Butterfield, Daniel

Life Span
to
Full name
Daniel Butterfield
Place of Birth
Birth Date Certainty
Exact
Death Date Certainty
Exact
Gender
Male
Race
White
Sectional choice
North
Origins
Free State
No. of Spouses
2
No. of Children
0
Family
John Butterfield (father), Malinda Harriet Baker (mother), Elizabeth (first wife, 1857), Julia Lorrilard James (second wife)
Education
Other
Other Education
Union College, NY
Occupation
Military
Businessman
Relation to Slavery
White non-slaveholder
Political Parties
Republican
Government
Grant Administration (1869-77)
Military
Union Army
US military (Post-Civil War)

Daniel Butterfield (American National Biography)

Scholarship
Butterfield's rapid rise in the volunteer service and his regular army appointments cannot be reconciled with his limited talent as a field commander. Family prominence, high rank in the militia, and political connections appear to have been responsible. His managerial and organizational talents served him well as a staff officer, although his officiousness and his sometimes abrasive personality weakened his usefulness as a liaison between army headquarters and subordinate commanders. Despite his prominent position in the Union hierarchy, despite serving in important campaigns in the two major theaters of operations, and despite winning a Medal of Honor, he is remembered chiefly--but inaccurately--as the composer of "Taps."
Edward G. LongacrE, "Butterfield, Daniel," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/05/05-00111.html.
How to Cite This Page: "Butterfield, Daniel," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/12205.