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Butler, Walter

Butler, Walter, 1752?–1781, Loyalist officer in the American Revolution, b. New York State; son of John Butler. He was an officer in his father's Loyalist troop, Butler's Rangers. He was captured (1777) by the patriots and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted. He escaped and in 1778 led the Rangers in a raid. This ended with the Cherry Valley massacre, for which his Native American commander, Joseph Brant, blamed Butler. Walter Butler was killed in a skirmish with patriot troops under Marinus Willet in the Mohawk valley.

See H. Swiggett, War out of Niagara (1933, repr. 1963).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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