A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 62

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press]
Number of Pages: 683

USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II > Part 62

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lished by the French and later won from them by the British, was main- tained by the latter to protect Canada. From its central location it was easily accessible to the various Indian tribes, not only of New York, but scattered along the Ohio River and the shores of Lakes Superior, Huron and Erie; and it was frequently visited by delegations from the numer- ous tribes then at peace with the British. The territory at and about Niagara was claimed at that period, and as late, at least, as 1783, by both Massachusetts and New York. As early, certainly, as September, 1774, John Caldwell, Lieutenant Colonel of the 8th, or King's Foot, Regiment, became commandant at Fort Niagara. He and his regiment were still there in November, 1775, when Governor Carleton determined to send thither from Quebec Col. John Butler*, who had accompanied

the Province of Upper Canada, but orders have been given to remove it to Toronto. Niagara contains about seventy houses, a Court House, gaol, and a building for the meeting of the Legislature-nearly ail built within the past five years.

"The American newspapers, until the late treaty of amity was ratified, teemed with gross abuse of the British Government for retaining possession of Fort Niagara and the other military posts on the lakes, after the independence of the States had been acknowledged and peace concluded. Had the British withdrawn, the works would have been in all probability destroyed by the Indians, within whose territory they were situated, long before the people of the States could have taken possession of them; for no part of their army was within hundreds of miles of the posts. The retention of them, therefore, to the present day was, in fact, a circumstance highly beneficial to the interests of the States. ** There were particular parts of the definitive treaty [of peace] which some of the States did not seem very ready to comply with, and the posts were detained as a security for its due ratifica- tion on the part of the States. In the late treaty of amity and commerce, these differences were finally accommodated to the satisfaction of Great Britain, and the posts were consequently delivered up.

"The Fort of Niagara stands immediately at the mouth of the river, on a point of land, one side of which is washed by the river and the other by the lake. Towards the water it is stockaded, and behind the stockade, on the river side, a large mound of earth rises up, at the top of which are embrasures for guns. On the land side it is secured by several batteries and redoubts, and by parallel lines of fascines. At the gates, and in various different parts, there are strong block-houses; and facing the lake, within the stockade, stands a large fortified stone house. The fort and outworks

occupy about five acres of ground, and a garrison of 500 men, and at least from thirty to forty pieces of ordnance, would be necessary to defend it properly. This fort was begun by the building of the stone house, after a solemn promise had been obtained from the Indians that the artificers should not be interrupted whilst they were going on with the work. But the Indians were greatly astonished when a building, so totally different from any that they had ever seen before, and from any that they had any idea of, was completed. Fortifications to strengthen the house were gradually erected, and by the year 1759 the place was so strong as to resist for some time the forces under Sir William Johnson. . Great additions were made to the works after the fort fell into the hands of the British in 1759." In the War of 1812 Fort Niagara was captured by the British, and was restored to the Amer- icans at the close of the conflict.

. JOHN BUTLER was born in New London, Connecticut, in 1728, and was baptized there on April 28th of that year. Miss Caulkins, in her "History of New London," says: "Thomas and John Butler are not presented to our notice as inhabitants of New London until after 1680. Probably they were brothers. No account of the marriage or family of either is on record. Thomas Butler (born in 1649) died December 20, 1701. John Butler died March 26, 1733, aged eighty years. Katharine, wife of John Butler, died January 24, 1729, aged sixty-seven years. She was a daughter of Richard Haughton. Thomas Butler's family cannot be given with certainty, but nothing appears to forbid the supposition that Lieut. Walter Butler [born in 1670, presumably in Ireland], a prominent inhabitant [of New Lon- don ] about 1712, and afterwards, was his son." Major Cruikshank, previously referred to, states that the abovementioned Lieut. Walter Butler, a young Irish subaltern, claiming descent from the illus- trious family of Ormonde, came to America about the year 1709 with his regiment, "from which he exchanged into one of the independent companies formed for service in the Colonies, and afterwards incorporated as the Royal Americans, or 60th" (mentioned in the note on page 346, Vol. I).

The latter part of the foregoing statement is more than improbable, for, according to Miss Caul- kins, Walter Butler was married at New London in 1718 to Mary, only child of Thomas Harris, and granddaughter of Capt. Daniel Wetherell of New London, and during the next twelve years the fol- lowing-named children were born to them at New London: (i) Mary, born August 29, 1714; (ii) Thomas, born January 31, 1716; (iii) Walter, born May 27, 1718; (iv) Jane, born July 10, 1720; (v) Katharine, born August 26, 1722; (vi) Lydia, born January 10, 1725. In 1725 or '26 Mrs. Mary ( Harris) Butler died, and in 1727 Walter Butler was married (2d) to Deborah, widow of Ebenezer Dennis, and to them a son was born, who was baptized John, April 28, 1728, as previously mentioned. In subsequent years other children were born to Walter and Deborah Butler, one of whom was a daughter named Anne. Miss Caulkins further states: "The name of Walter Butler is associated with the annals of Tryon County, New York, as well as with New London. He received a military appoint. ment in the Mohawk country in 1728, and fourteen years later removed his family thither. Mr. Hemp- stead [of New London] made an entry in his diary [as follows]: 'November 16, 1748, Mrs. Butler, wife of Capt. [sic] Walter Butler, and her children and family is gone away by water to New York, in order to go to him in the northern countries above Albany, where he hath been several years Captain of the forts.' ""

W. Max Reid, in his "The Mohawk Valley" (page 211), says: "Perhaps there is no name in American history that is more abhorred throughout the length and breadth of the Mohawk Valley than the name of Butler, through the evil deeds of Col. John Butler and Lieut. Walter N. Butler, father and son. Colonel John for his connection with the massacre of Wyoming, and Lieutenant Walter as the leader of the Cherry Valley massacre. And still, their evil deeds were apparently confined to about four years of their life. In history, nothing is spoken of but the evil they have done, and their early lives are wrapped in comparative obscurity. We do not know when they were born, and the histories of the Revolution do not mention their ancestors. Among the Colonial documents we find the name of Walter Butler [of New London, Connecticut], who was appointed Lieutenant August 16, 1726, by Governor Burnett of New York. He [Walter] was probably connected with the family of the Irish Dukes of Ormonde and Arran, who were patrons of the Burnett family. May 16, 1728, Lieut. Walter Butler was assigned to Capt. Holland's company at Albany."

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In 1733 the Crown granted to Walter Butler and forty-two others a tract of land near Schoharic Creek, running south to Schoharie, and then following the line of Schenectady County to the Mohawk River. Governor Crosby of New York, by letters patent dated December 31, 1735, granted a certain 4,000-acre tract of Crown lands on the Mohawk (in what are now the towns, or townships, of Johns- town and Mohawk) in fee to Walter Butler and three other persons. Butler's share amounted to 1,714ª/- acres, but in time he became possessed of the whole tract. Upon this tract, in 1748, Walter Butler erected a frame house, and there he and his family resided until his death. This house was located on what is now known as Switzer Hill, within one mile of the Mohawk River (near the present town of Fonda, Montgomery County), and twenty-four miles distant from Schenectady. The planta- tien, or manor, became known as "Butlersbury." In 1747 Sir William Johnson sent Lieut. Walter Butler on a mission to Crown Point; and a little later the latter (having been promoted Captain) was sent to Oswego, with his son John as interpreter. Capt. Walter Butler made himself useful in many ways to Sir William Johnson, who in return exerted himself for the advancement of Butler's family. Captain Butler died in 1760, aged ninety years, and in his will (executed March 13, 1760) he devised certain property to his daughters Mary and Anne, and to the daughters of his deceased son Walter; and to his son John he devised "all the residue of his estate." His only other son, Thomas, had died in the Autumn of 1759.

John Butler resided in New London and was educated there until the fourteenth year of his life. In allusion to this circumstance Col. Daniel Claus (previously mentioned), by whom he was heartily disliked, accused him of flattery and cunning-"having been born and bred in New England." John Butler was married about 1750 to a daughter of John Watts, Sr., of New York. The Rev. Gideon Haw- ley (see note on page 257, Vol. I), in the account of his journey to Broome County, New York, in 1753, states that Lieut. John Butler was in charge of a sergeant and a few privates at Fort Hunter, where he resided with his family. When, in 1755, Sir William Johnson was appointed General Superintend- ent of Indian Affairs (as narrated on page 297, Vol. I), he nominated John Butler and his half-brother, Walter Butler, Jr., as Captains in the Indian Department. They took part in the disastrous battle of Lake George, fought September 8, 1755 (see note, page 264, Vol. I), and Capt. John Butler distin- guished himself greatly and escaped unhurt, but Capt. Walter Butler, Jr., was killed. The latter was undoubtedly a son-in-law of Jan Wemp, of Fort Hunter, New York, who died in 1749, as in his will he bequeathed a portion of his estate to his "daughter Maria Butler, wife of Lieut. Walter Butler, Jr."

According to Cruikshank Capt. John Butler served in the Indian Department under Abercrombie at Ticonderoga (see page 577, Vol. I) in the Summer of 1758, and with Bradstreet at the capture of Fort Frontenac. In 1750, still holding the rank of Captain, he took part in the expedition against Fort Niagara (described on page 298, Vol. I), as second in command of the Indians, and succeeded Sir Wil- liam Johnson in the entire charge of them after General Prideaux's death. His services at that time were officially reported as having been "conspicuous and meritorious." Brant also took part in the campaign against Fort Niagara. After the surrender of this fort Butler was appointed a member of the Court established there for the trial of civil causes. In 1760 he went with General Amherst to Mon- treal, as second in command of the Indians. During Pontiac's War (see page 416, Vol. I) Captain But- ler was actively and successfully employed in the difficult task of restraining the Six Nations from joining the hostile Indians.

Between 1756 and 1765 Captain Butler was frequently in attendance at conferences between the Indians and Sir William Johnson, first at Mount Johnson, and later at Johnson Hall, and at many of the important councils he acted as interpreter. In 1762 he built a new dwelling-house on his manor of Butlersbury, which he and his family occupied until they were compelled by the Whigs to remove elsewhere. At that time he had fourteen houses on his estate which were occupied by tenants. In July, 1766, the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, David McClure, and others, were on their way from Lebanon, Con- necticut, to Oneida, and they tarried several days at the home of Colonel Butler. (He was then a Deputy Superintendent, with the title, or rank, of Colonel, in the Indian Department, under Sir Wil- liam Johnson, and a Lieutenant Colonel of militia, as previously mentioned.) Mr. McClure wrote at the time that Colonel Butler had "a son Walter- a sprightly boy-at Mr. Wheelock's school" in Leb- anon. Continuing, Mr. McClure wrote: "Having received much kindness from Colonel Butler and family we set out for Oneida. We passed through the fine country of the German Flats and the upper settlements of the Castle of the Mohawks, called Caughnawaga."

In 1778 the first Court of General Quarter Ses- sions was held at Johnstown, New York, and the Judges were Guy Johnson, John Butler and Peter Conyne.

When, in the early Summer of 1775, John But- ler, accompanied by his eldest son, Walter N. (then about twenty-four years of age, and a lawyer by profession), withdrew to Canada with Col. Guy Johnson (see page 926), he left behind at Butlers- bury his wife and younger children-sons Thomas and Johnson, a daughter, and another son-and all his personal property. Subsequently this property, as well as all the real estate in New York belong- ing to Colonel Butler, was confiscated by the Amer- ican authorities, and Mrs. Butler and her four chil. dren were conducted to Albany, where they were detained under surveillance. (See page 934.) As mentioned on page 986 both John and Walter N. Butler were at the siege of Fort Schuyler, and they also took part in the battle of Oriskany.

LIEUT. COL. JOHN BUTLER. Photo-reproduction of a portrait in the possession of Sir William Buell Richards, Ottawa, Canada.

After the battle Walter N. Butler (who held a commission as Lieutenant) went secretly to the house of one Shoemaker, near Fort Clayton, where, with other Loyalists in arms, he was captured by the Americans, conveyed within their lines, tried as a spy by order of Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold, convicted, and condemned to death. The sentence was subsequently remitted, and Lieutenant Butler was sent to Albany and placed in prison. He was still there when, in December, 1777, he was commissioned a Captain in the "Rangers" commanded by his father. His commission was in the following form, in part.

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"GUY CARLETON, Knight of the Bath, Captain General and Governor-in-chief of the Province of Quebec and Territories depending thereon; General and Commander-in-chief of His Majesty's forces in said Province and the frontiers thereof-

"To WALTER BUTLER, Esquire, Greeting: Reposing special trust and confidence in your loyalty, courage and good conduct, I do by these presents constitute and appoint you to be Captain in a Corps of Rangers to serve with the Indians during the Rebellion; whereof John Butler, Esq., is Major com- mandant. You are, therefore, carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of Captain, &c. Given under my hand and seal-at-arms at Quebec, December 20. 1777.

"By His Excellency's command- [Signed] "FRANCIS LE MAISTRE." [Signed] "GUY CARLETON."

Feigning sickness in April, 1778, Lieutenant Butler was removed to a private house in Albany. Thence he managed to escape by the help of friends, and to make his way without much delay to that part of western New York in which the principal towns of the Seneca Indians were then located. There he joined his father prior to May 15, 1778, on which date he was sent by the latter to Quebec-as is more fully explained in the ensuing chapter-with important information for Governor Carleton.

Anxious to revenge himself for the imprisonment he had undergone at the hands of the Americans, Walter Butler stirred up some of the Senecas and other Indians to join him in an incursion into Cherry Valley, in what is now Otsego County, New York. Joseph Brant argued against the expedition, but finally was induced to yield. His opposition sprang, no doubt, from his unwillingness to serve under Walter Butler, who was to command the expedition and who was very much disliked by Brant. Early in November, 1778, the invaders set out from Tioga Point for Cherry Valley, and on their way up the Susquehanna received additions until 800 men-of whom 600 were Indians and 150 Tories-were col- lected. On the 11th of November the massacre of Cherry Valley was perpetrated. Thirty of the inhab- itants of the settlement were killed in cold blood, and seventy-one others were made prisoners, while many houses, barns and mills were burned. "The literature of the Border Wars will be searched in vain for a defense of the conduct of Walter Butler at Cherry Valley," declares Halsey in "The Old New York Frontier." When the enemy had departed, Cherry Valley was a scene of desolation, and exhibited everywhere the saddest mementoes of heartless cruelty. The diabolical malice of Butler had no bounds. Female helplessness, infantile innocence, or entire neutrality in the War for Independence, was no defense against the savage Indians and still more savage Tories. Brant, without any hesitation, included Captain Butler among those who were "more savage than the savages themselves."

Reid, in his "The Mohawk Valley," says that after the Cherry Valley massacre Walter Butler went to Quebec, but General Haldimand, the then Governor, "gave out that he did not wish to see him." A few days after the destruction of Cherry Valley, some of the inhabitants of the settlement who had been taken prisoners by Walter Butler were released and permitted to return home on parole. They brought with them, addressed to General Schuyler at Albany, written proposals made by Walter Butler for an exchange of prisoners. Among other things Butler wrote: "I am induced by humanity to permit the prisoners whose names are enclosed to remain bebind, lest the inclemency of the season and their helpless and naked condition should prove fatal. I hope you will allow Mrs. [John] Butler and her family to come to Canada in consideration; but if you insist, I will engage to send you more- over an equal number of prisoners, and allow you to name the persons. I have done everything in my power to restrain the Indians from hurting women and children who fell into their hands."

General Schuyler being absent from Albany, Walter Butler's communication was answered by Brig. Gen. James Clinton, under date of January 1, 1779, in part as follows: "I-am not informed if Mrs. Butler, her family, and such others as will be given in exchange for those whom you have in cap- tivity, and those you have suffered to return, as mentioned in your letter, would choose to move at this inclement season. If they do, they shall be sent. If not, they may remain until Spring, and then may either go to Oswego or Canada at their option. Do not flatter yourself, Sir, that your father's family have been detained on account of any consequence they were supposed to be; or that it is determined they should be exchanged in consideration of the threat contained in your letter.

"I should hope, for the honor of civilized nations and the sake of human nature, that the British officers had exerted themselves in restraining the barbarities of the savages; but it is difficult even for the most disinterested mind to believe it, as numerous instances of barbarities having been perpetrated where savages were not present; or, if they were, the British force was sufficient to have restrained them had there been a real desire so to do. The enormous murders committed at Wyoming and Cherry Valley would clearly have justified a retaliation; and that your mother did not fall a sacrifice to the resentment of the survivors of those families who were so barbarously massacred, is owing to the humane principles which the conduct of their enemies induces a belief that they are utter strangers to." (See the "Public Papers of George Clinton," IV : 457.) At some time subsequently, in 1779, Mrs. Butler and her children were exchanged, and joined Maj. John Butler at Fort Niagara.

In the Autumn of 1781 Governor Haldimand directed that an incursion should be made into the Mchawk Valley-to the neighborhood of Warrensbush, mentioned in the note on page 296. Major Ross was placed in command of the expedition, and Capt. Walter N. Butler with 169 "Rangers" and Captain Tice with 109 Indians (who were later described as "the dregs of the tribes") were ordered from Fort Niagara to Oswego to join the expedition-which set out from the latter place on October 10th. Some days later the invaders were met near Johnstown by the Americans under Colonel Willett, were defeated and forced to retreat. They were closely followed by Willett as far as Fort Herkimer. and when they turned to ascend West Canada Creek they were still pursued by the Americans, who. twelve miles up the stream, at a difficult fording-place, made a vigorous attack. The stream and all surrounding objects were veiled in a dense fog. But for a moment the fog parted, and the Americans saw Walter Butler, who had swum his horse across the stream, insultingly slap bis hip and wave his hand at them in defiance from the opposite bank of the creek. Skenando, an Oneida chief, then seventy years of age, who, with other Indians of that tribe, was with the Americans, fired a well-directed shot. and brought Butler to the ground. Throwing down his rifle and blanket the Indian plunged into the creek, swam across, and, as soon as he had gained the farther shore, raised his tomahawk and, with a yell, sprang like a tiger upon the fallen Ranger. Butler supplicated for mercy, but in vain. for Skenando cried out in broken English, "Sherry Valley! Sherry Valley! Remember Sherry Valley!" and then buried his tomahawk in Butler's brain and a moment later tore the scalp from his head. The place where Walter Butler crossed the creek, and near which he fell (October 29, 1781), is called "But- ler's Ford" to this day.

Major Cruikshank states that Colonel Willett "exulted loudly over Butler's death, and his biogra. pher tells us that the inhabitants generally rejoiced more on learning that than they did at the intelli- gence of the surrender of Cornwallis, which became known to them about the same time." In July, 1859, there was published in Harper's Magasine a long poem entitled, "Death of Walter Butler. A Ballad of Tryon County." The following stanzas have been extracted from it.

"Walter Butler! cruel panther, Lapping tongue in human gore; Even Brant, the bloody Mohawk, Had of truth and pity more.

"Bloody Walter Butler! owning Brain of fire and heart of stone, Twenty deaths, could you endure them, Would not for these deeds atone.

"Back returned the swart Oneidas Ere the setting of the sun- And the scalp of Walter Butler Dangled from the belt of one.

"When was told around the camp-fire How the hatchet clave the brain. Oh! how joyous was the shouting- 'Walter Butler has been slain!'

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Guy Johnson to the latter place and had been named by him to act, during his absence, as his deputy in the management of Indian affairs. John Butler had been for some time Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment of New York militia commanded by Col. Guy Johnson, and for a longer time had held-first under Sir William Johnson and then under Guy

Capt. Walter N. Butler is said to have been married to Caroline, one of the two daughters born to Sir William Johnson by Caroline Peters, mentioned on page 878, Vol. I. Captain Butler figures as a character in the recent works of fiction by Robert W. Chambers entitled "Cardigan" and "The Reckoning."

Maj. John Butler continued to make his headquarters at Fort Niagara during the remaining years of the Revolutionary War, and he figures prominently in several events described in the following pages. Upon the disbandment of the "Rangers" he settled with his family upon a large tract of land near Niagara (the present Niagara-on-the-Lake). Cruikshank says that "Butler's personal influence increased with the flight of time. He was universally regarded as the mainstay of the settlement [at Niagara ], and an acknowledged authority on all matters concerning it. Until the formation of the Province of Upper Canada, he served as Judge of the District Court, and continued to perform the responsible and difficult duties of Deputy Superintendent of the Indians until his death.

By an Act of the British Parliament passed in 1784, Commissioners were immediately sent to Can- ada, Nova Scotia, and elsewhere, to take the testimony of various British subjects (the late Loyalists) relative to their claims for losses sustained during the Revolutionary War by reason of their loyalty to the King. These Commissioners were engaged in their work for several years, and all the original claims and memorials presented to them, and the affidavits and depositions made in support of the same, are now preserved in London.

In 1784 or '85 "Lieut. Col. John Butler, [then] upon the King's service at Niagara, in the Province of Quebec," filed his "Memorial" with the aforementioned Commissioners, and in March, 1786, went to London to prosecute his claim. While he was there Sir Guy Carleton wrote in his behalf to the Com- missioners, and stated that Butler was "very modest and shy." In his "Memorial" and subsequent tes- timony (sce "Stephens' Transcripts-American Loyalists," XLIII : 635) Butler set forth, among other things: "That as early as May, 1775, he was compelled to leave his home at Butlersbury on account of his loyalty. That at that time he owned four negro slaves, twenty-five horses, sixty black cattle, sixty sheep and forty-five hogs. That in the Autumn of 1775 he was sent by General Carleton to Niagara, intrusted with the direction of the Indian nations, which he conducted to the entire satisfaction of His Excellency, who was afterwards pleased to allow your memorialist to raise a Corps of Rangers, first of eight companies, with the rank of Major, and afterwards of ten companies with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel; and with whom he has often fought the enemy, particularly at Wyoming in the year 1778, upon their own terms, when 376 of them fell. That by an Act of the State of New York, passed in October, 1779, your Memorialist's person is attainted and his estate, real and personal, forfeited to the use of that State." In conclusion, Butler threw himself "on the beneficence of the Government," and, having incurred a total loss of his property, claimed £9,611, 3s. 1d.

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A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 62

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press] Number of Pages: 683

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press]
Number of Pages: 683