Manuscript document. Signed by Walter Butler (1754-1781). Tryon County, [New York], September 1773. 4 pages, folio, 13 x 8 in. Docket to verso.

A rare 1773 document signed by American-born Loyalist Walter Butler (1753-1781), who was representing a petition brought by the infamous George Clock (alt. Klock) against Johannes Wolf Barledt, who allegedly was in arrears to Clock for six pounds two shillings. 

George Clock (b. ca 1708/9), sometimes known as the "Rogue Klock," was a farmer in Tryon County who was allied with the Oneidas, pitting him against the Mohawks and their ally Sir William Johnson of Johnson Hall. He spent the majority of his adult life warding off charges of defrauding and cheating Sir William's Indians out of their lands along Onandago Creek by conducting "moonlight surveys" in the Caghwauga District. During the Revolution, George occupied a 150 acre farm where Sir William's son John led a group of loyalists and was defeated by American Patriot forces. 

Walter Butler was the eldest son of Catalyntje Bradt and John Butler, a British Indian Department officer who worked for Sir William Johnson. During the Revolutionary War, he left his home in Tryon County for Montreal and was commissioned an ensign in the British Army. He fought at the Battle of the Cedars (May 1776) and the Siege of Fort Stanwix (1777) and was captured shortly thereafter. He was sentenced to hang as a spy, but he managed to escape imprisonment in Albany in April 1778. Returning to British lines, he was commissioned as the captain of Butler's Rangers in November and led a force of British, Loyalist, Seneca, and Mohawk who descended upon Cherry Valley, New York. During the raid, the Seneca in particular targeted non-combatants, with a reported 30 individuals killed. Known as the Cherry Valley Massacre, the Seneca used the opportunity for revenge on the colonists' recent destruction of their bases at Unadilla, Onaquaga, and Tioga. 

[American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]