at Fort Littleton, where he was long known and esteemed for his hospitality, urbanity, and gentlemanly deportment. He removed, some years ago, to Bedford, before and after which removal he discharged with credit the duties of several civil offices.

General Burd died at Bedford, Pennsylvania, on the fifth day of October, 1823, in the seventieth year of his age. Besides the many private virtues which endeared him to a very large circle of acquaintances, his public character, the evidences of his patriotism, but especially his revolutionary services, rendered him highly respectable.

BUTLER, RICHARD, a brave officer during the war of the American revolution, sustained the office of colonel at the close of the struggle with Great Britain. He was a lieutenant colonel of Morgan's rifle corps, and distinguished himself in a remarkable manner on many occasions. He was a bold and intrepid soldier, and possessed, in a high degree, the confidence of the commander in chief.

Lee, in his memoirs of the war in the southern department, gives an account of an affair between the British and American troops, while a detachment of the American army under general La Fayette, lay near Williamsburg, Virginia, the head quarters of Lord Cornwallis, in 1781.

"While in his camp before Williamsburg, the British general learnt that we had some boats and stores on the Chickahominy river. Hither he detached licutenant colonel Simcoe with his corps and the yagers to destroy them. This service was promptly performed; but the American general, having discovered from his exploring parties, the march of Simcoe, detached on the 26th, lieutenant colonel Butler, of the Pennsylvania line, the renowned second and rival of Morgan at Saratoga. The rifle corps under the majors Call and Willis, and the cavalry, which did not in the whole exceed one hundred and twenty effectives, composed Butler's van. Major M'Pherson, of Pennsylvania, led this corps; and having mounted some infantry behind the remnant of Armand's dragoons, overtook Simcoe on his return near Spencer's plantation, six or seven miles above Williamsburg. The suddenness of M'Pherson's attack threw the yagers into confusion; but the Queen's rangers quickly deployed, and advanced to the support of the yagers.

"Call and Willis had now got up to M'Pherson with their riflemen, and the action became fierce. Lieutenant Lollar at the head of a squadron of Simcoe's hussars, fell on Armand's remnant, and drove it out of line, making lieutenant Breso and some privates prisoners. Following his blow, Lollar turned upon our riflemen, then pressing upon the

Queen's rangers, and at the same moment captain Ogilvie, of the legion cavalry, who had been sent that morning from camp with one troop for the collection of forage, accidentally appeared on our left flank. The rifle corps fell back in confusion upon Butler, drawn up in the rear with his continentals. Satisfied with the repulse of the assailing troops, lieutenant colonel Simcoe began to retire; nor was he further pressed by Butler, as Cornwallis had moved with the main body on hearing the first fire, to shield Simcoe. La Fayette claimed the advantage in this rencontre, and states his enemy's loss to be sixty killed, and one hundred wounded; whereas lord Cornwallis acknowledges the loss of only three officers and thirty privates, killed and wounded. Among the former was lieutenant Jones, a much admired young officer.

"What was our loss in killed and wounded does not appear in the report of La Fayette; but three officers and twentyeight privates were taken."

When General St. Clair was appointed to the command of the army against the western Indians, colonel Butler was selected as second in command. In the battle of November 4, 1791, which terminated in the defeat of St. Clair, he commanded the right wing of the army, with the rank of general. "It was on this occasion, that the intrepid Butler closed his military career in death; his coolness preserved, and courage remaining unshaken, till the last moment of existence. While enabled to keep the field, his exertions were truly heroic. He repeatedly led his men to the charge, and with slaughter drove the enemy before him; but being at length compelled to retire to his tent, from the number and severity of his wounds. he was receiving surgical aid, when a ferocious warrior rushing into his presence, gave him a mortal blow with his tomahawk. But even then the gallant soldier died not unrevenged. He had anticipated this catastrophe, and discharging a pistol which he held in his hand, lodged its contents into the breast of his enemy, who uttering a hideous yell, fell by his side and expired!"

BUTLER, THOMAS, a brave officer during the revolutionary war with Great Britain, was a brother of the preceding. Three other brothers fought in the service of their country. In the year 1776, he was a student at law with the eminent judge Wilson of Philadelphia; but early in that year he quitted his studies, and joined the army as a subaltern. He soon obtained the command of a company, in which grade he continued till the close of the revolutionary contest. He was in almost every action that was fought in the middle states during the war. At the battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777, he received the thanks of general Washington on the

field of battle, through his aid de camp, general Hamilton, for his intrepid conduct in rallying a detachment of retreating troops, and giving the enemy a severe fire. At the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, he received the thanks of general Wayne for defending a defile in the face of a heavy fire from the enemy, while colonel Richard Butler's regiment made good their retreat.

At the close of the war he retired into private life as a farmer, and continued in the enjoyment of rural and domestic happiness, till the year 1791, when he again took the field to meet a savage foe, that menaced our western frontier. He commanded a battalion in the disastrous battle of November 4, in which his brother fell. Orders were given by general St. Clair to charge with the bayonet, and major Butler, though his leg had been broken by a ball, yet on horseback led his battalion to the charge. It was with difficulty that his surviving brother, captain Edward Butler, removed him from the field. In 1792, he was continued on the establishment as a major, and in 1794, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel commandant of the fourth sub-legion. He commanded, in this year, Fort Fayette at Pittsburg, and prevented the deluded insurgents from taking it more by his name, than by his forces, for he had but few troops. In 1797, he was named by president Washington as the officer best calculated to command in the state of Tennessee, when it was necessary to dispossess some citizens, who had imprudently settled on the Indian lands. Accordingly, in May he marched with his regiment from the Miami on the Ohio, and by that prudence and good sense, which marked his character through life, he in a short time removed all difficulties. While in Tennessee, he made several treaties with the Indians. In 1802, at the reduction of the army, he was continued as colonel of a regiment on the peace establishment.

The close of his life was embittered by trouble. In 1803, he was arrested by the commanding general at Fort Adams, on the Mississippi, and sent to Maryland, where he was tried by a court martial, and acquitted of all the charges, except that of wearing his hair. He was then ordered to New Orleans, where he arrived to take the command of the troops, October 20. He was again arrested the next month, but the court did not meet till July of next year, and their decision is not known. Colonel Butler died September 7, 1805, aged fifty-one years.

BUTLER, ZEBULON, was born at Lyme, in the state of Connecticut, in the year 1731. He entered early in life into the service of his country in the provincial troops of his native state. In this service he remained, actively employed,

for several years, and rose from the rank of an ensign to the command of a company. He partook largely in the transactions of the war between the English and French, on the frontiers of Canada, particularly in the campaign of 1758, at fort Edward, Lake George, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point. In 1761, he was again at Crown Point, and at that time held the rank of captain. The history of these transactions is well known, and need not here be repeated. In June, 1762, captain Butler sailed with his company, and the other provincial troops, to reinforce the British, then besieging the Havanna; and on the 20th of July, the vessel in which he sailed was shipwrecked on a reef of rocks on the island of Cuba. They were fortunate enough to escape to the shore, where they remained nine days, and were then taken on board a man of war. Five other ships were discovered also shipwrecked on the same side of the island, and after waiting until these were relieved, they again steered for Havanna. They arrived, and anchor ed with the rest of the fleet on the 9th of August, and the next day landed and encamped. The sufferings and the success of the British at the siege of Havanna, are matters of history. Captain Butler shared in the dangers of the remainder of the siege, as well as in the honours and profits of the surrender, which took place shortly after the arrival of the reinforcements.

On the 21st of October, 1762, captain Butler sailed out of the harbour of Havanna on his return, on board the Royal Duke transport. On the 7th of November, in latitude 35, the ship sprung a leak, and it was by the greatest exertions for three days, that she could be kept afloat, until the men were transferred to other ships. When this was accomplished, they left the Royal Duke to sink. He arrived at New York on the 21st day of December.

When the aggressions of the British ministry compelled their American colonies to take up arms in defence of their rights, captain Butler was among the first to tender his services to his country. His offer was accepted, and he was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the Connecticut line. In this capacity, he was with the army in the campaign of 1777, in New Jersey, and served until March, 1779, when he was appointed colonel of the second Connecticut regiment, to rank as such from the 13th of March, 1778. Some time previous to this, colonel Butler had become interested in lands purchased of the Indians by the Susquehanna company, lying in the valley of Wyoming, and adjacent on the Susquehanna river. He had visited the valley, and was so much pleased with it, that he determined to remove into it. This flourishing settlement had been established by the people of Connecticut, and was claimed by

them by virtue of their charter and their purchase from the Indians. It consisted of several large townships, beautifully situated on both sides of the river; and that part of it which is included in the valley of Wyoming was, and still is, one of the most delightful spots in our country. Its situation, soil, and scenery, cannot be surpassed. It had long been the favorite abode of the savages, and they viewed, with peculiar animosity, its occupancy by strangers. The war in which the colonists were engaged with the mother country, and the encouragement and protection held out by the British to the Indians, afforded the latter a good opportunity for gratifying their wicked designs, in the destruction of this remote settlement. This they, in conjunction with the British and tories, effectually accomplished in July, 1778.

This settlement, at an early period of our revolutionary struggle, had been drained of its effective force, by furnishing two companies, of ninety men cach, to the continental army. Soon after the departure of these troops, the Indians began to assume a hostile attitude, and their conduct, together with other suspicious circumstances, led the inhabitants to suspect that some mischief was meditating against them, though they did not apprehend an immediate attack. For their better security, several stockade forts were built in the different townships, and a company of rangers was raised, under the command of captain Hewitt. This company was destined to remain in the valley for its defence, and to ascertain by its scouts the movements of the Indians, some of whom were located at their Indian towns, about fifty miles up the Susquehanna. In the spring of 1778, the settlers fearing an attack, sent an express to the board of war, to represent the danger in which the settlement at Wyoming was of being destroyed by the Indians and tories, and to request that the men who had gone from the valley, and joined the continental army, might be ordered to return, and assist in the defence of their homes. Their request was granted, and a company commanded by captain Spalding, composed of what remained of the two companies before mentioned as having been enlisted at Wyoming, set out for the valley, and were within two days march of it, on the day of the fatal battle. About the first of June, the same year, a scouting party from captain Hewitt's company discovered a number of canoes with Indians, on the river at some distance above the settlement, and a few days after, a party of Indians attacked, and killed or made prisoners, of nine or ten men, while at work on the bank of the river, about ten miles above the fort. Many circumstances indicated the approach of a large body of the enemy. Such was the situation of the settlement when colonel Butler arrived. This