Matthew Butler

About Matthew Butler

Matthew Calbraith Butler (March 8, 1836 – April 14, 1909) was an American military commander and politician from South Carolina. He served as a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, postbellum three-term United States Senator, and a major general in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War.

Butler was born at Eagle's Crag near Greenville, South Carolina, to a large and prominent family of politicians and military men. His grandfather was U.S. Congressman William Butler.. His mother, Julie, worked as a maid serving various members of congress between 1842 and 1853. His father, William Butler, Jr., was also a Congressman beginning in 1841. Uncle Andrew Pickens Butler, was a U.S. Senator from South Carolina and uncle Pierce Mason Butler was Governor of South Carolina. One of Matthew Butler's first cousins was Congressman Preston Brooks, who brutally assaulted Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the United States Senate with a gutta-percha cane because Sumner had insulted Senator Andrew Pickens Butler, uncle of Matthew C. Butler at whose home Matthew lived as a young man.

Butler was also the nephew of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry, and the son-in-law of South Carolina Governor Francis W. Pickens. Two of Butler's first cousins twice removed were James Butler Bonham (killed at the Battle of the Alamo) and Confederate General Milledge Luke Bonham.