Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1848-06-16
VOL. 4----NO. 90.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
GEN. WILLIAM O/BUTLER,
Kentucky.
BY FRANc1sR. BLAIR.

feeling is universal which prompts us to learn
something of even an ordinary acquaintance
in whom interestis felt It will indulge,
therefore, only natural and proper curiosity
to introduce the Subject of this notice by a
short account Of family whose striking traits
survive in him so remarkably.
General Buffers grandfather, Thomas But
Ter, was born 9th April, 1920, in Kilkenny,
Ireland. He married there in l742 Three
of his five sons who attained manhood, Rich
ard, William, and Thomas, were born abroad
Pierce, the father of General William O. But
Ter, and Edward, the youngest son, were born
in Pennsylvania 1t is remarkable that all
these men, and all their immediate male de-
scendants, with single exception, were en-
gagged in the military service of this country.
The eldest, Richard, was lieutenant colonel
Of Morgan's celebrated rifle regiment, and to
him it owed much of the high character that
gave it a fame Of its own, apart from the 9th
er corps of the Revolution. The cool, discip-
lined valor which gave steady and deadly d.
rectlon to the rifles of this regiment, was de-
rived principally from this officer, who devo-
ted himself to the drill of his men He was
promoted 10 the full command of a regiment
some time during the war, and in that capa-
city commanded Waynes lett in the attack on
Stony Point. About the year 1890, he was
appointed major-general. On the 4th of No
vember, 1871, he was killed in Gen St. Glars
bloody battle with the In lians, after he was
shot, gave such a peculiar interest to his fate,
that a representation of himself and the group
surrounding him was exhibited throughout
the Union in wax figures Notices of this
accomplished soldier will be found in Mar
shaI's life of Washington, pages 29O, 81, 400.
In Ion Al,
Museum, volume x, page "A, appendix.
William Butler, the second son, was an Of
| ficer throughout the revolutionary war, rose
10 the rank of colonel, and was in many of
the severest battles. He was the favorite of
the family, and was boasted of by his race of
| heroes as the coolest and boldest man in bat
tie they had ever known. When the army
was greatly reduced in rank and file, and there
were many superfuous officers, they organ-
zed themselves into a separate corps, and e.
iected him to the command. General Wash
ington declined receiving this novel corps of
commissioned soldiers, but in a proud test-
mOnlal, did honor to their devoted patriotism.
Of Thomas Butler, the third son, we CLEAN
the following facts from the American Bio
graphical Dictionary. In the year 1875, whilst
he was student of law in the office of the
eminent Judge Wilson, of Philadelphia, he
left his pursuit and joined the army as a sub
aitern. He soon obtained the command of a
company, in which he continued to the close
OF the revolutionary war. He was in almost
every action fought in the middle States dur
ing the war; At the battle of Brandywine he
received the thanks of Washington on the field
OF battle, through his aid-de- camp Gen. Ham,
llton, for his intrepid conduct in ralying a
detachment Of retreating troops, and giving
the enemy severe fire. At the battle of
Monmouth he received the thanks of General
Wayne for defending a defle, in the face of
a severe fire from the enemy, while colonel
Richard Buffers regiment made good its re-
treat
At the close of the war he retired into pri-
vate life, as a farmer, and continued in the
enjoyment of rural and domestic happiness
until the year 1871, when he again took the
field to meet the savage foe that menaced our
western frontier He commanded battalion
in the disastrous battle of November 4, 1871
in which his brother fell Orders were given
by Gen'l St. Clair to charge with the bayonet,
and Major Butler, though his leg had been
broken by ball, yet on horse back, led his
battalion TO the charge. 1t was with difficult
ty his surviving brother, Captain Edward But
Ter, removed him from the field. In 1892 he
was continued in the establishment as ma jor,
and in 1894 he was promoted to the rank of
Northumberland commandment of the 4th
sub legion. He commanded in this year Fort
Fayette, at Plttsburg, and prevented the de-
luded insurgents from taking it-more by his
name than by his forces, for he had but few
troops. The close of his life was embttered
with trouble. In 1903 he was arrested by the
commanding general (Wilknson) at Fort Ad-
ans, on the Mississippi, and sent to Mary
land, where he was tried by court-martial,
and acquitted of all the charges, save that of
aCearang his hair He was then ordered to
New Orleans, where he arrived, to take rom
mand of the troops, October goth. He was
again arrested next month; but the court did
not sit until July of the next year, and their
decision is not known. Colonel Butler died
September 7, 1905 Out of the arrest and
persecution of this sturdy veteran, Washing
ion Irving (knickerbocker) has worked up a
kinson's character is inmitably delineated in
that of the vain and pompous General Won
Poffenburg.
Percival Butler, the fourth son, father of
General VIM. O. Butler, was born at Carlisle,
Pennsylvania, in 1850. He entered the army
as a lieutenant at the age of eighteen; was
with Washington at Valley Forge; was in
the battle of Monmouth, and at the taking of
Yorktown-being through the whole series
of struggles IN the middle States, with the
troops under the commander-n chief, except
for short period when he was attached to a
light corps commanded by La Fayette, who
presented him sword. Near the close of the
war, he went to the South with the Pennsyl-
vanla brigade, where peace found him. He
emgrated to Kentucky in 1884. He was the
last of the old stock left when the war of 1912
commenced. He was made adlutant general
when Kentucky became a State, and in that
capacity joined one of the armies sent out by
Kentucky during the war.
Edward Butler, the youngest of the five
brothers, was two young 10 enter the army IN
the first stages of the revolution, but joined it
near the close, and had risen to a captaincy
when General St. Clair took the command,
and led it to that disastrous defeat in which so
many OF the best soldiers of the country per-
ished. He there evinced the highest courage
and strongest fraternal affection, in carving
his wounded brother out of the massacre.
which was continued for miles along the route
of the retreating army, and from which SO few
escaped, even of those who fled unencumber-
ed. He subsequently became ad jutant gener-
al in Wayne's army.
OF these five brothers, four had sons-all of
whom, with one exception, were engaged in
the military or naval service of the country
during the last war.
1st. General Richard Buffers son William
died lieutenant in the navy, early in the last
n