THE BUTLER PAPERS: DOCUMENTS AND PAPERS RELATING TO COLONEL JOHN BUTLER AND HIS CORPS OF RANGERS 1711-1977 Compiled and Edited by Lieutenant Colonel William A Smy, OMM, CD, UE Victoria, British Columbia 1994 “I have ate of the King's salt, and therefore, I conceive it to be my duty to serve with unhesitating zeal and cheerfulness, when and where the King or his government may think proper to employ me." Sir Arthur Wellesly (later the Duke of Wellington) Hastings, England 1806 "I am a King's man! Who dares make anything of it?" Lieutenant William Johnson British Indian Department Jacob Klock's House Mohawk Valley, New York 1778 "I am with my best respects to you and all my old friends, if they will accept of them, which I imagine they will if they consider me as an honest man who did his duty when ordered, however disagreeable to himself." Lieutenant Colonel John Butler Niagara 24 February 1788 "Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy" F. Scott Fitzgerald The Notebook Editorial Notes Academics will find many faults with this compilation of material as it does not conform to their strict conventions of form. When I began collecting, it was never my intention to produce an academic study of John Butler or his Rangers. Rather, my interest was piqued because the Rangers are the military ancestors of The Lincoln and Welland Regiment, a Canadian Army regiment with headquarters in St Catharines, Ontario, less than 20 miles from old Butlersbury, now Niagara-on-the Lake. I joined as a private soldier, eventually received the Queen's Commission while serving in it, and commanded 1979-1983. On the walls of the Officers' Mess are numerous memorabilia of Butler and his Rangers -- Commission scrolls signed by Butler, cameos of Ralph Clench, badges and buttons, artists' renditions. Over the last 217 years, the nominal rolls of the regiment have contained hundreds, if not thousands of names of descendants of soldiers of the Rangers. Interestingly, however, very little documentary history. In setting out the information I acquired, I created my own conventions: The date and place of origin of the documents appear in the originals in a wide variety of forms, and I wanted to be able to sort them with the assistance of a computer. I have, therefore, standardized that information at the head of the document; To make the documents easier to read, I have standardized spelling to conform to modern usage, and in the case of personal names, I have adopted, where possible, the spelling used by the individual, or the accepted modern form; thus, John McDonell, rather than Macdonald, McDonald, Macdonald, Macdonel, McDonnell &c; and Servos, rather than Service, Serviss, &c; Butler, rather than Buttler, Butlar, &c; Oneida, rather than Oneyda, Onyda, &c. One must be cognizant that many of these men and women themselves spelled their names differently on various documents; Punctuation and paragraphing are adjusted or added where necessary to enhance readability and comprehension; Documents written by or to the Butlers (the two Walters, Thomas and John) are quoted in full; others may only be selectively quoted, depending on the relevance of the material; A document headed "Extract" or "Extracts" contains only those parts of the original which pertain to Butler or his Rangers. I have avoided the old convention of using lines of asterisks or periods to indicate missing sentences or paragraphs; Ranks conform to modern-day usage, rather than the myriad used in the originals; Round brackets ( ) exist in the original document; square brackets [ ] are mine; Salutations and closings have been omitted; The full citation of the source of the document is given for each document. This eliminates having to search back to the first citation, and was particularly important when moving documents from one position to another; and The original Haldimand Papers and the "Q" Series have had their pages re-numbered on more than one occasion, and sometimes it is difficult to be certain which page number to quote. Since the documents in both collections are, more or less, arranged chronologically, the document can be found fairly easily by date, so I have omitted giving page numbers. A frustrating aspect of the Haldimand Papers, and, indeed, other manuscript groups, is the manner in which attachments to letters were filed. Often they were separated from the original covering letter and filed elsewhere, making it difficult, if not unreasonable, to always locate and match the attachment with the covering letter. The original Haldimand Papers were deposited in the British Museum, now the British Library. I have used the microfilm copies of the British Library collection of the Haldimand Papers, with the National Archives reel number (A-followed by a reel number). There is a second collection of Haldimand Papers in the National Archives; these are the transcripts of the original papers made in the late 1800s, which are sometimes referred to as the "B" Series. They are now on microfilm, and have an "H" prefix. There are three "Walter Butlers" in my "Butler Papers." "Old Walter" was John Butler's father. "Old Walter's" second son was also named Walter, and he was killed at the Battle of Lake George in 1755. "Young Butler" was John Butler's son. The documents in the Sir William Johnson Papers, when referring to "Lieutenant Butler," or "Captain Butler" have to be read carefully, as the individual could be either "Old Walter," or any one of his three sons, Thomas, Walter, and John. There is only one mention of John Butler's son, Walter, in the papers. Americans often refer to John Butler's son as "Walter N. Butler," however Walter Butler never signed his name with an middle initial, and there is no record of his ever having a second Christian name. Before the Revolution, there were two army organizations in the colonies: the regular army, and the colonial militias. "Old" Walter Butler was commissioned from the rank of Sergeant in the regular army and held the rank of Lieutenant in the regular army. After Queen Anne's War (1711), he was placed on half-pay, and appears to have held rank in the Connecticut militia. He then transferred back into the regular army and was appointed to an Independent Company. The date of rank seniority in the British Army Lists does not reflect his first period of service, but, with some exceptions which are obviously errors, lists his appointment in 1728. During the Revolution, there were three army organizations in Canada: the regular army, the provincial corps, and the militia. Provincial Corps were raised in the colonies for service during the war and were regarded as almost regulars; they were disbanded after the war. Officers of the provincial corps were entitled to half-pay on disbandment, a form of pension, in the same manner as officers of the regular army. The militia, located in the old colony of Quebec and at Detroit, were called out for specific periods during the war, mainly when Montreal and Quebec were threatened, although the Detroit militia often served on expeditions alongside the regulars and provincials. The Indian Department had two officer ranks: Lieutenant and Captain, although at one point it appears that consideration was made during the war to promote Joseph Brant to Lieutenant Colonel. That proposal was strongly resisted by Haldimand who argued that Brant was not a principal chief, and the promotion would cause jealousies amongst the Six Nations. Thomas, Walter and John Butler all held the rank of Lieutenant and Captain under Sir William Johnson. When John Butler was promoted Lieutenant Colonel in the New York Militia, he dropped his rank in the Indian Department, and was referred to as a Deputy, or Deputy Superintendent. After the Revolution, Sir John Johnson was appointed Superintendent with the rank of Brigadier General. After being appointed a Major in the provincial service in 1777, John Butler was often incorrectly referred to as "Colonel." In addition, the Americans often confused John Butler and his son, and often referred to Walter as "Major." This compilation of material should be considered a "finding aid," and not a definitive authority. For those who are interested in the exact wording of a document, and certainly if it is to be quoted, the original should always be examined. EXTRACT FROM THE BRITISH TREASURY BOARD PAPERS London 1710/11 List of the Regiments Ordered Upon Foreign Service From England Lieut Gen Seymour's Upon Mr How's Establishment Colonel Kirk's Colonel Disney's Upon Mr Brydges's Establishment From Flanders Brigadier Hill's Colonel Clayton's Colonel Kane's Colonel Windress's Colonel Grant's _____________________ National Archives of Canada. Great Britain, Treasury Board Papers, T1, Vol 132, No 43, folio 143 * Comment: These are regiments of the regular British Army which were sent to North America to take part in an attempt to capture Canada through a two-pronged attack; one by sea, the other overland. From the records, it is very difficult to determine the exact composition of the forces for the invasion of Canada in 1711. Almost all of these Regiments were part of the Walker Expedition, the sea-borne attempt at Quebec; the land attempt by way of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River was known as the Nicholson Expedition, which was manned chiefly by colonials. Grant's Regiment was broken up and its soldiers distributed amongst the others before they left Britain (T1, Vol 157, No. 32). In Flanders, Kane's Regiment was known as McCartney's and it later was disbanded in 1713; Clayton's Regiment was known as Honywood's, and also was disbanded in 1713; Windress's was known as Meredith's and later became the 37th Foot, the Hampshire Regiment.