Roderick R. Butler - Civil War

Civil War

Butler was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1859, representing Johnson and Carter counties, and was reelected in 1861. He was one of fifteen legislators to vote against the state's military alignment with the Confederate States of America in May 1861. He was a member of the Johnson County delegation at both the Knoxville session (May 30–31) and Greeneville session (June 17–20) of the East Tennessee Union Convention, which petitioned the state legislature to allow East Tennessee to break away from Tennessee and form a Union-aligned state.

Described by fellow Unionist Oliver Perry Temple as "unshrinking" and "outspoken," Butler was arrested by Confederate authorities and charged with treason in 1862, but was acquitted due to lack of witnesses. He was arrested on a similar charge a short while later, but was released with the help of friends, and fled to Kentucky. He was authorized by General Ambrose Burnside to raise a Union Army regiment, but this new regiment was consolidated with the Thirteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry under Colonel John K. Miller in late 1863. Butler received the rank of lieutenant colonel, and served until 1864, when resigned for health reasons.

Butler was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1864, 1872 and 1876. In 1865, he was a delegate to the Tennessee state constitutional convention. That same year, he was elected to the Tennessee Senate, but resigned to accept an appointment by Governor William G. Brownlow as judge of the state's First Judicial Circuit Court. He was chairman of the first state Republican executive committee of Tennessee. He was also a delegate to the Baltimore Border State Convention in 1867.