Butler, Zebulon

BUTLER, ZEBULON. (1731–1795). Continental officer. Connecticut. Grandson of Lieutenant William Butler of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and son of John and Hannah Perkins Butler, he was born at Ipswich but moved with his parents to their new home in Lyme, Connecticut, in 1736. After owning one or more sloops engaged in the West Indian trade, he saw service in the French and Indian War, rising from ensign in 1757 to captain in 1760. He survived a shipwreck to arrive in time to participate in the siege of Havana in 1762. In 1769 he led the Connecticut settlers to the Wyoming Valley and continued as their leader in the Pennamite Wars. In July 1771 he forced the surrender of Pennsylvania troops in Fort Wyoming, and in December 1775 he drove back the Pennsylvania troops under Colonel William Plunkett sent by Governor John Penn to establish a military government in the valley. Meanwhile he had served as director of the Susquehanna Company, represented Westmoreland in the Connecticut assembly (1774–1776), and served (with Nathan Denison) as a justice of the peace.

When the war started he was commissioned colonel of militia and Denison became lieutenant colonel. On 1 January 1777 Butler became lieutenant colonel of the Third Connecticut Continental Regiment, and on 13 March 1778 he was promoted to colonel of the Second Connecticut. Home on leave, he participated in the defense of the valley, but his part in what became known as the Wyoming Valley Massacre was not particularly creditable. He returned as commander in the valley and remained there during Sullivan's expedition against the Iroquois in 1779. At the request of the Continental Congress, on 29 December 1780 Washington recalled Butler from Wyoming to reduce the friction there between the Connecticut and Pennsylvania elements. On 1 January 1781 he was transferred to the Fourth Connecticut. Assigned to West Point, he became colonel of the First Connecticut on 1 January 1783 and resigned on 3 June 1783. He died at Wilkes-Barre and was survived by his third wife.

SEE ALSO Penn, John; Wyoming Valley Massacre, Pennsylvania.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Krumbhaar, Anna C. "Colonel Zebulon Butler and the Wyoming Valley." Connecticut Magazine 6 (1900): 141-157.

Williamson, J. R., and Linda A. Foster. Zebulon Butler: Hero of the Revolutionary Frontier. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1995.

                              revised by Harry M. Ward