John Butler ( pioneer ) John Butler ( 1728 – 1796 ) was a Loyalist who led an irregular militia unit known as Butler ' s Rangers on the northern frontier in the American Revolutionary War . He led Seneca and Cayuga forces in the Saratoga campaign . He later raised and commanded a regiment of rangers . Background . John was born to Walter Butler and Deborah Dennison , née Ely , in New London , Connecticut in 1728 . In 1742 , his father moved the family to Fort Hunter on the frontier in the Mohawk Valley near modern Fonda , New York . The Walter Butler Homestead was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 . In 1752 , he married Catherine ( Catalyntje ) Bradt , and the couple raised five children ( two others died in infancy ) . He knew several Indian languages and was employed as an interpreter . In 1755 , he was made Captain in the Indian department and saw service in the French and Indian War under William Johnson . He saw action at Fort Ticonderoga , the Battle of Fort Frontenac , the Battle of Fort Niagara , and Montreal . At the Battle of Fort Niagara he was second in command of the Indians . After the war he came home , and built his estate up to 26 , 000 acres ( 105 km² ) at Butlersbury , near Caughnawaga . He was second only to Sir William Johnson as a wealthy frontier land owner . He was a judge in the Tryon County court and was appointed Lt . - Colonel of Guy Johnson ' s regiment of Tryon County militia . Butler worked under Sir William Johnson in the Indian department . Butler was one of the two members representing Tryon County in the New York assembly . Revolutionary War . Butler returned to service as a Loyalist when the American Revolution turned to war in 1775 . In May , 1775 , he left for Canada in the company of Daniel Claus , Walter Butler , Hon Yost Schuyler and Joseph Brant . On July 7 , they reached Fort Oswego and in August , Montreal . He was involved in the defense of Montreal against an attack led by Ethan Allen . In November , Carleton sent him to Fort Niagara with instructions to keep the Indians neutral . His oldest son Walter Butler served with him , but his wife and other children were detained by the American rebels . In March , 1777 he sent a party of about one hundred Indians to Montreal to force the Americans out of Quebec . In May , Butler received instructions to employ a body of the Six Nations in an attack on New York . On June 5 he received instructions to send as many Indians as he could to Fort Oswego for an attack on Fort Stanwix as a part of the Saratoga campaign . He was put second in command of the Indians , under Daniel Claus . He led the Indians and a small number of Loyalists in a successful ambush in the Battle of Oriskany . As a result , after this expedition he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and given authority to raise his own regiment , which became known as Butler ' s Rangers , initially with a strength of eight companies . He traveled back to Fort Niagara and the first company was completed in December . In July 1778 , Butler led his rangers and Iroquois allies at the Battle of Wyoming , in which he defeated Zebulon Butler and took Forty Fort . The Patriots suffered heavy losses , and after the battle many homes in the area were burned . Later , the battle was referred to as the Wyoming Valley massacre because some of the victorious Loyalists and Iroquois were said to have executed and scalped prisoners and fleeing enemy soldiers . The American novelist , Joseph Altsheler referred to John Butler as " Indian Butler " in a novel about the Wyoming Massacre , and called him a turncoat and villain who sided with the Indians against the white settlers . Later that year , after the burning of Tioga , his son Captain Walter Butler led two companies of rangers and 300 Iroquois allies in a raid which was later referred to as the Cherry Valley massacre . The name of Butler was thereafter anathema to the rebels . His unit of rangers was spread through frontier outposts from Niagara to Illinois . Butler himself commanded from Fort Niagara . In 1779 , he was defeated by the Sullivan Expedition at the Battle of Newtown , and withdrew to Fort Niagara . Post - war years . At the end of the Revolution , Butler once again turned to farming in the Niagara region . He became one of the leaders of Upper Canada , later called Ontario . He was 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 Ontario . Butler died at Niagara on May 12 , 1796 . His wife had died three years prior . He was survived by three sons and a daughter . He is interred in the family burial ground in Niagara - on - the - Lake , Ontario . Legacy . A school in Niagara - On - The - Lake is named after him as are numerous other 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 the Butler ' s Brracks NHS built immediately after the War of 1812 . In 2006 , Lt - Col Butler was honoured by the Canadian Government with a life - sized bronze bust located at the Valiants Memorial in Ottawa . Alongside Joseph Brant , he is considered a key player in the founding of British North America and eighteenth - century Canada . In 2010 , a bust was installed on top of a memorial cairn at the site of his homestead in Niagara - on - the - Lake , Ontario .