colonel and justice of the peace. As deputy su-
perintendent of the Six Nations, he also
proved himself a staunch ally in helping se-
cure better living conditions for the Mohawks,
who had lost nearly everything in their sup-
port of England. Butler died at Newark on May
13, 1796, and received an Indian-style funeral.
The great Joseph Brant also eulogized him, de-
claring, “Our loss is the greater, as there are
none remaining who understand our manners
and customs as well as he did.” Despite John
Butler’s close association with military affairs,
Canadian historians also regard him as one of
the founding fathers of Upper Canada.
See also
Arnold, Benedict; Brant, Joseph
Bibliography
Allen, Robert S. The Loyal Americans: The Military
Role of the Loyalist Provincial Corps and Their
Settlement in British North America, 1775–1784.
Ottawa: National Museum of Man, 1983; Buziak,
Kelly J. “Nothing Wanting but a Beginning: An Ex-
amination of the Character and Development of the
Settlement Founded by Members of Butler’s
Rangers in the Niagara Region, 1780–1800.” Unpub-
lished master’s thesis, University of Alberta, 1988;
Cruikshank, Ernest A. The Story of Butler’s Rangers
and the Settlement of Niagara.Welland, Ontario:
Tribune, 1893; Fryer, Mary B. Battlefields of
Canada.Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1995; Kashatus,
William L. “The Wyoming Massacre: The Surpassing
Horror of the American Revolution, July 3, 1778.”
Valley Forge Journal4 (1988): 107–122; Miller, Han-
son O. Raiders of the Mohawk: The Story of Butler’s
Rangers.Toronto: Macmillan, 1960; Mintz, Max M.
Seeds of Empire: The Revolutionary Conquest of
the Iroquois.New York: New York University Press,
1999; Watt, Gavin. The Burning of the Valleys: Dar-
ing Raids from Canada Against the New York
Frontier in the Fall of 1780.Toronto: Dundurn
Press, 1997.BUTLER, WALTER
Butler, Walter
(1752–October 30, 1781)
Loyalist Officer
T
he infamous Walter Butler was one of
the most feared Loyalist officers during
the American Revolution. In 1778, his
notorious Butler’s Rangers led a devastating
attack upon the Cherry Valley in New York,
reviled ever since as one of the war’s worst
atrocities.
Walter Butler was born near Fonda, New
York, in 1752, a son of John Butler, a British
Indian Department interpreter. His family was
closely connected to Sir William Johnson and,
as part of a privileged elite, amassed a consid-
erable fortune in land throughout the Mo-
hawk Valley. Butler displayed great interest in
military affairs as a young man, and in 1768 he
was appointed an ensign in the militia. How-
ever, in 1770 he relocated to Albany to study
law and remained there until the outbreak of
the American Revolution in April 1775. Loyal
to the king, Butler and his father then fled
New York for Montreal, although his mother
and sisters were caught by Patriots and in-
terned at Albany. Once in Canada, he ten-
dered his services to the Crown and was al-
lowed to join a mixed militia-Indian force. On
September 25, 1775, Butler led his force into
action at Longue-Pointe near Montreal, cap-
turing the noted American leader Ethan Allen.
Buoyed by this success, he gained permission
to visit England that year, returning the fol-
lowing spring with an ensign’s commission in
the Eighth Regiment of Foot. Montreal at that