benjamin butler battles and wars
The troops performed extremely well, and in the case of the 38th United States Colored Troops regiment, who had overcome overwhelming fire, heavy casualties and thick physical obstacles to overwhelm a more powerful force, he awarded a number of men the Medal of Honor. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Butler played an important role because he and the 8th Massachusetts were some of the first troops to reach Washington DC, protecting the capital in case Maryland seceded. In preparation, Butler imposed strict quarantines and introduced a rigid program of garbage disposal. A conversation he had with Davis prior to the convention convinced him that Davis might be such a man, and he gave him his support before the convention split over slavery. "[81], Butler's replacement, Major General George H. Gordon, was appalled at the nature of the ongoing trade. He then used banking contacts to ensure that loans that would be needed to fund the militia operations would be conditioned on his appointment. Item citation: In the Sarah … Continue reading → He first offered his services to Governor Andrew in March 1861. Library of Congress. [106][107] The building was used by President Chester A. Arthur while the White House was being refurnished. Butler also met with Jefferson Davis and learned that he was not the Union man that Butler had previously thought he was. [36], The Union occupation of Fort Monroe was considered a potential threat on Richmond by Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and he began organizing the defense of the Virginia Peninsula in response. He purchased confiscated farms in the Norfolk, Virginia area during the war and turned them over to cooperative ventures managed by local African Americans, and sponsored a scholarship for African-Americans at Phillips Andover Academy. Following the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln called for … Although he was able to bring order to the city, he became known as one who would pilfer goods of the Southern households he was watching. [57], On June 7, 1862, Butler ordered the execution of William B. Mumford for tearing down a United States flag placed by Admiral Farragut on the United States Mint in New Orleans. [41] With the withdrawal of many of his men for use elsewhere, Butler was unable to maintain the camp at Hampton although his forces retained the camp at Newport News. The city had fallen and the war was now in grave jeopardy of being lost for the Confederates. In what was seen as a victory for Greenback supporters, the case confirmed that the government had the right to issue paper currency for public and private debts. While commanding this force, he performed poorly during the Bermuda Hundred campaign, allowing Confederate general P.G.T. [26], The two regiments Massachusetts sent to Maryland were the 6th and 8th Volunteer Militia. Johnson's defense focused on the point that his removal of Stanton fell within the bounds of the Tenure of Office Act. The First Battle of Fort Fisher was a naval siege in the American Civil War, when the Union tried to capture the fort guarding Wilmington, North Carolina, the South's last major Atlantic port. [18] Upon arriving in the city, Butler immediately began attempts to participate in the lucrative inter-belligerent trade. Firstly, he conducted a census in which 4,000 respondents failing to pledge loyalty to the Union were banished. [28] Butler landed his troops (which needed food and water), occupying the Naval Academy. [8], Butler quickly gained a reputation as a dogged criminal defense lawyer who seized on every misstep of his opposition to gain victories for his clients, and also became a specialist in bankruptcy law. [59] Most, including Mumford and his family, expected Butler to pardon him. The battle was a Union victory and 23 Union soldiers, including 14 soldiers of various United States Colored Infantry regiments, were awarded the Medal of Honor. General Scott criticized Butler for his strategy (despite its success) as well as his heavy-handed assumption of control of much of the civil government, and he recalled him to Washington. [56], Butler censored New Orleans newspapers. According to biographer Hans L. Trefousse: Petitioning for military leadership appointment, Governor of Massachusetts and run for President, CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, Holzman, "Ben Butler in the Civil War", pp. In August of 1861, Butler led a successful amphibious assault on the Hatteras Inlet in North Carolina, and moved onto New Orleans in May, after the city had already surrendered to Admiral David G. Farragut. [85], Butler served four terms (1867–75) before losing reelection, and was then once again elected in 1876 for a single term. Military contracts would constitute a significant source of profits for Butler's mill throughout the war. [114] Butler was somewhat notoriously snubbed by Harvard University, which traditionally granted honorary degrees to the state's governors. [72], Grant informed Butler of his recall on January 8, 1865, and named Major General Edward O. C. Ord to replace him as commander of the Army of the James. 28 was a military decree made by Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler during the American Civil War. He died July 5, 1873, at Pepin, Wisconsin. As a child, Butler was unhealthy and disfigured by a drooping eyelid and severe strabismus. In fall 1864, Johnston was charged with corruption. [18] Under General Order 28, however, if a woman showed any form of insult or contempt towards a Union soldier (even so much as turning her back when he approached or refusing to answer his questions), the usual social standards no longer applied, and she could be retaliated against (either verbally or physically) as if she were a common prostitute. Grant instructed Gordon to investigate the prior trading practices at Norfolk, after which Gordon released a sixty-page indictment of Butler and his cohorts. However, at the state level, he supported the coalition of Democrats and Free Soilers that elected George S. Boutwell governor in 1851. General Phelps [an abolitionist] had organized a few squads of Negroes and drilled them daily.... Not knowing what to do with so many Negroes, Butler at first returned the runaway slaves to their masters. No one wanted war; that much is certain. [92], Butler wrote the initial version of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act). Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had ordered the troops there to prevent disorder on Election Day, November 8,[69] and because of fear of Confederates coming from Canada to burn the city on Election Day. When Hicks informed Butler that no one would sell provisions to his force, Butler pointed out that armed men did not necessarily have to pay for needed provisions, and he would use all measures necessary to ensure order. Some of them were employed as cooks, nurses, washwomen, and laborers.... [Finally] Butler ordered... the exclusion of all unemployed Negroes and whites from his lines. (After the war, Butler fulfilled his promise by paying off a mortgage on Mumford's widow's house and helping her find government employment.) "[62], Although Butler's governance of New Orleans was popular in the North, where it was seen as a successful stand against recalcitrant secessionists, some of his actions, notably those against the foreign consuls, concerned Lincoln, who authorized his recall in December 1862. He quickly became known as “Beast” and “Spoons”—and undoubtedly countless other sobriquets not usually heard in genteel Southern drawing rooms. "[53], In an ordinary year, it was not unusual for as much as 10 percent of the city's population to die of yellow fever. Lincoln considered sending him to position in the Mississippi River area in early 1863, and categorically refused to send him back to New Orleans. [102], His law firm also expanded significantly after the war, adding offices in New York City and Washington. Butler claimed the fort was impregnable. Butler was considered "notorious for his anti-Semitism. Thereafter, his brother Andrew officially represented the family in such activities. Commanded the X Corps of the Army of the James under the command of General Benjamin Butler. [75], Negative perceptions of Butler were compounded by his questionable financial dealings in several of his commands, as well as the activities of his brother Andrew, who acted as Butler's financial proxy and was given "almost free rein" to engage in exploitative business deals and other "questionable activities" in New Orleans. After learning that no domestic manufacturer produced bunting, he invested in another Lowell mill to produce it, and convinced the federal government to enact legislation requiring domestic sources for material used on government buildings. Your tax-deductible gift will help us to preserve this irreplaceable twice-hallowed ground at Gaines' Mill and Cold Harbor — forever. Department of Virginia and North Carolina, Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, List of American Civil War generals (Union), List of Massachusetts generals in the American Civil War. Most notorious was Butler's General Order No. He was elected a delegate to the 1853 state constitutional convention with strong Catholic support, and was elected to the state senate in 1858, a year dominated by Republican victories in the state. American Civil War: Major General Benjamin Butler The Civil War Begins. Butler took no action. [18] His military career before the Civil War began as a private in the Lowell militia in 1840. [67] He finally gave Butler command of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina in November 1863, based in Norfolk, Virginia. ECW welcomes back guest author Cameron Sauers No major battle had yet occurred in May of 1861, but a major military decision had already altered the course of war. Butler eventually rose to become colonel of a regiment of primarily Irish American men. [55] Although the woman's pass permitted her to carry nothing but clothing on her person (making her carriage of the silverware illegal), the single set of silverware would have normally been considered protected personal valuables, and Butler's insistence on prosecuting the woman as a smuggler and seizing the silverware as wartime contraband under his dictate of confiscating all property of those "aiding the Confederacy" provoked angry jeers from white residents of New Orleans and the much-repeated perception that he used his power to engage in the petty looting of the household valuables of New Orleanians. ; The Will of Col. A. J. Butler. There is no doubt that Butler was aware of Shepley's trading activities. Battles fought here during May and early June 1864 prevented Butler from reaching his goal, and pushed his troops back into their defensive positions in Bermuda Hundred, where they remained for the rest of the war. On November 30, 1865, Butler resigned his commission. In late September 1864, Ulysses S. Grant mounted his fifth offensive against Confederate forces at Petersburg, Virginia. [2] Butler's mother was a devout Baptist who encouraged him to read the Bible and prepare for the ministry. They learned to handle arms and to march more easily than intelligent white men. Divisions of the American Battlefield Trust: The American Battlefield Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Despite Andrew's desire to assign the brigadier position to Ebenezer Peirce, the bank insisted on Butler, and he was sent south to ensure the security of transportation routes to Washington. 330–345, Ludwell Johnson, "Red River Campaign: Politics and Cotton in the Civil War" (Kent: Kent State University Press, 1993) p. 52. The battle spans September 29th into the 30th in Henrico County, Virginia and ends as a Union victory. They had four children: Paul (1845–1850), Blanche (1847–1939), Paul (1852–1918) and Ben-Israel (1855–1881). Beauregard to slow him down with an inferior force. The case was focused primarily on Johnson's removal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in violation of the Tenure of Office Act, and was weak because the constitutionality of the law had not been decided. Everyone in New Orleans believed that Andrew accumulated a profit of $1–$2 million while in Louisiana. [123], In his later years Butler reduced his activity level, working on his memoir, Butler's Book, which was published in 1892, and serving from 1866 to 1879 as president of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. The Butler Medal, also known as the Colored Troops Medal, was a military decoration of a unit of the United States Army which were issued in 1865. Benjamin Butler graduated from Colby College in Maine in 1838, and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1840, where he established a large criminal practice. It was conducted with Butler's help and a considerable part of it was in the hands of his relatives and supporters." He continued his studies at Waterville, where he sharpened his rhetorical skills in theological discussions, and began to adopt Democratic political views. He graduated in August 1838. [110] He was renominated in similar fashion in 1879; in both years, the Republicans won against the divided Democrats. Blaine. But he would have the government's property secured and its excise taxes collected. [104][105][106] One unit of the building was constructed to be fire-proof so that it could be rented as storage for valuable and irreplaceable survey records, maps, and engraving plates of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, whose headquarters in the Richards Building was directly next-door. At the battle of New Market Heights/Chaffin’s Farm in September 1864, he commanded the Army of the James, which contained over a dozen Black regiments. [20] These positions did not give him any significant military experience. Several clergymen were placed under arrest for refusing to pray for President Lincoln. The medal was commissioned by Major General Benjamin Butler and was intended to recognize meritorious or heroic acts of bravery performed by African American soldiers at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm and New Market Heights. Some Butler associates sold permits for cross-line trafficking for a fee. A prominent attorney at Lowell, Mass., Butler served two terms in the state legislature (1853, 1859), where he distinguished … Next, the general sent expeditions into the countryside with no military purpose other than to confiscate cotton from residents who were assumed to be disloyal. [68] In May, the forces under his command were designated the Army of the James. He attended the public schools there, from which he was almost expelled for fighting, the principal describing him as a boy who "might be led, but could not be driven. During this time, Butler established a House committee to investigate the possibility that four of the seven Republican Senators who voted for acquittal had been improperly influenced in their votes. He designated subordinate George Johnston to manage the task. [17], Although he sympathized with the South, Butler stated "I was always a friend of southern rights but an enemy of southern wrongs" and sought to serve in the Union Army. [72] He was formally retained until November 1865 with the idea that he might act as military prosecutor of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. [1] In 1827, at the age of nine, Butler was awarded a scholarship to Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent one term. [101] He also served for fifteen years in executive positions of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers. John D. Winters wrote, "Soldiers resented the fact that the pampered Negro was given better tents, equal rations, and was allowed to tear down more fences for sleeping boards than were the soldiers. [105][108] On April 10, 1891, the Department of the Treasury purchased the building from Butler for $275,000, and it became the headquarters of the U.S. Marine Hospital Service, with its Hygienic Laboratory (the predecessor of the National Institutes of Health) occupying its top floor. [6] His trial work was so successful that it received regular press coverage, and he was able to expand his practice into Boston. [21], After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in November 1860, Butler traveled to Washington, D.C. [106][109], Butler ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Massachusetts in 1878 as an independent with Greenback Party support, and also sought the Democratic nomination. General Butler also commanded a number of United States Colored Troops regiments which he deployed in combat during the Battle of Chaffin's Farm (sometimes also called the Battle of New Market Heights). [12], During the debates over the ten-hour day a Whig-supporting Lowell newspaper published a verse suggesting that Butler's father had been hanged for piracy. Before coming to Wisconsin, Allen had been a… The Confederate force numbers 14,500 and is led by General Robert E. Lee and General Richard Ewell. Although he had shown sympathy to the South, Butler stated that he could not countenance the... Big Bethel. In January 1864, Butler played a pivotal role in the creation of six regiments of U.S. He instituted a ten-hour work day at the Middlesex Mills. Benjamin F. Butler, in full Benjamin Franklin Butler, (born Nov. 5, 1818, Deerfield, N.H., U.S.—died Jan. 11, 1893, Washington, D.C.), American politician and army officer during the American Civil War (1861–65) who championed the rights of workers and black people. [122] The effort was in vain: Butler polled 175,000 out of 10 million cast. Despite some missteps by the defense, and Butler's vigorous cross-examination of defense witnesses, the impeachment failed by a single vote. [19] Butler eventually rose to become colonel of a regiment of primarily Irish American men. Upon inquiry from Treasury Secretary Chase in October 1862, the general responded that his brother actually cleared less than $200,000. Even when told by President Lincoln to restore a sugar shipment claimed by Europeans, Butler undermined the order. [50] This policy was soon extended to the Union Navy. [18], However, Butler's subtlety seemed to fail him as the military governor of New Orleans when it came to dealing with its Jewish population, about which the general, referring to local smugglers, infamously wrote, in October 1862: "They are Jews who betrayed their Savior, & also have betrayed us." In 1878, he was once again elected to Congress, and was a presidential candidate during the election of 1884. [72] After the election, however, Grant wrote to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton in early 1865 asking free rein to relieve Butler from military service. Once in New Orleans, he was appointed as military governor, and commanded the city in rather controversial ways. ″Benjamin F. Butler, This page was last edited on 24 February 2021, at 05:19. He was nicknamed "Beast Butler" or alternatively "Spoons Butler," the latter nickname deriving primarily from an incident in which Butler seized a 38-piece set of silverware from a New Orleans woman attempting to cross the Union lines. Benjamin Butler became one of the most disliked generals of the war, upsetting many on both sides of the conflict. [48][49] It was later made standard Union Army policy to not return fugitive slaves. Volunteers recruited from among Confederate prisoners of war ("Galvanized Yankees") for duty on the western frontier. [40] Massachusetts militia general Ebenezer Peirce, who commanded in the field, received the most criticism for the failed operation. He argued that Virginians considered them to be chattel property, and that they could not appeal to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 because of Virginia's secession. [46] The dispute delayed Butler's return to Virginia, but he was in November instead assigned to command of ground troops for operations in Louisiana. [27] Butler and the 8th traveled by rail and ferry to Maryland's capital, Annapolis, where Governor Thomas H. Hicks attempted to dissuade them from landing. [42] Butler's commission, which required approval from Congress, was vigorously debated after Big Bethel, with critical comment raised about his lack of military experience. [34], When two Massachusetts regiments had been sent overland to Maryland, two more were dispatched by sea under Butler's command to secure Fort Monroe at the mouth of the James River. Butler was thereafter sent back to Massachusetts to raise new forces. Item description: Entry, 8 June 1862, from the diary of Sarah Lois Wadley. This was highly unusual, as most USCT regiments were commanded by white officers only. This adoption of both sides of an issue manifested when he became more politically active. Butler also took aim at foreign consuls in New Orleans. As a Radical Republican he opposed President Johnson's Reconstruction agenda, and was the House's lead manager in the Johnson impeachment proceedings. His father served under General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812 and later became a privateer, dying of yellow fever in the West Indies not long after Benjamin was born. This Harper's Weekly newspaper features General Butler on the cover. At his hearing Butler focused his defense on his actions at Fort Fisher. It was during this time that Butler would gain many of his enemies. His commission was narrowly approved on July 21, the day of the First Battle of Bull Run, the war's first large-scale battle. [35] On May 27, Butler sent a force 8 miles (13 km) north to occupy the lightly defended adjacent town of Newport News, Virginia at Newport News Point, an excellent anchorage for the Union Navy. 643–645. Always inventive of new terminology to achieve his ends, Butler sequestered, or made vulnerable to confiscation, such "properties" in all of Louisiana beyond parishes surrounding New Orleans. ″Even though he knew nothing about the plot [to burn the city] and did nothing to prevent it, Butler's mere presence with his 3,500 troops″ demoralized the leaders of the conspiracy, who postponed it until November 25, when it failed. [90] After acquittal on the first article voted on,[91] Senate Republicans voted to adjourn for ten days, seeking time to possibly change the outcome on the remaining articles. Ulysses S. Grant, who did not think highly of Butler's military skills, ordered him to attack in the direction of Petersburg from the east, destroying the rail links supplying Richmond and distracting Robert E. Lee, in conjunction with attacks Grant would make from the north. [61], With the Union occupation, runaway slaves and slaves from abandoned plantations arrived in large numbers in New Orleans. 1848–1853, duty at Norfolk, Navy Yard in Virginia as Assistant Inspector of Ordinance. Peebles’ Farm (September 30-October 2, 1864) – With skirmishing occurring at several sites in Dinwiddie County, this three-day engagement is also known as the Battles of Poplar Springs Church, Wyatt’s Farm, Chappell’s House, Pegram’s Farm, Vaughan Road, and Harmon Road. [9], Butler's success as a lawyer enabled him to purchase shares in Lowell's Middlesex Mill Company when they were cheap. However, instead of being prosecuted, he was allowed to resign after saying he could show "that General Butler was a partner in all [the controversial] transactions," along with the general's brother-in-law Fisher Hildreth. He also sought revenge against the more moderate Secretary of State Seward, whom he believed to be responsible for his eventual recall. [16] Butler ended up supporting Breckinridge over Douglas against state party instructions, ruining his standing with the state party apparatus. Running against Congressman George D. Robinson (whose campaign manager was a young Henry Cabot Lodge), Butler was defeated by 10,000 votes, out of more than 300,000 cast. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Butler played an important role because he and the 8th Massachusetts were some of the first troops to reach Washington DC, protecting the capital in case Maryland seceded. [111] In 1882, he was elected by a 14,000 margin after winning nomination by both Greenbacks and an undivided Democratic party. 28 of May 15, 1862, that if any woman should insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and shall be held liable to be treated as a "woman of the town plying her avocation," i.e., a prostitute. Johnson, Ludwell, "Contraband Trade During the Last Year of the Civil War", Ludwell Johnson, "Contraband Trade During the Last Year of the Civil War" pp. [33] Butler shortly after received one of the early appointments as major general of the volunteer forces. Butler was dismissed from the Union Army after his failures in the First Battle of Fort Fisher, but soon won election to the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts. Butler's honorarium was denied because the Board of Overseers, headed by Ebenezer Hoar, voted against it. By the end of World War II, now retired Major General Benjamin J. Butler had served in leadership positions to include Training Officer (Lieutenant), Company … This garnered him enough support to win election to the state legislature in 1852. Hans L. Trefousse, “Butler, Benjamin Franklin” in John A. Garraty, ed. [114] Butler is credited with beginning the tradition of the "lone walk", the ceremonial exit from the office of Governor of Massachusetts, after finishing his term in 1884. He also imposed a strict quarantine to protect against yellow fever, which had the added impact of delaying foreign commerce and bringing complaints to his headquarters from most foreign consuls. Federal Identification Number (EIN): 54-1426643. Shortly thereafter, Johnston managed a thriving between-the-lines trade depot in eastern North Carolina. [64] The necessity of taking sometimes radical actions and the support he received in Radical Republican circles drove Butler to change political allegiance, and he joined the Republican Party. The elder Butler served under Gen. Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans and died around the time of Benjamin’s birth. [43] The battle's poor Union outcome was used as cover by General Scott to reduce Butler's force to one incapable of substantive offense, and it was implicit in Scott's orders that the troops were needed nearer to Washington. When William Seymour, the editor of the New-Orleans Commercial Bulletin, asked Butler what would happen if the newspaper ignored his censorship, an angry Butler reportedly stated, "I am the military governor of this state — the supreme power — you cannot disregard my order, Sir. When Seymour published a favorable obituary of his father, who had been killed serving in the Confederate army in Virginia, Butler confiscated the newspaper and imprisoned Seymour for three months. Least of all Abraham Lincoln. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler led a two-pronged assault on either end of the Confederate line. In 1855, the nativist Know Nothing Governor Henry J. Gardner disbanded Butler's militia, but Butler was elected brigadier general after the militia was reorganized. This was the largest grouping of Black soldiers in the war. Although Petersburg at this time was lightly defended and Butler could have occupied it with little difficulty, he hesitated and allowed a greatly inferior Confederate force under General Pierre G.T. Their property was seized and sold at low auction prices in which Andrew was often the prime buyer. [72] As a prominent Radical Republican, Butler was also under consideration as a possible opponent of Lincoln in that year's election,[73] and Lincoln had asked Butler to serve as his vice president in early 1864. [116], In 1882, Butler successfully prosecuted Juilliard v. Greenman before the Supreme Court. Foremost among them was Brigadier General George Shepley, who had been military governor of Louisiana. [84] In March 1866, Butler argued in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the United States in Ex parte Milligan, in which the Court held, against the United States, that military commission trials could not replace civilian trials when courts were open and where there was no war. After his bill was defeated, Representative Samuel Shellabarger of Ohio drafted another bill, only slightly less sweeping than Butler's, that successfully passed both houses and became law upon Grant's signature on April 20. Beauregard. He was appointed a major general on May 16, 1861, being one of the first appointed by President Abraham Lincoln. High-profile cases he took included the representation of Admiral David Farragut in his quest to be paid by the government for prizes taken by the Navy during the war, and the defense of former Secretary of War Simon Cameron against an attempted extortion in a salacious case that gained much public notice.