John Butler ( general ) John Butler ( died 1786 ) was a military officer in the Hillsborough District militia during the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1784 , and served as its commanding general between 1779 and the end of the conflict . He was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons for several terms simultaneously with his military service . Butler commanded soldiers in several major engagements throughout North and South Carolina , but is perhaps best remembered for his role in the Patriot defeat at the Battle of Lindley ' s Mill . Butler died shortly after the end of the war , and his career as a military commander has received mixed reviews by historians . Early life and War of the Regulation . Details of Butler ' s early life are not readily available , although it is known that he married a woman named Anne , and that upon his death , his wife was his sole living heir . At some point prior to May 1763 , Butler settled on the Haw River in North Carolina near the settlement at Hawfields in what was then Orange County . Butler became sheriff of Orange County by 1770 , and during the War of the Regulation , was acclaimed by the Regulators as an example of a public official who charged fair fees . Butler ' s brother , William , was a leading Regulator , and in the aftermath of the Battle of Alamance , Butler attempted to secure a pardon for him . American Revolutionary War . With the onset of the American Revolutionary War , Butler was appointed to the for the Hillsborough District , which included Caswell , Chatham , Granville , Orange , Randolph , and Wake Counties . On September 9 , 1775 , Butler was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel of the Orange County militia . Prior to the Battle of Moore ' s Creek Bridge , Butler played a supporting role by occupying the Cross Creek settlement for the Patriots . Promotion and early southern campaign . On April 22 , 1776 , Butler was promoted to colonel of the Orange County militia , and was given command of a regiment of troops from the southern portion of that county . On May 9 , 1777 , the North Carolina General Assembly promoted Butler to brigadier general , and gave him command of the Hillsborough District militia . In this role , Butler was often placed under the command of Continental Army generals , including his first campaign as a general in South Carolina , during which Butler and his unit of approximately 700 militiamen were placed under the immediate command of Continental brigadier general Jethro Sumner at the Battle of Stono Ferry . In that engagement on June 20 , 1779 , Butler ' s unit , on the right flank of the Patriot lines , was restrained from engaging in a bayonet charge by commanding general Benjamin Lincoln , who believed they were too inexperienced to engage in hand - to - hand combat . The North Carolina militia commanded by Butler , as well as several of the Continental regiments from that state at Stono Ferry , were nearing the end of their enlistment terms . Butler subsequently commanded a force of North Carolina militia at the Battle of Camden on August 16 , 1780 , which ended in a major defeat for the Patriots . Guilford Courthouse . During the latter part of 1780 , Butler and his command were stationed in the Piedmont region of North Carolina , defending that region against the British forces of General Charles Cornwallis . In 1781 , General Nathanael Greene ordered Butler and his militia to join him in Guilford County . After the rendezvous with Greene ' s main army , Butler commanded his brigade of approximately 500 men at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15 , 1781 , where they were stationed on the front line along with Brigadier General Thomas Eaton ' s brigade of North Carolina militia . Butler and Eaton ' s units at Guilford Courthouse were placed along a split - rail fence facing the road on which the British were expected to advance , but former militia commander William Richardson Davie , who was present at the battle , noted that the fence provided virtually no cover , and his home state ' s militia were left perilously exposed . Greene rode along the split - rail fence and asked the militia to fire two volleys at the British , after which Greene informed them they could withdraw from action . The North Carolina militia retreated early in the battle , although Butler attempted to prevent their withdrawal . Greene complained after the engagement that many North Carolina militiamen ( though not specifically identified as members of Butler ' s brigade ) fled without firing a shot at the British . After dealing a Pyrrhic victory to Cornwallis at Guilford Courthouse , Greene moved his Army south in April 1781 , but Butler remained in the Hillsborough District to recruit men for Patriot units . During this time , Butler even recruited more than 240 of the militiamen who had fled at Guilford Courthouse to fight in Continental Army units under Greene ' s overall command . Many of the men recruited , however , refused to leave the district , claiming that they were not bound by the terms of their service to leave that area . Fanning ' s Hillsborough raid and Butler ' s pursuit . On September 12 , 1781 , Loyalist commander David Fanning struck Hillsborough in a raid and captured Governor Thomas Burke . Fanning withdrew from Hillsborough , and attempted to take Burke to the safety of British - controlled Wilmington . Butler , whose home was near Hillsborough , quickly rallied a portion of his militia to pursue Fanning . On September 13 , 1781 , Butler surprised Fanning at a mill site on the Cane Creek , a tributary of the Haw River , in the Battle of Lindley ' s Mill . Butler ' s forces in that engagement consisted of approximately 400 militiamen , while Fanning ' s force of loyalists included more than 900 men . The Patriot militia , though outnumbered , had a strong defensive position at the crest of a hill on the south shore of the stream , facing the direction from which the Loyalists would be advancing . The battle lasted for more than four hours , but Butler was eventually outflanked and outnumbered , and was forced to withdraw without rescuing the governor . Despite his order to retreat , a contingent of Patriot militia attempted to take a stand , but that tactic was ultimately unsuccessful . The Patriots suffered approximately 124 casualties , including ten men made prisoners of war , while the Loyalists suffered approximately 117 casualties . Although Butler followed Fanning intently towards Wilmington after Lindley ' s Mill with an increased number of volunteers , the superior strength of the Loyalists , with support from the British on the lower Cape Fear River prevented another rescue attempt , and stymied Butler ' s advance in a confrontation near Elizabethtown . By May 1782 , though , Britain ' s fortunes in the war had waned , and Butler accepted Fanning ' s surrender . Butler resigned his commission on June 2 , 1784 , several months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris , which officially ended the war . Political activity during the Revolution . Butler was active in state politics throughout the American Revolutionary War . Indeed , one historian who analyzed Butler ' s performance at Guilford Courthouse has noted that he was a " politician " in nature , albeit with more military experience with other such politicians like fellow militia general Thomas Eaton . In 1777 , Butler was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons , and was re - elected to serve in 1778 and 1784 . In 1781 , he served one term in the North Carolina Senate concurrently with his military duties , and between June 26 , 1781 and May 3 , 1782 , served on the North Carolina Council of State . Butler was elected again for a term in the House of Commons in 1786 , but died before taking office . Death and legacy . Butler died in the Fall of 1786 , leaving his estate to his wife , Anne . Eli Caruthers , an early North Carolina historian , asserted in 1854 that Butler ' s performances at Lindley ' s Mill and Elizabethtown were lackluster . Caruthers made the claim that officers under Butler ' s command , particularly colonel Robert Mebane , were justified in several incidents of insubordination in which they defied Butler ' s orders to retreat . Scholars in the 20th century have shed further light on Butler ' s actions during the war , going so far as to praise Butler ' s conduct and tactical planning at Lindley ' s Mill . In 1939 , the State of North Carolina designed and erected a historical marker commemorating Butler ' s failed rescue attempt of Governor Burke at Lindley ' s Mill . In 2012 , the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources announced that Butler ' s life and individual service would be commemorated by the erection of a highway historical marker in Swepsonville , North Carolina .