Pre-printed check for Wells, Butterfield & Co. dated August 1, 1857 paying the American Express Company $25. Check is filled out in ink and signed in a strong hand at lower right “DANL BUTTERFIELD, SUPT.” Almost the entire name was underscored by Butterfield.

Check is in good condition with no creases or tears with only light surface dirt around the edges. The face of the check is decorated with a woodcut of a dog in the upper left and a smoking locomotive at bottom center.

Daniel Adams Butterfield was born in Utica, New York on October 31, 1831. He graduated in 1849 from Union College in Schenectady, New York, where he became a member of the Sigma Phi Society and was employed in various businesses in New York and the South, including the American Express Company, which had been co-founded by his father, John Warren Butterfield, an owner of the Overland Mail Company, stage-coaches, steamships, and telegraph lines.

Only days after Fort Sumter he joined the Army as a 1^st Sergeant in Washington, D.C., on April 16, 1861. Despite his lack of military experience within two weeks he obtained a commission as a Colonel in the 12th New York Militia, which became the 12th New York Infantry. By July he commanded a brigade and by September he was a Brigadier General.

Butterfield joined the Army of the Potomac in time for the Peninsula Campaign where he served in the 5^th Corps. At Gaines' Mill on June 27, 1862, he was wounded, but also demonstrated bravery that eventually was recognized with the Medal of Honor. His citation reads: "Seized the colors of the 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteers at a critical moment and, under a galling fire of the enemy, encouraged the depleted ranks to renewed exertion."

While the Union Army recuperated at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, Butterfield experimented with bugle calls and is credited with the composition of the well-known call "Taps.”

Butterfield continued in brigade command at Second Bull Run and at Antietam he became a division commander, and then 5^th Corps commander for the Battle of Fredericksburg.

After Fredericksburg and the Mud March Butterfield became chief of staff under Major General Joseph Hooker in January 1863. He was promoted to Major General in March 1863 with a date of rank of November 29, 1862.

Hooker was replaced after the Battle of Chancellorsville by Major General George G. Meade, just before the Battle of Gettysburg. Meade distrusted Butterfield, but elected to retain him as chief of staff. Butterfield was wounded by a spent artillery shell fragment at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, and left to convalesce. Meade removed him as chief of staff on July 14, 1863.

Butterfield returned to duty the following fall as chief of staff for Hooker who now commanded two Corps in the Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga, Tennessee. When these two depleted corps (the 11^thand 12^th Corps) were combined to form the 20^th Corps, Butterfield was given the 3rd Division, which he led through the first half of Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. Illness prevented his completion of the war in the field, and he assumed quiet duties at Vicksburg, Mississippi, followed by recruiting and the command of harbor forces in New York.

After the war, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Butterfield Assistant Treasurer of the United States. Butterfield resigned from the Treasury Department in October, 1869. He then became active in business and banking, including an executive position with American Express. He was also active in several veterans’ organizations, including the Grand Army of the Republic.

On July 17, 1901, Butterfield died in Cold Spring, New York; he was buried with an ornate monument in West Point Cemetery at the United States Military Academy, although he had not attended that institution. Taps was sounded at his funeral.

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