WALTER BUTLER (1752 - 1781) British spy and Loyalist officer during the American Revolution. While captain of Butler's Rangers, he was captured while recruiting and sentenced to death as a spy. In 1778, he and Joseph Brant led a company of Tories and Indians in the raid that culminated in the Cherry Valley Massacre. He has been blamed for the deaths of the many women and children that were killed on that occasion. He fought in the Battle of Johnstown and was killed on October 30, 1781 while retreating back to Canada. Excessively rare A.L.S., 2pp. legal folio, Butlersbury, N.Y., June 2, 1774 to Peter van Schaak. In part: "...The Sheriff on his return from New York did Assert he had quashed the Proceedings on the Commission of Lunacy, the futility of which only Confirms me in the Opinion I have of the man...the wife of the Lunatick...refused to sign the Petition for the Care of the Person of the Lunatick...". A few toned spots, one affecting the first two letters in signature, else very good.