--- title: "Smedley Butler’s life was saved by a uniform button" date: "2026-11-04" modified: "2026-11-04" authors: - name: "Logan Nye" job_title: "Senior Contributor, Army Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/logan-nye.md" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/smedley-butler-life-was-saved-by-a-uniform-button/" categories: - "History" - "Marine Corps" - "War History" tags: - "China" - "Famous Veterans" - "Marine Corps" - "Medal of Honor" --- # Smedley Butler’s life was saved by a uniform button ![smedley butler storming the gates of peking]() *One of the most decorated Marines of all time, Smedley Butler cut his teeth in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. (U.S. Marine Corps/Torajiro Kasai)* If you've never head of Smedley Butler, you may want to read up on him. He served in the Marine Corps for 34 years, becoming the most decorated Marine of his time, with a list of award and decorations that included two Medals of Honor. In his later years, he became a fierce anti-war advocate, even penning a book titled. "War is a Racket." **Also Read: [Here’s how these 3 legends each earned two Medals of Honor]()** But his career (and life) was nearly cut short. When Smedley "Old Gimlet Eye" Butler was a young Marine officer, he took part in a mission in the Philippines and then China where he proved his mettle, even earning a brevet promotion to captain that was the closest thing to a Medal of Honor that Marine Corps officers could earn at the time. Then, despite a wound to his right thigh, he took part in a march on Beijing, where a sniper nearly killed him. Butler survived thanks to a brass button on his uniform. ### Smedley Butler in the Boxer Rebellion Butler joined the Corps in 1898 to take part in the Spanish-American War, but arrived in Cuba too late to see action. Instead, his first operation came in The Philippines. He then reported to China to secure American interests during what became known as the Boxer Rebellion. The rebels called themselves, *I Ho Chaun* "The Fists of Righteous Harmony," but Western media called them "Boxers." No matter what you call thm, Beijing (then called "Peking") was about to get a visit from the Marine Corps. A rebellious secret society of mostly poor peasants and laborers in northern China, the Boxers were driven by drought, poverty, resentment of foreign missionaries, railroads, and imperial encroachment, on which they blamed their economic woes. They rose up in an anti-foreign fervor, killing missionaries, foreigners, and Christians in an attempt to drive them all out of China. Things came to a head when Empress Cixi declared war on the foreigners and turned her forces against them. The immediate objective for all the outside nations involved in what became known as the Eight-Nation Alliance was relieving a siege of diplomats, civilians, and guards in Beijing’s Legation Quarter, home to foreign diplomatic missions just outside of the Imperial City. ![smedley butler eight nationa alliance forces]() *Troops of the Eight-Nation Alliance in China. (Capt. C.F. O'Keefe)* Before any relief force could reach Beijing, the allies first had to break through to Tientsin, a port city southeast of the capital, where another foreign settlement was under attack. Marines joined a Russian column in an early-morning push, but heavy fire forced them to fall back. During that fighting retreat, Butler took part in recovering Marine Pvt. C. H. Carter, who had been wounded and was accidentally left behind. Three weeks later, Butler led his company in the allied assault on Tientsin’s walled Chinese city, fighting I Ho Chuan and Chinese Imperial troops. In the heavy combat, he saw a fellow officer fall, climbed out of his trench to reach him, and was shot in the thigh. Despite the wound, he helped get the officer to the rear. For his part in the grueling and risky operations, Butler received his brevet promotion to captain—because Navy and Marine Corps officers were not eligible for the Medal of Honor at the time. The young Marine pushed through his own wound and remained on frontline duty. That put him in position to lead a company into Beijing. ### A Sniper and the Tartar Wall ![Boxer Rebellion]() *American troops in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. (U.S. Army Center of Military History)* Butler, now a teenage company commander, approached Beijing as part of a bedraggled American column, short on water and supplies as summer heat blew in from the Gobi Desert. Butler still suffered from his thigh wound and had to hold onto horses whenever possible while marching. The American force was responsible for clearing Chinese resistance at the Dongbianmen Gate. It provided a direct route to the Legation Quarter, where the foreign civilians were besieged. They were surprised then, when they arrived at their designated gate and found Russian troops pinned down and suffering continuous casualties. The Russians had bypassed their assigned gate and hit the American one instead. The Chinese troops punished them with enfilade fire. Butler had a great reputation and despite his wounds, Maj. Littleton Waller, the Marines' battalion commander, ordered Butler's company to clear the snipers threatening the Americans and to protect the U.S. artillery . The Americans moved forward to the city wall in ones and twos. The young officer ordered his men forward and rushed there himself alongside Waller. As they crested a ramp into the Inner City, though, one of the snipers got Butler. ![smedley butler peking foreign legation]() *U.S. Marines confront Boxers outside Peking Legation, circa 1900.* The journalist Jonathan Katz described the scene in his book "[Gangsters of Capitalism]()," working off Butler's letters and other sources: "Waller ordered Butler's company to take out the snipers. Butler hustled down to the road, shouting for the men to hurry through the gate. As he turned to follow them, a bullet zipped through the air. Pain exploded through his lungs, and the world went black." And then: "When Smedley Butler awoke, he was inside Beijing's walls. It felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his chest... \[A Marine\] ripped open his jacket and shirt and cussed: 'He's shot through the heart.'" Of course, Butler was very much alive and not shot through the heart, but the truth was stranger and much better for the rising Marine: A sniper had hit him... in the button. The offending round, sometimes described as a ricochet, even though it isn't clear how anyone would know for sure in the chaos of the Battle of Peking, hit Butler's uniform button. The round and the button both deformed, robbing the shot of much of its energy, and Butler simply suffered major bruises and a gouge to his massive Eagle, Globe, and Anchor tattoo. (Yes, Butler had an EGA tattoo, and the piece that got ripped out was roundabout Panama). Butler accepted a hasty field dressing and remained on station. He later wrote of the incident to his mother and promised that he kept the button. ### Butler after Beijing ![Camp Butler]() *Gen. Smedley Butler (right) and Col. L.C. Snyder of the U.S. Marine Corps attend the opening ceremonies of Camp Butler in Shanghai, China. (Getty Images)* Of course, after all of that, Butler took the chance to medically retire and follow his father into politics continued a legendary career. He already had that brevet promotion which led to him being one of only 23 Marines to receive a Brevet Medal. The medal is often considered on par with the Medal of Honor, which is particularly befitting with since all four enlisted Marines on the who rescued Pvt. Carter with Butler received the Medal of Honor. Butler himself later earned two Medals of Honor and is one of only two Marines to do so. (The [other was Dan Daly]() who was also in China and received his first Medal of Honor for heroics there.) Smedley Butler is probably most famous today for blowing the whistle on the [Business Plot](), a [scheme by wealthy financiers to overthrow the Roosevelt Administration]() and establish a fascist government in America. The organizers attempted to recruit Butler to lead a force of 30,000 to 50,000 troops. [Butler blew the whistle instead](), and testified in front of Congress about it. A Congressional committee found "tangible" evidence of the plot and questioned participants, but thanks in large part to Butler's quick disclosures, the scheme never got past recruiting. **Don’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty** **• [China built a road up a mountain to bring home American remains from World War II]()** **• [‘Wolf Warrior:’ the Chinese movies secretly steering foreign policy]()** **• [A video game might usher in an era of peace and unity in the digital world]()** ## Author Logan was an Army journalist and paratrooper in the 82nd. Now, he's a freelance writer covering military history, culture, and technology. He has two upcoming podcasts and a Twitch channel focused on basic military literacy. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Facebook]() ## More - [Here’s how these 3 legends each earned two Medals of Honor]() - [11 legendary heroes of the US Marine Corps]() - [That time a bugler led the charge by scaling the walls of Peking]() - [These soldiers received multiple Medals of Honor]() - [11 best-ever nicknames of military leaders]() - [This future President and First Lady fought with US troops in China]() - [The Navy said her son died by suicide. This mother pushed back fiercely for the truth]() - [Leatherneck Football: The Marine Corps’ legacy on the gridiron]()