Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield

Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield
Name	Daniel Butterfield
Honorific prefix	Brigadier General
Birth date	August 31, 1831
Birth place	Utica, New York
Death date	September 17, 1901
Death place	Saratoga Springs, New York
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Rank	Brigadier General
Battles	American Civil War, Battle of Gaines' Mill, Battle of Malvern Hill, Battle of Antietam, Battle of Fredericksburg, Battle of Chancellorsville, Battle of Gettysburg

Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield was an American officer, businessman, and public official who rose to prominence during the American Civil War and later served in senior United States Army and federal finance roles. He is remembered for his regimental leadership, staff service under Major General Joseph Hooker and General George Meade, his role in the New York custom house and Department of the Treasury, and his association with the bugle call that became known as "Taps." Butterfield's career connected him to prominent military, political, and financial figures of the mid‑19th century.

Early life and education

Daniel Butterfield was born in Utica, New York and raised during the antebellum era amid the commercial networks of New York State and the Erie Canal. He studied law and business in Albany, New York and entered professional circles that included contemporaries linked to Hamilton College, Union College, Syracuse University, and trading houses in New York City. His early associations connected him to families and institutions influential in New York politics, Whig Party circles, and the emerging Republican Party.

Business career and prewar activities

Before military service Butterfield engaged in finance and insurance in New York City, associating with banking houses tied to Wall Street, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and other mercantile networks. He served in executive roles with firms involved in shipping on the Hudson River, underwriting in the insurance markets of Manhattan, and commercial ventures linked to Upstate New York manufacturing. Butterfield's prewar activities brought him into contact with Treasury Department officials, state politicians in Albany, and civic leaders in Saratoga Springs, shaping his suitability for later federal appointments.

Civil War service

At the outbreak of the American Civil War Butterfield helped raise volunteer regiments in New York City and served as colonel of the 12th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He commanded at engagements including the First Battle of Bull Run era mobilizations and later fought in the Peninsula Campaign actions such as the Battle of Gaines' Mill and Battle of Malvern Hill. Butterfield joined the staff of Major General Joseph Hooker as chief of staff, participating in planning and execution at the Battle of Chancellorsville and during preparations for the Battle of Gettysburg under Army of the Potomac leadership. He was wounded at Antietam and received brevet and substantive promotions culminating in appointment as brigadier general of volunteers. Butterfield's tenure intersected with figures including George Meade, Ambrose Burnside, Ulysses S. Grant, Winfield Scott Hancock, Daniel Sickles, and staff officers who shaped Union operations.

Postwar military and government roles

After the war Butterfield remained in federal service and civilian finance, holding positions in the United States Army paymaster system and later in the United States Department of the Treasury. He was associated with administrative reforms and finance oversight during the Reconstruction Era and engaged with institutions such as the New York Custom House and federal pension bureaus. Butterfield's postwar career involved interactions with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Cabinet members, and reformers confronting patronage and fiscal challenges during the administrations of Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and later Republican leaders. He was involved in controversies over contracting and procurement that connected him to congressional inquiries and professional associations in military finance.

Musical contributions and the origins of "Taps"

Butterfield is closely associated with the origin and dissemination of the bugle call now known as "Taps." As a regimental commander and staff officer he adapted or authorized a melody used for lights out and burial ceremonies within the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War era. Accounts link the tune's early use at Hoboken, New Jersey-area encampments and in camps near Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, where officers such as Major General Joseph Hooker and musicians in regimental bands performed it. The melody later entered official use across the United States Army and was codified in military manuals; its attribution appears in contemporaneous memoirs, regimental histories, and publications involving veterans groups such as the Grand Army of the Republic and Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

Personal life and legacy

Butterfield married into families prominent in New York City social and business networks; his domestic life connected him to civic institutions in Saratoga Springs and philanthropic circles that included cultural patrons of Albany and Manhattan. His legacy appears in regimental histories, biographies by contemporaries, and in debates among historians of Civil War music and staff organization. Butterfield's name is invoked in discussions of Union Army staff practices, 19th‑century military finance, and the cultural memory of wartime ceremonies preserved by veterans' organizations and historians of American military music.

Category:1831 births Category:1901 deaths Category:Union Army generals Category:People of New York (state) in the American Civil War