Butler's Rangers

Butler's Rangers
A soldier in Butler's Rangers during the American Revolutionary War, wearing a green wool coat, buff trousers, and a brass regimental plate on a round wool hat, from a 1910 painting by American artist Charles M. Lefferts.
Active	1777-1784
Country	Great Britain
Allegiance	British Army
Branch	British provincial unit
Type	rangers, (auxiliary troops)
Role	special operations, maneuver warfare, guerrilla warfare, light infantry
Size	twelve companies, regiment (800)
Engagements	American Revolutionary War Saratoga Campaign (1777) Battle of Oriskany (1777) Wyoming Valley massacre (1778) Cherry Valley massacre (1778)
Commanders
Notable commanders	General Sir William Howe Lieutenant Colonel John Butler Captain Walter Butler (John Butler's son, killed in action, 1796) Captain William Caldwell, victor at the Battle of Sandusky and the Battle of Blue Licks Captain George Dame Captain Bernard Frey Captain Lewis Geneway Captain Peter Hare Captain John McDonell Captain John McKinnon Captain Benjamin Pawling Captain Peter Ten Broeck Captain Andrew Thompson

American Revolutionary War

General Sir William Howe

Butler's Rangers (1777–1784) was a Loyalist, British provincial, military unit, during the American Revolutionary War, raised by Loyalist John Butler. Most members, of the regiment, were Loyalists, from upstate New York. Among the Rangers were black former slaves; the total number of black soldiers in Butler's Rangers is unknown, with estimates ranging from two to "more than a dozen". While some blacks served in other Loyalist units and as sappers, in the Engineer Corps and Royal Artillery, Sir William Howe banned the enlistment of blacks, in the British Army and ordered the disbanding of existing black regiments. The Rangers were accused of participating in — or at least failing to prevent — the Wyoming Valley massacre of July 1778 and the Cherry Valley massacre of November 1778 of white settlers (including some Loyalists) by Joseph Brant's Iroquois. These actions earned the Rangers a reputation for exceptional savagery. They fought principally in western New York and Pennsylvania, but ranged as far west as Ohio and Michigan and as far south as Virginia. Their winter quarters were constructed, on the west bank of the Niagara River, in what is now present-day Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Although, the building, that houses The Lincoln and Welland Regiment Museum, in that community was traditionally known as "Butler's Barracks", it is not the original barracks and never housed Butler's Rangers. It was built, in the years, following the War of 1812, to house the Indian Department and received the name because Butler had been a Deputy Superintendent in that department.