Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/515

Rh republican legislature, contested the election; but Gen. Butler was admitted to the seat on 2 Dec, 1877. In 1882 he was re-elected for the term expiring 3 March, 1889.

BUTLER, William, missionary, b. in Dublin, Ireland, 31 Jan., 1818 ; d. in Old Orchard, Me., 18 Aug., 1899. He studied for the Wesleyan ministry, completing his course in 1844, and in the same year joined the Irish conference. He preached six years in Ireland, removed to the United States, remained six years in the New England conference, and in 1856 was sent to India to select and organ- ize a field for a Methodist mission. He estab- lished the Methodist missions in the valley of the Ganges, and labored there for nearly ten years. In 1864 he returned to the United States, preached for a time in New England, and then became a secretary of the American and foreign Christian union. In 1872 he was commissioned to found a mission for his church in Mexico. He reached that country 23 Feb., 1873, and labored there until obliged by failing health to return in February, 1879. Afterward he resumed the pastoral office in the New England conference. He is the author of a " Missionary Compendium " (New York, 1850) ; " The Land of the Veda " (1872) : " Mexico from the Conquest to 1880 " (1881) ; and " From Boston to Bareilv and Back " (1885).

BUTLER, Zebulon, soldier, b. in Lyme, Conn., in 1731 ; d. in Wilkesbarre, Pa., 28 July, 1795. He served in the French war and in the expedition to Havana, and rose to be a captain in 1761. In 1769 he settled at Wyoming. Pa. In the early part of the revolutionary war he was a lieutenant-colonel in the Connecticut line, servmg in New Jersey in 1777-8, and became colonel on 13 March, 1778. On 3 July, 1778, he commanded the weak garrison at Wyoming at the time of the massacre, which he wasiinableto prevent. He accompanied Sullivan in his Indian expedition in 1779, and served with distinction throughout the war. See Miner's " His- tory of Wyoming " (Philadelphia, 1845).

BUTTERFIELD, Consul Willshire, author, b. in Mexico, N. Y., 28 July, 1824 ; d. in South Omaha, Neb., 25 Sept., 1899. He was educated in Albany, became a teacher, and in 1848-'9 superintendent of schools in Seneca co., Ohio, and removed in 1875 to Wisconsin. He has published " History of Seneca County, Ohio" (Sandusky, 1848); "An Historical Accoimt of the Expedition against Sandusky in 1782 " (Cincinnati, 1873); "The History and Biographical Annals of the University of Wisconsin" (Madison, 1879) ; and •' History of the Discovery of the Northwest by John Nicolet " (Cincinnati, 1881). He has edited the " Washington-Crawford Letters " (Cincinnati, 1877) ; the " Washington-Irvine Corre- spondence " (Madison, 1882) ; " A Short Biography of John Leith " (Cincinnati, 1883) ; and " Journal of Capt. Jonathau Heart" (Albanv, 1885).

BUTTERFIELD, John, expressman, b. in Helderberg, N. Y., in 1783; d. in Utica, 15 Nov., 1869. He was self-educated, and was a stage-coach driver in early life. In 1822 he removed to LTtica to assist in the management of the stage-line between Albany and Buffalo, and soon became the leading manager of that business in the state, owner of neai-ly all the stage-coach lines in western New Y^jrk, and part-owner of a line of steamers on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence river. In 1849 he formed the express company of Butterfield, Wesson & Co. On the establishment of railroads, he di- rected his energies to the new project, and was also the originator of the American express company, in which organization he -was a directing power until his death. The corporation was formed in 1850 by the consolidation of the rival firms of Butterfield, Wesson & Co., Wells & Co., and Livingston 6 Fargo, which was accomplished at the suggestion of Mr. Butterfield. Perceiving the commercial importance of the electric telegraph, he projected and built the Morse telegraph line between New York and Bulfalo. He was president of the Overland mail company, which, in 1858, contracted with the government to carry a monthly, and subsequently a daily, mail between San Francisco and the Missouri river. He also aided largely in building up the city of Utica. — His son, Daniel, soldier, b. in Utica, i^. Y., 31 Oct., 1881, was graduated at Union in 1849, and became a merchant in New York city. He was colonel of the 12th New York militia when the civil war began. Accompanying his regi- ment to Washington in July, 1861, he led the ad- vance into Virginia over the Long Bridge, joined Gen. Patterson on the i;pper Potomac, and com- manded a brigade. On the enlargement of the regular army, he was commissionecl a lieutenant- colonel, and "assigned to the 12th infantry, 14 May, 1861, appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, 7 Sept., 1861, and ordered to the corps of Fitz- John Porter, in which he made the campaign of the peninsula, taking a conspicuous part in the actions at Hanover Court-House, Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mills, where he was wounded, and in the battles fought during the retreat of McClellan's army to Harrison's Landing, where he comjnanded a detachment on the south side of the James river to cover the retreat. He took part in the great battles under Pope and McClellan in August and September, 1862, and near the close of October took command of Morell's division. He became major- general of volunteers on 29 Nov., 1862, was made colonel of the 5th infantry in the regular army on 1 July, 1863, and commanded the 5th corps at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., was chief of staff. Army of the Potomac, at Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg, where he was wounded, was ordered to re-enforce Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland, in October, 1863, acting as chief of staff to Hooker at Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, Ringgold, and Pea Vine Creek, Ga. He commanded a di- vision of the 20th corps at the battles of Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kene- saw, and Lost Mountain, Ga., and was bi'evetted brigadier- and major-general, U. S. A., for gallant and meritoi'ious conduct. He is the author of " Camp and Outpost Duty " (New Y^ork, 1862). He served after the war as superintendent of the gen- eral recruiting service of the U. S. army, with head- quarters in New York, and in command of forces in New York harbor from 1865 till 1869, when he resigned from the army and was appointed head of the Sub-treasury of the United States in New Y^ork. Since leaving this position he has been connected with the American express company. On 21 Sept., 1886, he married, in London, England, Mrs. Julia L. James, of New Y^ork city.

BUTTERWORTH, Benjamin, b. in Warren county, Ohio, 22 Oct., 1822 ; d. in Thomasville, Ga., 16 Jan., 1898. His father was originally a Virginia planter, who had freed his slaves, and, removing to Ohio, became active with Levi Coffin in the "under- ground railroad." The son was educated at Ohio university in Athens, studied law in Cincinnati, was admitted to the bar in 1861, and practised in that city. He was U. S. district attorney in 1870, a member of the state senate in 1873 and 1874, and was elected to congress in 1878, and re-elected for the following terra. He was the author of the compulsory army retirement act. In 1883 President Arthur appointed him a commissioner to examine