70 



BUTLER, WILLIAM O. 



again afforded him protection after he was de- 

 feated and oblige to fly from the consequences 

 of his offense. It might be proper, they rea- 

 soned, to give satisfaction upon a proper dip- 

 lomatic representation of the case, but it could 

 not be regarded as expedient in the presence 

 of a threat. The British Chief Commissioner 

 represented, a few days after the demonstra- 

 tion occurred, that the accounts that had been 

 given of it were exaggerated, that there was 

 no continued cause for alarm, and he did not 

 anticipate trouble; and that he had directed 

 the Deputy-Commissioner to provide better 

 means for securing information, so that the 

 troops should not be harassed and the public 

 disturbed by overdrawn reports. The Bur- 

 mese accounted for the demonstration by ex- 

 plaining that the troops had been collected 

 as a precautionary measure in consequence 

 of the number of dakoities, and of a rumor 

 that Prince Nyoungoke had escaped from Cal- 

 cutta. 



BUTLER, GENERAL WILLIAM ORLANDO, was 

 born in Jessamine County, Kentucky, in 1791. 

 He was of Irish ancestry, his grandparents hav- 

 ing immigrated before the Revolution. His 

 grandfather, father, and four uncles fought 

 through the struggle for independence with 

 such distinction that Lafayette said of the five 

 brothers, "When I want, a thing well done, I 

 order a Butler to do it." General William O. 

 Butler was a not unworthy scion of the stock 

 from which he sprang. He was a nephew of 

 General Richard Butler, of Pennsylvania, who 

 was killed at St. Glair's defeat, and son of Gen- 

 eral Percival Butler, of Revolutionary fame. 

 His parents removed in his infancy to Mayslick, 

 Bullitt County, Kentucky, where he passed his 

 boyhood. He graduated at Transylvania Uni- 

 versity in 1812, and was studying law under 

 Robert Wickliffe at Lexington, when, at the 

 breaking out of hostilities with England, he left 

 his office, enlisted as a private, and hastened to 

 the relief of Fort Wayne. Promoted ensign in 

 the 17th United States Infantry, he was at the 

 two disastrous battles of January 18th and 22d, 

 1813, at Raisin River. He distinguished himself 

 in the second engagement. The Indians, shel- 

 tered in a farm-building, were pouring a murder- 

 ous fire into their assailants, when the American 

 commander exclaimed, "Will no one burn that 

 barn ? " Ensign Butler seized a torch, and, cross- 

 ing alone through a concentrated shower of rifle- 

 balls, applied it to the hay and dislodged the 

 enemy. He was afterward wounded and taken 

 prisoner. His sufferings from cold, hunger, and 

 the inhumanity of his captors were unparalleled. 

 Paroled at Fort Niagara, amid perils and hard- 

 ships he traversed the country to Kentucky. 

 Commissioned a captain, he raised a company 

 which was attached to the 44th Infantry, and 

 under its daring commander did good service 

 at Pensacola. He was ordered to New Orleans, 

 where on the night of December 23,1814, while 

 in command of four companies on the left wing, 

 he attacked and repulsed General Sir Edward 



Packenham. This check gave time for the con- 

 struction of defenses at Chalmette, which on 

 the 8th of January enabled the Americans to 

 repel a force double their own and win a deci- 

 sive victory. For his conduct on the 23d, he 

 was made brevet major ; while his bravery on 

 the 8th is thus mentioned in General Jackson's 

 report: "He displayed the heroic chivalry and 

 calmness of judgment in the midst of danger, 

 that distinguish the valuable officer in the hour 

 of battle." In the following year he succeeded 

 his brother, Major Thomas Butler, as aide-de- 

 camp to General Jackson. He remained always 

 a friend to that soldier, and made a brilliant 

 defense of him before the courts in the endeav- 

 or to obtain the remission of a fine of one thou- 

 sand dollars imposed upon General Jackson for 

 military acts at New Orleans. 



In 1817 he resigned from the army, and re- 

 sumed the practice of the law. Although not 

 a candidate, he was elected in that year to the 

 Legislature, and served through three consecu- 

 tive terms. In 1839 he was sent to Congress 

 by the Democratic party. In 1841 he was 

 again returned, and subsequently declined a 

 third nomination. He was a member of the 

 House of Representatives during a period when 

 the act abolishing imprisonment for debt to 

 the United States, that establishing the sub- 

 Treasury, the celebrated Tariff Act of 1842, and 

 other important bills were passed. In all these 

 debates General Butler took a leading part. He 

 was undoubtedly the most popular Democrat 

 in his State, and during the Whig ascendancy 

 he was induced to accept the nomination for 

 Governor, with no hope of election, but with 

 the effect of reducing the majorities of the rival 

 party from twenty-eight thousand to less than 

 five thousand. His success at the' bar was very 

 marked, but the breaking out of the Mexican 

 War again induced him to join the army. In 

 June, 1846, he was appointed major-general of 

 volunteers. He reported to General Taylor, 

 and in Texas and northern Mexico he bore a 

 prominent part. At the siege of Monterey, 

 September 24th, he charged a battery, was 

 wounded in the leg, and was sent home. He 

 rejoined the army of General Scott the follow- 

 ing year, and was at the capture of the city of 

 Mexico. In 1848, being senior major-general, 

 he succeeded General Scott in the chief com- 

 mand, and was holding that position when peace 

 was signed, May 29, 1848. His distinguished 

 services were recognized at home. Kentucky 

 presented him with a sword in testimony of 

 his '" gallantry in the desperate charge at Mon- 

 terey," and Congress voted him another sword, 

 which bears a similar inscription. 



In May, 1848, the National Democratic Con- 

 vention at Baltimore nominated General But- 

 ler for Vice-President, on the same ticket where 

 Lewis Cass, of Michigan, held the first place. 

 This ticket was defeated by the schism in the 

 party, and the nomination in New York of Free- 

 Soil candidates, Van Buren and Adarns. 



General Butler remained in private life after 



