Among the rows of stained glass windows in All Saints’ Chapel, there is one near the front entrance that really does not stand out from the rest. It simply depicts two (seemingly) ordinary men standing at a podium. However, the story behind this window is anything but ordinary.
The man on the left is Major Archibald Willingham Butt, an 1888 Sewanee graduate who eventually became a distinguished military aide to Presidents Taft and Roosevelt. The man on the right is President Taft. The image on the stained glass window depicts the two men’s visit to Sewanee in 1911, when Taft gave a wide-ranging speech in front of All Saints’. Though it would seem as if the story of such a distinguished Sewanee alum and a former President of the United States is what makes this window so special, it is the heroic actions of Major Butt on April 15th, 1912 that make him a true Sewanee legend worthy of being immortalized in All Saints’ Chapel.
Yes, that April 15th, 1912. The night the Titanic sank. Major Butt was on board the ill-fated ship’s maiden and final voyage. As a first-class passenger, Major Butt was instructed to board one of the very few lifeboats as the ship began sinking. However, he insisted that women and children take his and other men’s seats on the lifeboats, famously declaring to the men that “women will be attended to first or I’ll break every damned bone in your body.” Major Butt never boarded a lifeboat and did not survive.
An article that appeared about Butt’s death in the Denver Post on April 19th, 1912
President Taft delivered the eulogy at Major Butt’s memorial service. He said of him, “If Archie could have selected a time to die he would have chosen the one God gave him. His life was spent in self–sacrifice, serving others. His forgetfulness of self had become a part of his nature. Everybody who knew him called him Archie. I couldn’t prepare anything in advance to say here. I tried, but couldn’t. He was too near me. He was loyal to my predecessor, Mr. Roosevelt, who selected him to be military aide, and to me he had become as a son or a brother.”
So, next time you’re in All Saints’, take just a few minutes to find this stained glass window. Say a prayer of thanks, and then remember to behold how good it is to be a small part of a large and historical Sewanee family that includes heroes such as Major Butt.