Percival Butler Adjutant General of Kentucky: 1793 - 1817
Percival Pierce Butler was born on 4 April 1760 in Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, the seventh child of Thomas and Eleanor (Parker) Butler.
On 1 September 1777, at age 18, Butler entered military service as a First Lieutenant. Serving with his brothers in the Third Pennsylvania Regiment, he fought at Brandywine and Germantown. He was with General George Washington at Valley Forge and Monmouth and served under General Marquis de Lafayette at Yorktown. Butler then fought with General Anthony Wayne in the South, until 1783. He was transferred to the Second Pennsylvania, on 1 January 1783, and, on 23 September 1783, joined the First Pennsylvania and remained with the unit until the end of the war. He was brevetted a Captain after the war. General Washington once toasted the fighting Butler family at his own table, while surrounded by a large party of officers. "The Butlers, and their five sons," he proclaimed. General Lafayette also paid tribute: "When I wanted a thing well done, I ordered a Butler to do it." Butler also received from Lafayette a sword for his service.
Butler moved to Kentucky around 1785, first settling in Jessamine County, at the mouth of Hickman Creek, as a farmer and merchant. He married Mildred Hawkins, on 30 May 1786. In 1796, he settled permanently in Port William (Carrollton), at the confluence of the Ohio and Kentucky rivers. Governor Isaac Shelby appointed Butler as Kentucky's first Adjutant General, with the rank of colonel, and as a military aide. The exact date of the appointment is unknown, though the first act on record took place in March 1793.
While serving as Adjutant General, Butler took part in numerous Indian campaigns prior to and following Kentucky statehood. He organized the Kentucky command for General Anthony Wayne's successful campaign against the Indians in 1794, and he also participated in and served as adjutant general on the staff of Major General Samuel Hopkins, in Hopkins' campaign against the Indians along the Wabash River and the Northwest Territory during the War of 1812.
Percival Butler has the distinction of being Kentucky's longest-serving Adjutant General. During his 24 years in the position, he served under Governors Isaac Shelby (two terms), James Garrard (two terms), Christopher Greenup, Charles Scott, George Madison, and Gabriel Slaughter.
Butler usually performed his duties from his Port William home. When the law was enacted requiring the Adjutant General to reside in Frankfort, he decided to resign the office on 19 September 1817. In addition to his Adjutant General duties, Butler served as Clerk of Gallatin County, having been unanimously elected to the position on 17 May 1799 and serving until his death.
Butler died on 9 September 1821, in Carrollton, and was buried in the Butler Family Cemetery, located behind the historic Butler-Turpin House at General Butler State Resort Park.
The state resort park was named for General William Orlando Butler (1791-1880), soldier, lawyer, poet, farmer, state legislator, and vice-presidential candidate, one of five sons born to Percival and Mildred (Hawkins) Butler. The younger Butler was awarded a gold sword by Congress and a silver sword by the state of Kentucky for his military accomplishments during the Mexican War. Nelly Butler Ewing, granddaughter of Percival and Eleanor Butler, married John Montgomery Wright, the Kentucky's 15th Adjutant General. Wright later served as chief marshal of the U. S. Supreme Court.
Butler County is named in honor of Percival Butler's brother, Major General Richard Butler (1743-1791).