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Butler
was born in 1728, the son of a British army officer. His father’s
service in the
Mohawk
Valley
of northern
New York
brought the young
Butler
into contact with the Six Nations Confederacy and with
Sir William Johnson, Superintendent General of Indian Affairs.
During the Seven Years’ War Butler served as a lieutenant with
the Indian Department, acted as an interpreter, and as a
captain was at the siege of Ticonderoga and the capture of
Fort
Frontenac
(
Kingston
) in 1758. When the American Revolutionary War began,
Butler
was a lieutenant colonel of the
New York
militia. He became a deputy superintendent of Indian affairs,
and organized a corps of loyalists, dubbed
Butler
’s Rangers, to act together with Indian allies along the
frontier. From his base at
Fort
Niagara
,
Butler
directed a series of highly successful raids by these forces from
northern
New York
as far south as
Kentucky
. After the war,
Butler
and his family settled in the
Niagara
Peninsula
, where he served as colonel of the 1st Lincoln
Militia and deputy superintendent of Indian affairs. He died at
Niagara on the
Lake
May 13 1796.
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