Butler, Zebulon, 1731–95, American colonial leader, b. Ipswich, Mass. After serving in the French and Indian Wars, Butler led a group of Connecticut settlers to the Wyoming Valley in N Pennsylvania. He was military leader of the Connecticut settlers in the Pennamite Wars and served as director of the Susquehanna Company. Butler represented (1774–76) the Wyoming Valley in the Connecticut assembly. A colonel in the Revolution, he was defeated (1778) by Loyalists under John Butler and fled to Forty Fort; the Wyoming Valley massacre followed. Butler escaped and later was military commandant of the region.
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