John Butler
Portrait of John Butler, date unknown
Born	c. April 28, 1728 New London, Connecticut
Died	May 12, 1796 Newark,Upper Canada
Allegiance	Great Britain
Branch	British Indian Department Tryon County militia British Army
Years of service	1755–1784
Rank	Lieutenant-Colonel
Unit	Butler's Rangers
Battles / wars	French and Indian War Battle of Ticonderoga Battle of Fort Frontenac Battle of Fort Niagara American Revolutionary War Battle of Longue-Pointe Siege of Fort Stanwix Battle of Oriskany Battle of Wyoming Battle of Newtown Battle of Klock's Field

Lieutenant-ColonelJohn Butler (c. April 28, 1728 – May 12, 1796) was aBritish Indian Department officer, landowner and merchant. During theAmerican Revolutionary War, he was a prominentLoyalist who commandedButler's Rangers. Born inNew London, Connecticut, he moved toNew York with his family, where he learned severalIroquoian languages and worked as an interpreter in the fur trade. He was well-prepared to work with theMohawk and otherIroquois nations who became allies of the British during the rebellion.

During the Revolutionary War, Butler persuaded theSeneca andCayuga to participate in theSt. 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 theBattle of Wyoming and theCherry Valley massacre. After the war Butler resettled inUpper Canada, where he was given a grant of land bythe Crown for his services. Butler continued his leadership in the developing colony, serving in public office, and helping to establish theAnglican Church and theMasonic Order in what is nowOntario.

John Butler, the son of Walter Butler and Deborah Ely, was born in 1728 inNew London, Connecticut. In 1742, his father moved the family toFort Hunter on the frontier in theMohawk Valley near the modern village ofFonda, New York. John married Catharine (Catalyntje) Bradt of Dutch ancestry about 1752. The couple raised five children includingWalter Butler. Two others died in infancy. Having learned several Iroquoian languages, Butler was frequently employed as an interpreter in the lucrativefur trade.^[1]

In 1755, John Butler was appointed to the rank of lieutenant in theBritish Indian Department.^[1] He served in theFrench and Indian War underSir William Johnson and was promoted to captain. In 1758, he saw action withJames Abercromby atFort Ticonderoga andJohn Bradstreet at theBattle of Fort Frontenac. In 1759, he served under Johnson as second-in-command of the Indigenous forces at theBattle 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 inJeffery Amherst's force during the capture ofMontreal.^[2]

After the war, Butler returned to the Mohawk Valley in New York. He acquired more land, building an estate of 26,000 acres (11,000 ha) at Butlersbury near the major Mohawk village ofCaughnawaga. 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.^[1] In 1772, Butler was appointed a judge in theTryon County court and was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel ofGuy Johnson's regiment ofTryon County militia. Butler was elected as one of the two members representing Tryon County in theNew York assembly.

John Butler returned to service, as a Loyalist, when theAmerican Revolution turned to war in 1775. In May 1775, he left for Canada in the company ofDaniel Claus,Walter Butler,Hon Yost Schuyler andJoseph Brant, a Mohawk leader. On July 7, they reachedFort Oswego and in August, Montreal. Butler participated in the defence of Montreal against anattack led byEthan Allen. In November,Guy Carleton, Governor of theProvince of Quebec, sent Butler toFort Niagara with instructions to keep the Iroquois neutral. His son, Walter, enlisted as an ensign in the8th Regiment of Foot, but his wife and other children were detained by the American rebels.^[1]

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 toFort Oswego for an attack onFort Stanwix as a part of theSaratoga Campaign. Butler persuaded about 350Seneca andCayuga warriors to participate, and was appointed second-in-command of the Indigenous forces underDaniel Claus.

Butler successfully coordinated the ambush of rebel militia andOneida warriors at theBattle of Oriskany. As a result he was commissioned aMajor and given authority to raise his ownregiment, which became known as Butler's Rangers, initially with a strength of eightcompanies. He returned to Fort Niagara, and completed recruiting the first company in December.

In July 1778, Butler led his Rangers and Indigenous allies at theBattle of Wyoming, in which he defeated Lieutenant-ColonelZebulon Butler's militia andContinentals and capturedForty 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.^[3]

Butler commanded his Rangers from his headquarters at Fort Niagara. In 1779, he was defeated at theBattle of Newtown, the only major engagement of theSullivan Expedition against the Iroquois. He was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel in the winter of 1780.^[4]

In 1780, Butler commanded the four companies of Rangers that participated in the large-scale raid on theSchoharie andMohawk valleys. The raid culminated in the inconclusiveBattle of Klock's Field on October 19, 1780.^[5] Later in the war, the Rangers were active from Niagara toIllinois County, Virginia.

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 ofUpper Canada, 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 theToronto Purchase of 1787.^[6]

Butler died, at his home, at age 68 inNiagara, Upper Canada,British Canada, now Niagara-on-the-Lake,Ontario, 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.^[1]

• 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 theButler's Barracks established after the War of 1812. The latter has been designated as aNational Historic Site.
• In 2006, a life-sized bronze bust of Butler was installed at theValiants Memorial inOttawa. AlongsideMohawk leaderJoseph Brant, 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 memorialcairn at the site of his homestead on Balmoral Drive in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

• American novelistJoseph Altsheler referred to John Butler as "Indian Butler" in his 1911 novel about the Wyoming Massacre,The Scouts of the Valley, a Story of Wyoming and the Chemung. He referred to Butler as a turncoat and villain, who sided with the Iroquois against the white settlers. It is available online at the Gutenberg Project.The Scouts of the Valley, a story of Wyoming and the Chemung.

• Olshan, Judd David (2015).Butlers of the Mohawk Valley: Family Traditions and the Establishment of British Empire in Colonial New York (PhD thesis). Syracuse University.

• The Butler papers Brock University Library Digital Repository

• 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 the Province of New York
• People of New York (state) in the American Revolution
• People from colonial Connecticut
• Slave owners from New York (state)
• People of the Sullivan Expedition
• Lieutenant colonels
• Fur traders from the Thirteen Colonies

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