Creator
Noble Butler
Title
A Practical Grammar of the English Language.
Coverage
Louisville, Ky.
Publisher
Morton & Griswold
Date
1846
Subject
2d ed.
Description
Butler (1810–1882), a professor in Louisville, wrote the most famous Confederate grammar. His life was transformed in 1853 when his brother William, a Louisville teacher, was murdered in the classroom by the brothers of a student whom William had disciplined the day before. After an “infamous verdict” acquitting the boys, Butler quelled riots by urging citizens to “stay the hand of violence and act calmly.” Butler’s will instructed that his body should be “encased in wood so that it might soon become a part of the soil and quickly serve to nurture the beautiful flowers he loved so well.”