Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/512

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BUTLER
BUTLER

on this occasion. — His son, Walter, was connected with some of tiie most infamous transactions of the revolution. While a lieutenant, he was sentenced to death as a spy, but was reprieved at the inter- cession of some American officers, who had known him as a law-student in Albany. Shortly after- ward, when confined in a private house, he made his escape. He was killed in October, 1781, in an action on the Mohawk.


BUTLER, John B., soldier, Ix in 1792; d. in Mount Auburn, near Cincinnati, Ohio, 7 Dec, 1870. He served as a private in the war of 1812, after which he went to Pittsburg, Pa., and engaged in the printing business, and subsequently was for many years editor and publisher of the Pittsburg " Statesman." At this period of life he was active in politics, and in 1888 was appointed recorder of deeds and afterward canal commissioner. At the beginnmg of the war with Mexico he was commis- sioned paymaster in the army, 25 June, 1846, and accompanied Gen. Taylor's command to the seat of war. He was made militaiy storekeeper at the Alleghany arsenal, 80 June, 1847, and remained there until he was retired, 1 Oct., 1868.


BUTLER, John Jay, clergvman, b. in Ber- wick, Me.. 9 April, 1814; d. in' Hillsdale, Mich., 16 June, 1891. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1887, taught school, and was principal of Clinton seminary. New York, in 1841-'2. After gradua- tion at Andover theological seminary in 1844, he was ordained as a Free Baptist, 28 Jan., 1846. He was professor of systematic theology at the semi- nary in Whitestown, N. Y., from 1844 till 1854, when he went to fill the same chair in the New Hampton, N. H., theological institute. He was professor of theology in Bates college from 1870 till 1873, and in the latter year was appointed to the chair of sacred literature in Hillsdale college, Michigan. In 1860 Bowdoin gave him the degree of D. D. He published many theological works, including " Natural and Revealed Theology " (Do- ver, N. II.. 1861); " Commentary on the Oospels" (1870); and "Commentary on the Acts. Romans, and First and Second Corinthians " (1871). Dr. Butler was for many years assistant editor of the " Morning Star," the organ of his denomination, formerly published in Dover, N. H., but now issued in Boston, Mass.


BUTLER, Mann, author, d. in November, 1835, in consequence of a railroad accident in Missouri. He emigrated to Kentucky in 1806, and published a " History of Kentucky " (Louisville, 1834).


BUTLER, Moses, surveyor, b. in Berwick, Me., 18 July, 1702; d. in 1756. His father, Thomas Butler, who was prominent in the affairs of York county. Me., for more than twenty years, was a de- scendant of the noble house of Ormonde in Ire- land. His son was chosen in 1730 to represent Berwick in matters relating to the seizure of prop- erty belonging to citizens, by the crown surveyor of woods, and from 1738 till 1756 he was annually elected selectman of Berwick and surveyor of land. He was commissioned captain in the 1st Massachusetts regiment, 5 Feb., 1744, and during the siege and capture of Louisburg was in com- mand of his company, under Sir William Pepper- ell's immediate instructions. In a letter from Sir William Pepperell to John Hill, Capt. Butler's alacrity in enlisting his full company of men for service in the Louisburg expedition is warmly praised. He was chosen in 1748 to answer a peti- tion executed against the town of Berwick at the general court in Boston, and on 22 May, 1749, was elected a representative to the general court. Dr. George H. Butler, of New York, has published a work entitled " Thomas Butler and his Descendants, 1674-1886 " (New York, 1886).


BUTLER, Noble, educator, b. in Washington county, Pa., in 1819 ; d. in Louisville, Ky., 12 Feb., 1882. He was educated at Hanover college, Indi- ana, and in 1889 became professor of Greek and Latin in the University of Louisville, Ky. He published a " Practical and Critical English Gram- mar " (Louisville, 1875), and various text-books in reading and composition.


BUTLER, Pierce, senator, b. in Ireland, 11 July, 1744; d. in Philadelphia, 15 Feb., 1822. He was the third son of Sir Richard Butler, 5th baronet. He was made lieutenant in the 46th regiment of the British army, 18 Aug., 1761 ; became captain in the 29th in July, 1762; major in April, 1766, and was stationed in Boston, but resigned before the revolution and settled in Charleston, S. C. He was a delegate from South Carolina to the old congress in 1787, and in 1788 a member of the convention that framed the federal constitution, taking an active part in its discussions. He sup- ported the " Virginia Plan," saying that he had been opi)osed to granting new powers to a single body, but would support their distribution among differ- ent bodies. He spoke against the plan of a triple executive, and maintained that property was the only true basis of representation. After the adoption of the constitution he was senator from his state in 1789-'96 and in 1802-'4. He opposed some of the measures of Washington's administra- tion, but approved of the war of 1812. Senator Butler was at one time a director of the U. S. bank. He was proud of tracing his descent from the dukes of Ormond, and his political opponents often twitted him upon his family pride. — His .son, Pierce, b. in 1807; d. in Philadelphia, 15 Aug., 1867, was a lawyer of ability, and married in 1834 Miss Fanny Kemble, the actress, who had come to this country about two years before. In 1849, owing to incompatibility of temper, they were separated. See Kemble, Frances Anne.


BUTLER, Richard, soldier, b. in Dublin. Ireland, 1 April, 1748 ; d. in battle, 4 Nov., 1791. He came to America with his parents before 1760. was made lieutenant-colonel in the Pennsylvania line at the beginning of the Revolutionary war, in the spring of 1777 was lieutenant-colonel of Morgan's rifle corps, and distinguished himself on many occasions. While with Lafayette's detachment near Williamsburg, Va., 26 June. 1781, he attacked Col. Simcoe's rangers, gaining the advantage. He held the rank of colonel of the 9th Pennsylvania regiment at the close of the war, was agent for Indian affairs in Ohio in 1787, and in the expedition of St. Clair against the Indians, in 1791, commanded the right wing, with the rank of major-general. When attacked, he repeatedly charged the enemy, received several severe wounds, and finally was scalped. — His brother, William, b. in London, 6 Jan., 1745 ; d. in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1789, was lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Pennsylvania regiment in the Revolutionary army. In October, 1778, after the destruction of Wyoming by John Butler and the Indians, he conducted an expedition from Schoharie, which destroyed the Indian settlements of LTnadilla and Anaguaga. His account of the expedition was published. — Thomas, soldier, third of the Butler brothers, b. at sea, 26 May, 1748 ; d. in New Orleans, La., 7 Sept., 1805. In 1776, while studying law with Judge Wilson, of Philadelphia, he joined the army, soon obtained a company, and was in almost every action in the middle states during the revolution." At Brandy wine, 11 Sept., 1777. he received the thanks of Washington on the field for intrepidity