General William Orlando Butler

Born in Kentucky on April 19, 1791, and dying on August 6, 1880, General William Orlando Butler attended Transylvania University and served in the War of 1812 as an aide-de-camp to Andrew Jackson at River Raisin, Pensacola, and New Orleans. In the Mexican War he was a major general of volunteers, commanded the 1st Volunteer Division of the Army of Occupation, was a hero of the Battle of Monterey, and on February 18, 1848, became the last commanding general of the American Army in the Mexican War. He also served as a Democratic congressman from Kentucky from 1839 to 1843, was the Democratic vice-president nominee under Lewis Cass in 1848, and was a poet whose works included Boatman's Horn and Battle of the River Raisin.

Kentucky · United States