Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/88

 BUTLER.

BUTLER.

on October 27, which was ineffectual, and on December 14 he was givec coniniand of the land forces to operate against Fort Fisher, N. C. They landed at Fort Fisher, December 25, and, after a vigorous bombardment of the fort by Porter's fleet, the troops were ordered to assault the works. Just as they had gained the outposts, and success seemed assured, they were ordered to fall back and re-embark, and on his return to Fort Monroe Butler was removed from his com- mand by order of General Grant. He resumed the practice of his profession, and became promi- nent in political life. In 1866 he was elected as a representative from Massachusetts to the 40th Congress on the Republican ticket, and was re- elected to five of the six succeeding congresses. In 1868 he took an active part in the impeaclmient trial of President Johnson. In 1871 he "«'as the unsuccessful Republican candidate for guberna- torial honors, and he was in 1879 on the Demo- cratic and Greenback tickets. In 1882 he was elected governor of Massachusetts on the Demo- cratic ticket. The principal act of administration was the charge brought by him against the management of the Tewksbury ahnshouse, which resulted in an investigation of the matter before the legislature. In 1883 he was renominated, but was defeated, and 1884 was nominated for the presidency of the United States by the Anti- monopolist and Greenback parties. Colby uni- versity conferred on him the degree of A.M. in 1853 and LL.D. in 1862; Williams college giving him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1863. He was married to Sarah, daughter of Dr. Israel Hildreth of Lowell, Mass., in 1842, and their daughter married Gen. Adelbert Ames. General Butler died in Washington, D. C, Jan. 11, 1893.

BUTLER, Benjamin Franklin, statesman, was born at Kinderhook Landing, N.Y., Dec. 17, 1795; son of IMedad Butler and a descendant of Jonathan Butler of Ireland, who settled in Say- brook, Conn., in 1724. He studied law in the office of Martin Van Buren; was admitted to the bar in 1817, and practised with Mr. Van Buren at Albany, N.Y., 1817-'21. He became district attor- ney of Albany county in 1821; a member of the state assembly in 1828, and a commissioner to fix the boundarj' between New York and New Jersey in 1838. He was U.S. attorney-general under Pres- ident Jackson. 1833-'37, and under President Van Buren, 1837-'38, and U.S. secretary of war in 1837. He was U. S. district attornej' for the southern district of New York, 1838-41; organized the law department of the University of the City of New Yorli in 1835, where he served as chief instructor several years. He was married in 1824 to Harriet Allen of Albany, N.Y. He died in Paris, France, Nov. 8, 1858.

BUTLER Charles, })hilanthropist, was born at

Kinderhook Landing, N.Y.. Feb. 15, 1802; brother of Benjamin Franklin Butler (q.v.). He studied law in the office of liis brother, and was admitted to the bar in 1824. He practised at Lyons and Geneva, N.Y.; invested heavily in Chicago real estate in 1833, and was agent for the holders of foreign and domestic bonds in Indiana. 1844-'72, aided in founding Union theological seminary in 1835. becoming its president, and was a member of the council of the University of the City of New York, 1836-48; its president, 1849-51 and 1886. and vice-president, 1882-86. He also founded and was president of the Protestant half-orplian asylum, and gave $100,000 to Union tlieological seminary and also to the University of the City of New York in 1889. He received the degree LL.D. from Wabash in 1853, and from the University of the City of New York in 1887. He died in New York city, Dec. 13, 1897.

BUTLER, Clement Moore, clergyman, was born in Troy, N. Y., Oct. 16, 1810. He was graduated at Washington college, Hartford, Conn., in 1833, and at the General theological seminary. New York, in 1836, was ordained to the priesthood of the Episcopal church, and held rectorates successively in New York city; at Pal- myra. N. Y.; Georgetown, D. C.; Boston, Mass., and Washington, D. C. In 1847 he received the degree of D.D. from Kenyon college. He was the chaplain of the United States senate from 1849 to 1853. Dr. Butler was rector of Christ church, Cincinnati, from 1854 to 1857, and from 1857 to 1861 had charge of Trinity church, Washington, D. C. In 1861 he was apix)inted rector of Grace church, Rome, Italy, and became chaplain to the U. S. minister there. Upon his return to the United States in 1864 he accepted the professor- ship of ecclesiastical history in the divinity school of the P. E. church, at Pliiladelphia, where he re- mained until 1884, wlien ill-health compelled his. resignation. He published: The Year of the Church (1840): The Flock Fed: Instructions ^pre- paratory to Confirmation (1845); The Book of Common Prayer interpreted by its History (1846; enl. ed. 1849); Old Truths and New Errors (1849); Ritualism of Laiv (1859), St. Paul in Rome (1865); Inner Rome: Political, Religioits and Social (1866); Manual of Ecclesiastical History from the First to the Nineteenth Century (2 vols., 1868-72); History of the Book of Com- mon Prayer (1880), and The Reformation of Sweden under Charles IX. (1883). He died in Germantown, Pa., March 5, 1890.

BUTLER Cyrus, philanthropist, was born in 1767; son of Samuel Butler, shoemaker, who after- wards acquired wealth in the shipping business in Providence. Cyrus inherited a fortune whieii he greatly increased, and, in 1844, at the suggestion