John George Butler

[1] His paternal grandfather and namesake was a well-known pioneer minister of the Evangelical Lutheran church.

He was one of the first regimental and hospital chaplains appointed by President Abraham Lincoln at the outbreak of the American Civil War.

He also served as chaplain to George Atzerodt, one of Lincoln's assassins, assuring him of divine compassion even to the gallows.

[3] At the end of the war he returned to Washington and was elected Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives.

[1] Butler served as Chaplain of the Senate (1886–1893), and as professor of church history and homiletics at Howard University.