Edward George Washington Butler (February 22, 1800September 5, 1888) was an American landowner and military officer.

Life

He was one of the four children of American Revolutionary War soldier Edward Butler. When his father died in 1803, future president

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

and his wife

Rachel Donelson Jackson Rachel Jackson ( ''née'' Donelson; June 15, 1767 – December 22, 1828) was the wife of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States.

became Butler's guardians. Jackson believed West Point was the best educational opportunity in the country and secured an appointment for Butler at

U.S. Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as commissioned officers in the United States Army. The academy was founded ...

at West Point. Butler and

Andrew Jackson Donelson Andrew Jackson Donelson (August 25, 1799 – June 26, 1871) was an American diplomat and politician. He served in various positions as a Democrat and was the Know Nothing nominee for US vice president in 1856. After the death of his father, Done ...

, another of Jackson's wards, graduated ninth and second-ranked in the West Point class of 1820. Upon receiving his commission, he first served as a military land surveyor and then in an artillery unit. In 1825 he assisted Edmund Pendleton Gaines in negotiations with the

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Here they waged war again ...

people. The same year Butler refused to shake

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

's hand when they were introduced, as Clay was a political opponent of Jackson, his guardian. This rejection caused a slow-burn political scandal and Gaines and Butler would likely both eventually have been discharged from the regular army as a result had Jackson not won the

1828 presidential election The following elections occurred in the year 1828. North America United States * 1828 New York gubernatorial election * 1828 United States House of Representatives elections * 1828 United States presidential election * 1828 United States Senate ...

. In 1831 Butler resigned from the army and became a sugar planter. He settled in Louisiana and owned Dunboyne Plantation in

Iberville Parish Iberville Parish () is a parish located south of Baton Rouge in the U.S. state of Louisiana, formed in 1807. The parish seat is Plaquemine. The population was 30,241 at the 2020 census. History The parish is named for Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberv ...

. Butler's wife, Frances Parke Lewis, was a daughter of Lawrence Lewis and Eleanor Parke Custis, her mother being a granddaughter of Martha Custis Washington. Edward and Frances relocated scores of

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

slaves to their sugar plantation in the lower Mississippi River valley. When the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

began in 1846 Butler was a Major General in the Louisiana Militia. In the next year he temporarily returned to the army as Colonel of the 3rd U. S. Regiment of Dragoons, a wartime unit raised for one year or service; the latter ending in July 1848. He was a member of the Granite Democratic Club of Iberville Parish. His son Edward G. W. Butler Jr. was appointed Secretary of the American Legation in Berlin in 1856.

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Life

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