N.C. Highway Historical Marker Honors Provincial Patriot

A N.C. Highway Historical Marker for a Revolutionary War general and former Orange County sheriff will be dedicated on Saturday, May 19, at 11:30 a.m. When John Butler became sheriff in 1770, he represented the authority of the Crown at a time when settlers in what was then North Carolina's backcountry wanted none of it. Even his brother was a member of the Regulator Movement that in 1771 fought Royal Governor William Tryon and his militia and lost.

By the time of the American Revolution, Butler commanded the Orange County militia in the Moores Creek Bridge campaign during the Revolutionary War.  He served in the Provincial Congress and later was appointed commander of the Hillsborough District militia.  Butler showed great bravery in engagements at Stono Ferry, Camden, and Guilford Courthouse in 1781.  He was one of six district generals in North Carolina. 

Butler's final effort was to attempt to capture Loyalist David Fanning, who had captured Governor Thomas Burke and taken other political prisoners in Hillsborough in September 1781.  Outnumbered, Butler's forces retreated after heavy fighting.  Fanning escaped to Wilmington with the prisoners.  Butler resigned his commission in 1784.  He was elected to the House of Commons in 1786, but died before the session opened.  His home at "Mount Pleasant" is now site of a golf course.  

The marker will be dedicated at NC 2458 (Swepsonville-Saxapahaw Road) at SR 2156 (Bason Road) in Swepsonville.

There also will be a 241st Anniversary of the Battle of Alamance Celebration at Alamance Battleground in Burlington on May 19-20, call (336) 227-4785 for details.  For information on the Highway Marker Program, call (919) 807-7290. 

The highway marker program is part of the Office of Archives and History in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.