, a twentieth-century native of the region and a career historical novelist, researched and wrote novels from both sides of the loyalists-rebels division. In his 1954 novel "The King's Rangers"—after extensive research in Canadian archives—Brick reported that the savagery at Cherry Valley was done under direction of two sub-chiefs of Joseph Brant, the Mohawk chief; and that Brant, by dint of negligence or worse, abandoned his promise to Walter Butler to control the Indians' fighting so as to prevent attacks on women and children, the defenseless and captured.John Brick, ''The King's Rangers'', Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1954.

Death

Butler died in a skirmish on October 30, 1781. The telling of the details was of apparent great interest to his contemporaries; perhaps no other Loyalist in upstate New York was as hated as Walter Butler. Several men who were present during the event or shortly thereafter testified to the specifics in their Revolutionary War pension applications: No word is recorded as to the disposition of Butler's body and it is doubtful that the Rebel forces did him the honor of burying him, Ross' men being actively pursued by them.

Legacy

Writer

Stephen Vincent Benét Stephen Vincent Benét ( ; July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He wrote a book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, '' John Brown's Body'', published in 1928, for which he receive ...

listed Butler as one of the villainous jurymen, brought back from the dead to help Satan, in the 1936 short story "

The Devil and Daniel Webster "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1936) is a short story by American writer Stephen Vincent Benét. He tells of a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the devil and is later defended by a fictionalized Daniel Webster, a noted 19th-century A ...

References

* * Howard Swiggett, ''War Out of Niagara; Walter Butler and the Tory Rangers'', Port Washington, New York 1963. *

, '

,' American short story *

External links

Walter ButlerDocuments on him, in the Haldimand Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Walter 1750s births 1781 deaths Loyalist military personnel of the American Revolutionary War Loyalists in the American Revolution from New York (state) People from colonial New York British military personnel killed in the American Revolutionary War