Walter Butler (Loyalist)

At the start of the American Revolution, the women of the Butler family were taken captive in Albany while Walter was commissioned as an ensign in the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot, with which he served in the Battle of Oriskany.

the City Militia returned from Schohary (which they guarded while Col. Butler went with his men to meet the Enemy,) of last Saturday Evening Col Alden is killed, the Leut Col. a prisoner.

it is Said when this party Came out, their Orders were read by young Butler upon which Brant turned himself round & wept and then recovering himself told Butler; that he was going to make war against America but not to murder and Butcher; that he was an Enemy from principle but he would never have a hand in Massacring the Defenceless Inhabitants upon which the bloody department was committed [upon] a Seneca Indian whilst the noble Brant with another party attacked the fort.

J H Livingston[3]The fighting in upstate New York at times devolved into savage civil war between families and kin of whites who had lived in that region, with both sides in league with their own allies of native Amerindians.

(Of the Iroquois Six Nations, the Oneida and many Tuscarora sided with the rebel forces; the Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga and Cayuga remained loyal to Great Britain.)

Several men who were present during the event or shortly thereafter testified to the specifics in their Revolutionary War pension applications: Concerning the events of that day, Henry Shaver, one of forty white men chosen at Fort Plank by Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willett to accompany a band of Oneida Indians under the command of Colonel Lewis Cook in pursuit of Major John Ross forces after the Battle of Johnstown, stated... "That he" [Butler] "cried out to his pursuers to "Shoot and be damned" which he had no sooner done than he was struck by a Ball from one Louis [the words "An Oneida" are crossed out] The Indian [the word "swam:" is crossed out here] waded over [the words "and tomahawked" are crossed out] and scalped him.

...[9]No word is recorded as to the disposition of Butler's body and it is doubtful that the Rebel forces did him the honor of burying him, Ross' men being actively pursued by them.

Writer Stephen Vincent Benét listed Butler as one of the villainous jurymen, brought back from the dead to help Satan, in the 1936 short story "The Devil and Daniel Webster".