Person:Thomas Butler (108)

Col. Thomas Butler

• Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, Volume 2, January to June 1893. The American Monthly Magazine. Edited by Walworth, Ellen Hardin. Pages 201 to 203.

III. Colonel Thomas Butler, third son of Thomas and Eleanor (Parker) Butler, was born in the Parish of St. Bridget’s, Ireland, May 28, 1748, and was only a few months old when his parents landed in America. His father, who was blessed with an abundance of means to indulge the heart of his son’s inclinations, placed him in the office of Judge Wilson, an eminent jurist of Philadelphia, as a law student. But young Butler inherieted the spirit of his fore fathers, and at an early age he stood forward the advocate of political freedom, and exhibited the most ardent and honorable devotion to the cause of liberty. He entered the ranks of the Pennsylvania Line at the beginning of the Revolutionary War without any command, and with that characteristic modesty and generous feeling, which ever accompanies true valor, he demanded no station but that of the private soldier, notwithstanding the great influence and high positions his elder brothers, Richard and William, had already attained.

Having enlisted in the service of his country, Thomas Butler assiduously applied his mind to acquiring a knowledge of military tactics, which he clearly perceived was much needed in the army. January 5th, 1776, he was commissioned a Lieutenant in his brother William’s Company, in Colonel Arthur St. Clair's Batalion, and on the fourth of October of the same year was promoted Captain in the Third Pennsylvania Regiment. His courage distinguished him among thousands of brave soldiers, and his military skill commanded the respect of both men and officers. He was in almost every action that was fought in the Middle States during the Revolutionary conflict. At the Battle of Brandywine, September 11th, 1777, he received the thanks of General Washington on the battlefield for his intrepid conduct in rallying a detachment of retreating troops and giving the enemy a severe fire, which forced them to retire. At the Battle of Monmouth he received the thanks of General Wayne for defending a defile in the face of a heavy fire from a greatly superior force of the enemy, while the Command of his brother, Richard made good its retreat.

At the close of the war Captain Thomas Butler married Sarah Jane Semple of Pittsburgh, and retired into private life as a farmer, near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he continued in the enjoyment of rural and domestic happiness until the year 1791, when, being commissioned a Major in the army, he again took the field, this time against the savages who menaced our Western frontier. He commanded a battalion at St. Clair’s defeat, November 4th, 1791, and headed a bayonet charge on horseback, though his leg had been broken by a ball. It was with great difficulty his surviving brother, Captain Edward Butler, removed him from the field, after the death of his elder brother, General Richard Butler, whose last words to Edward were, “Leave me and save your brother Thomas.”

In 1792, Thomas Butler was continued in the army with the rank of Major, and it 1794 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding the 4th Sub-Legion. He commanded in this year Fort Fayette, at Pittsburgh, during the whisky insurrections in Pennsylvania, and prevented the deluded insurgents from taking the fort, more by the prowess of his name than the number of his forces, for he had but few troops, and could not have defended the fort against the overwhelming numbers that assailed it.

In 1802, when the number of the army was reduced, Col. Butler was continued in the service as Colonel of a regiment. He died in the City of New Orelans, September 7th, 1805, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. Among his grandchildren now living are Col. Richard Hays, of Tennessee; Mrs. C.W. Chancellor, of Baltimore, a great niece of Mrs. Andrew Jackson; the Misses Butler, of Bayou Sara, Louisiana and the children of the late Col. Pierce Butler, of Louisiana.

James Wilkinson vs Colonel Thomas Butler

• Wilkinson was an avid supporter of the military's short hair codes. So much so that Wilkinson was attempting to prosecute Colonel Thomas Butler for keeping his long hair. Colonel Thomas Butler died before the trials had closed. He did not cut his hair prior to his death.
• On April 30, 1801, a General Order issued by Major General James Wilkinson, Commanding General of the Army abolished the queue as an acceptable military hairstyle, breaking the custom of a century. Butler applied for and was granted an exemption from the order. Within two years, however, the exemption was mysteriously revoked and Butler stood before a court martial which ended in a recommendation of reprimand. Butler was assigned to New Orleans, and was again ordered to cut his hair. He again refused and was again before a court marital. He was found guilty of mutinous conduct with a recommendation for a year's suspension. Within days of the verdict, Butler was ill with yellow fever. He died at his nephew's plantaion a short time later leaving instructions in his will: "Bore a hole through the bottom of my coffin, right under my head, and let my queue hang through it, that the damned old rascal will see that, even when dead, I refuse to obey his orders." His last wishes were obeyed. He was buried at the Ormond Plantation Cemetery. See (Ormond Plantation House).

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Arthur, Stanley Clisby; Charles Patton Dimitry; and George Campbell de Kernion. Old Families of Louisiana. (New Orleans, Louisiana: Harmanson, 1931)
   p. 355.

   Thomas Butler III

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} Thomas Butler, in Find A Grave.

   Revolutionary War Veteran. The son of an Irish immigrant, he was a law student in the office of Judge James Wilson, an eventual signer of the Declaration of Independence. At the outbreak of the American Revolution, he enlisted and was commissioned 1st lieutenant in 1776 in Col. Arthur St. Clair's Pennsylvania regiment, receiving his commission as captain in the Third Pennsylvania the same year. He would participate in almost every major action in the middle states during the Revolution. He was commended by General Washington at the Battle of Brandywine "…for his intrepid conduct in rallying retreating troops, and checking the enemy by a severe fire.…" At the Battle of Monmouth, General Anthony Wayne thanked him for defending a defile, in the face of a severe fire from the enemy. In 1791 was promoted to major and commanded a battalion in Gibson's regiment, under General St. Clair. At the Battle of Miami in Ohio Territory, he was twice wounded. His leg was broken by a ball; but he kept his horse and led a charge. His brother General Richard Butler was killed in the battle. In 1794, he was a lieutenant colonel,commandant of the Fourth Sub-Legion, at Fort Lafayette, Pittsburg. Not long after, he was ordered to the South during the removal of the 'civilized tribes' to western lands - a policy of which he disapproved. On April 30, 1801, a General Order issued by Major General James Wilkinson, Commanding General of the Army abolished the queue as an acceptable military hairstyle, breaking the custom of a century. Butler applied for and was granted an exemption from the order. Within two years, however, the exemption was mysteriously revoked and Butler stood before a court martial which ended in a recommendation of reprimand. Butler was assigned to New Orleans, and was again ordered to cut his hair. He again refused and was again before a court marital. He was found guilty of mutinous conduct with a recommendation for a year's suspension. Within days of the verdict, Butler was ill with yellow fever. He died at his nephew's plantaion a short time later leaving instructions in his will: "Bore a hole through the bottom of my coffin, right under my head, and let my queue hang through it, that the damned old rascal will see that, even when dead, I refuse to obey his orders." His last wishes were obeyed. He was buried at the Ormond Plantation. His obituary in the Carlisle Herald Nov. 1, 1805 read: "Now sleep the brave! who sink to rest; With all their country's wishes blest."

3.   Donald R Hickey. The United States Army Versus Long Hair: The Trials of Colonel Thomas Butler, 1801-1805: Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 101. (October 1977).
4. ↑ Green, Thomas Marshall. Historic families of Kentucky: with special reference to stocks immediately derived from the valley of Virginia, tracing in detail their various genealogical connexions [sic] and illustrating from historic sources their influence upon the political and social development of Kentucky and the states of the South t and West. (Baltimore [Maryland]: Regional Pub. Co., 1964).

   The record in the family Bible of the progenitor of this family in America states, that Mr. Thomas Butler " was born in the Parish of Kilkenny, County of Wicklow; Ireland, April 6th, 1720; married Eleanor Parker (daughter of Anthony Parker, of county of Wexford), October 26, 1741." Their oldest son, Richard Butler, was born in St. Bridget's parish, Dublin, April 1, 1743. The uniform family tradition is, that Thomas Butler was an officer of ordnance in the British army, engaged in some act of rebellion against the crown, and for a considerable time concealed himself in London. There he was joined by his devoted wife, and there, in St. Andrews, January 6, 1745, their second son, William, was born. Several years passed before a suitable opportunity occurred of escaping to America. But, in the year 1748, the family left Britain, and the third son, Thomas, was born at sea, on shipboard, May 28, 1748. They settled in Pennsylvania, and Mary, their oldest daughter, was born in that province, Nov. 3, 1749; Rebecca, the second daughter, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1751; Pierce, the fourth son, was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, April 4, 1760; Edward, the fifth son, at Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania, March 20, 1762; and Eleanor, the third daughter, was born at Carlisle, December 31, 1763.

5.   Hereditary Sempill Lords of Blackburn, Kirkhouse, and Long Dreghorn & Clan Sempill.

   Bagby, Alfred. King and Queen County, Virginia. (New York: Neale Pub. Co., 1908), Page 378.
   
   This from Col. Fleet of Culver: Thos. Walker, ancestor of the distinguished Dr. Thos. Walker, and Riveses of Albemarle (see Thomas Walker (explorer)), and Gov. Thos. Walker Gilmer (see Thomas Walker Gilmer), was from K. & Q." - Semple, John and James S., were sons of Rev. James Semple of England. John settled in King and Queen, marrying a Miss Walker. There son, Robert B.A. Croghan[sic] Semple[recte] married Lucy Clark, and their son, Major Croghan, then a mere youth, held the fort at Sandusky against Gen. Proctor (see Henry Procter (British Army officer)) with a large force of Indians and whites. He also distinguished himself at Tippecanoe (see Battle of Tippecanoe).
   
   Arthur, Stanley Clisby; Charles Patton Dimitry; and George Campbell de Kernion. Old Families of Louisiana. (New Orleans, Louisiana: Harmanson, 1931), Pages 355, 361, 2009.
   
   Page 355 - Robert Semple, brother to Steele Semple -
   Page 361 - Robert Semple, a brother of Sarah Jane Semple who married Col. Thomas Butler (q. v.), was descended from the Semples of Kirkhouse, Scotland.
   Samuel Semple of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

   
6. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution. American monthly magazine. (Washington, D.C.: The National Society)
   Vol. 2, pp. 201-203, January 1893.

   HEROES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. The Five Butler Brothers of the Pennsylvania Line. By C. W. Chancellor, M. D., Baltimore, Maryland

7.   Butler, William David. The Butler family in America. (St. Louis, Mo.: Shallcross Print. Co., 1909).

   Commissioned 1st Lieut. in Col. Arthur St. Clair's Regiment, & Capt. in the 3rd Pennsylvania Infantry later that year and was extensively engaged in the middle states. Commended by Washington at Battle of Brandywine, and by Gen. Anthony Wayne at Battle of Monmouth.
   
   Promoted to major and was active under Gen. St. Clair in Ohio Territory, including the Battle of Miami, where he was twice wounded.
   
   Promoted to lieut. col., commanding a legion at Fort Pitt.
   
   Ordered south to take part in the Indian removals, a policy with which he disagreed.

8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} Shaffer family notes (Milhado Lee Shaffer Sr his daughter, Margaret Minor Shaffer).