American Revolutionary War Lieutenant-Colonel John Butler (c. April 28, 1728 – May 12, 1796) was a British Indian Department officer, landowner and merchant.

Born in New London, Connecticut, he moved to New York with his family, where he learned several Iroquoian languages and worked as an interpreter in the fur trade.

Butler's Rangers participated in raids in New York and Pennsylvania, including the Battle of Wyoming and the Cherry Valley massacre.

Butler continued his leadership in the developing colony, serving in public office, and helping to establish the Anglican Church and the Masonic Order in what is now Ontario.

In 1742, his father moved the family to Fort Hunter on the frontier in the Mohawk Valley near the modern village of Fonda, New York.

In 1759, he served under Johnson as second-in-command of the Indigenous forces at the Battle of Fort Niagara, where he played a crucial role in flanking the French reinforcements.

In May 1775, he left for Canada in the company of Daniel Claus, Walter Butler, Hon Yost Schuyler and Joseph Brant, a Mohawk leader.

In November, Guy Carleton, Governor of the Province of Quebec, sent Butler to Fort Niagara with instructions to keep the Iroquois neutral.

Butler persuaded about 350 Seneca and Cayuga warriors to participate, and was appointed second-in-command of the Indigenous forces under Daniel Claus.

As a result he was commissioned a Major and given authority to raise his own regiment, which became known as Butler's Rangers, initially with a strength of eight companies.

At the end of the Revolution, John Butler was given a land grant in the Niagara region by the Crown for his services during the war and as compensation for his property in New York having been confiscated.