Dabney Butler

From Black Virginians in Blue.

Dabney (Daybury) O. Butler was born around 1823 in Louisa County, Virginia.  He moved toAlbemarle County and is recorded in special census of free blacks of 1833.  He next moved with his family to Chillicothe, Ohio,  where he married  Susan Ann Evans on December  24, 1846.    The couple had at least six children together:  Elbridge born around 1849, Charles 1851,  Walter 1853, John 1855, Samuel 1860 and Ellen  1868.

On February  24, 1864,  Butler enlisted  in Company E of the 27th USCT regiment in Chillicothe.  He was mustered in at Camp Delaware, on March 8.  According to his service records,  he was a 43-yearold laborer, with black hair, eyes and complexion, who stood five feet, eight inches tall.

The 27th saw service during the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, begore being transferred in December to North Carolina.  In January it took part in the capture of Fort Fisher.  He mustered out with the rest of the 27th at Smithville, North Carolina on September21, 1865.

After the war, he returned to Chillicothe where he loved the rest of his days working as a brick mason.  Both he and his wife received pensions from the federal government.

Butler died around 1892 in Chillicothe, two years prior to his wife.  Both are buried in the city's  Grandview Cemetery.

--Old B-Runner