1892-93] MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN WALTKR BUTLER. 297 



a daily allowance of half a pound of horseflesh and a few handfuls of 

 corn, his progress was necessarily very slow. On the third day they 

 struck the trail leading from the German Flats to Carleton Island, in the 

 midst of a blinding snow storm. The Indians then parted company, 

 taking the direct road to Oneida Lake to recover their boats. Mean- 

 while Willett had followed in pursuit with 500 picked men, including 

 many Oneida Indians, and when Ross was preparing to cross Canada 

 Creek, appeared unexpectedly in his rear. Captain Butler with a few of 

 the rangers promptly engaged the pursuers to cover the passage of the 

 stream, then much swollen by rain. In the performance of this service 

 he was killed, with three of his men. Major Ross said that he behaved 

 very gallantly, but gave no particulars of his death. Willett reported 

 that he was shot in the eye and instantly killed. A tradition which has 

 been repeated by various writers ran to the effect that he was mortally 

 wounded by an Oneida Indian and begged for quarter. The Indian 

 retorted "Cherry Valley quarter," and immediately killed and scalped 

 him. On this tale the stamp of fiction is evident. Benton, in his " His- 

 tory of Herkimer County," has recorded a more probable version. A 

 dense fog hung over the stream when the Americans reached it, but as 

 they attempted the ford, it drifted away and exposed them for a moment 

 to the fire of the British covering party on the other bank, which killed 

 several men and compelled the remainder to retire to the shelter of the 

 woods. The fog again settled down, and several volleys were fired 

 across the creek quite at random. When the rangers retired, they crossed 

 unopposed and found Butler lying dead. He was recognized by an 

 Indian, and Benton grimly adds that "the scalping part of the tragedy 

 was probably performed in the best style of Indian execution." 



Observing that his pursuers had the advantage of the ground and an 

 opportunity of firing at a distance, Ross retired to the first favourable 

 position, when he sent the sick and wounded to the rear and waited an 

 hour for a renewal of the attack. The retreat was then continued with 

 such rapidity that his men quite distanced the enemy, and marched, or 

 rather ran thirty-miles with scarcely a halt. A seven days' journey through 

 a barren wilderness intersected by several streams, passable only on rafts, 

 still lay before them, and they had lost or thrown away most of their 

 blankets and packs, yet this was accomplished with little actual loss of 

 life, though, at the price of tremendous physical discomfort and suffering. 



Walter Butler's activity and importance had been greatly exaggerated, 

 and his death became the subject of general rejoicing among his enemies. 

 Willett, of course, was not inclined to underrate his own services, and 

 thinking that this event reflected great credit upon him, declared that in 



