Butler's Rangers (1777–1784) was a Loyalist, British provincial, military unit, during the American Revolutionary War, raised by Loyalist John Butler.Most members, of the regiment, were Loyalists, from upstate New York. Among the Rangers were black former slaves; the total number of black soldiers in Butler's Rangers is unknown, with estimates ranging from two to "more than a dozen". While some blacks served in other Loyalist units and as sappers, in the Engineer Corps and Royal Artillery, Sir William Howe banned the enlistment of blacks, in the British Army and ordered the disbanding of existing black regiments.The Rangers were accused of participating in — or at least failing to prevent — the Wyoming Valley massacre of July 1778 and the Cherry Valley massacre of November 1778 of white se