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Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was a major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler is best known as a political major general of the Union Army during the American Civil War, and for his leadership role in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. He was a colorful and often controversial figure on the national stage and in the Massachusetts political scene, during his one term as Governor.
Butler, a successful trial lawyer, served in the Massachusetts legislature as an antiwar Democrat and as an officer in the state militia. Early in the Civil War he joined the Union Army, where he was noted for his lack of military skill, and his controversial command of New Orleans, which brought him wide dislike in the South and the "Beast" epithet. He helped create the legal idea of effectively freeing fugitive slaves by designating them as contraband of war in service of military objectives, which led to a political groundswell in the North which included general emancipation and the end of slavery as official war goals. His commands were marred by financial and logistical dealings across enemy lines, some of which probably took place with his knowledge and to his financial benefit.
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. As a Radical Republican he opposed President Johnson's Reconstruction agenda, and was the House's lead manager in the Johnson impeachment proceedings. As Chairman of the House Committee on Reconstruction, Butler authored the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 and coauthored the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1875.
In Massachusetts, Butler was often at odds with more conservative members of the political establishment over matters of both style and substance. Feuds with Republican politicians led to his being denied several nominations for the governorship between 1858 and 1880. Returning to the Democratic fold, he won the governship in the 1882 election with Democratic and Greenback Party support. He ran for President on the Greenback ticket in 1884.
Butler, a successful trial lawyer, served in the Massachusetts legislature as an antiwar Democrat and as an officer in the state militia. Early in the Civil War he joined the Union Army, where he was noted for his lack of military skill, and his controversial command of New Orleans, which brought him wide dislike in the South and the "Beast" epithet. He helped create the legal idea of effectively freeing fugitive slaves by designating them as contraband of war in service of military objectives, which led to a political groundswell in the North which included general emancipation and the end of slavery as official war goals. His commands were marred by financial and logistical dealings across enemy lines, some of which probably took place with his knowledge and to his financial benefit.
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. As a Radical Republican he opposed President Johnson's Reconstruction agenda, and was the House's lead manager in the Johnson impeachment proceedings. As Chairman of the House Committee on Reconstruction, Butler authored the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 and coauthored the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1875.
In Massachusetts, Butler was often at odds with more conservative members of the political establishment over matters of both style and substance. Feuds with Republican politicians led to his being denied several nominations for the governorship between 1858 and 1880. Returning to the Democratic fold, he won the governship in the 1882 election with Democratic and Greenback Party support. He ran for President on the Greenback ticket in 1884.
Benjamin Butler - Wikipedia
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Civil War
American History
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Thanks for letting us know Maj Marty Hogan that today is the anniversary of the birth of major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer and businessman from Massachusetts.
His desire to free the slaves caused him to be hated and ridiculed in the deep south.
Images: 1862-05-09-Southern caricature of Ben Butler insulting Southern women; Maj. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Butler, USA 1862; Benjamin F. Butler (left) and Robert Ould
"In November 1863, Union General Benjamin Butler requested permission from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to negotiate for the resumption of the prisoner exchanges. After reviewing correspondence from the Confederates, Butler had an idea that the rebels would exchange captives without regard to their "color, caste, or condition." Since the Federals held twice as many prisoners as their opponents, Butler proposed that a renewal of the exchanges would deplete the number of prisoners held by the Confederates. If the "colored prisoners and their officers" were not handed over, then the Union's remaining surplus of rebel prisoners would serve as hostages for possible "retaliation and reprisal." On December 17, Maj. General Ethan Allen Hitchcock appointed Butler as a "special agent for exchange of prisoners." While conducting these new exchanges, "the protection of the Government" would remain for "colored soldiers of the United States and the officers commanding them." Butler was to avoid "the question of parole and excess now pending" between the two sides. Within days, Butler started exchanging prisoners with the Confederates, and continued the transfers into the early months of 1864. Despite his original mandate, Butler tried to resolve the outstanding cartel issues with the rebel authorities while facing General Hitchcock's growing opposition over the scope and conduct of his activities.
Asked to review the situation in April 1864, Union General Ulysses S. Grant ordered the halt of all exchanges until the Confederates recognized "the validity of the paroles of the prisoners captured at Vicksburg and Port Hudson," and stopped discrimination against "colored soldiers."
In August 1864, Robert Ould accepted a Union proposal to make equal exchanges, "officer for officer and man for man" with the first releases going to those "longest in captivity." While Ould's offer circulated through Federal government, Butler wrote to Ould in September proposing a special exchange of all "sick and invalid officers and men . . . unfit for duty and likely to remain so for sixty days." To make the transfer easier, he proposed that the exchange occur at Fort Pulaski outside Savannah, Georgia. By the end of November, the belligerents had transferred several thousand prisoners near Savannah, and conducted a second transfer under similar terms in Charleston.
In January 1865 with the end of the war in sight, General Grant permitted the resumption of exchanges when the Confederate authorities agreed to include all prisoners. By February, Grant wrote to Secretary of War Stanton that he was trying to exchange 3000 prisoners a week, and requested that preference first go to disabled troops since "few of these will be got in the ranks again and as we can count upon but little reinforcement from the prisoners we get."
In his military history, The Longest Night, historian David J. Eicher states that the "Union Army paroled or exchanged 329,963 Confederate prisoners of war, while the Confederacy paroled or exchanged about 152,015 Union prisoners of war.""
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Wayne Brandon Maj William W. 'Bill' Price Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown 1stSgt Eugene Harless SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx TSgt Joe C. SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Robert Ruck SrA Christopher Wright SGT Robert George CPL Eric Escasio SPC (Join to see) MSG Andrew White SGT (Join to see)
His desire to free the slaves caused him to be hated and ridiculed in the deep south.
Images: 1862-05-09-Southern caricature of Ben Butler insulting Southern women; Maj. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Butler, USA 1862; Benjamin F. Butler (left) and Robert Ould
"In November 1863, Union General Benjamin Butler requested permission from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to negotiate for the resumption of the prisoner exchanges. After reviewing correspondence from the Confederates, Butler had an idea that the rebels would exchange captives without regard to their "color, caste, or condition." Since the Federals held twice as many prisoners as their opponents, Butler proposed that a renewal of the exchanges would deplete the number of prisoners held by the Confederates. If the "colored prisoners and their officers" were not handed over, then the Union's remaining surplus of rebel prisoners would serve as hostages for possible "retaliation and reprisal." On December 17, Maj. General Ethan Allen Hitchcock appointed Butler as a "special agent for exchange of prisoners." While conducting these new exchanges, "the protection of the Government" would remain for "colored soldiers of the United States and the officers commanding them." Butler was to avoid "the question of parole and excess now pending" between the two sides. Within days, Butler started exchanging prisoners with the Confederates, and continued the transfers into the early months of 1864. Despite his original mandate, Butler tried to resolve the outstanding cartel issues with the rebel authorities while facing General Hitchcock's growing opposition over the scope and conduct of his activities.
Asked to review the situation in April 1864, Union General Ulysses S. Grant ordered the halt of all exchanges until the Confederates recognized "the validity of the paroles of the prisoners captured at Vicksburg and Port Hudson," and stopped discrimination against "colored soldiers."
In August 1864, Robert Ould accepted a Union proposal to make equal exchanges, "officer for officer and man for man" with the first releases going to those "longest in captivity." While Ould's offer circulated through Federal government, Butler wrote to Ould in September proposing a special exchange of all "sick and invalid officers and men . . . unfit for duty and likely to remain so for sixty days." To make the transfer easier, he proposed that the exchange occur at Fort Pulaski outside Savannah, Georgia. By the end of November, the belligerents had transferred several thousand prisoners near Savannah, and conducted a second transfer under similar terms in Charleston.
In January 1865 with the end of the war in sight, General Grant permitted the resumption of exchanges when the Confederate authorities agreed to include all prisoners. By February, Grant wrote to Secretary of War Stanton that he was trying to exchange 3000 prisoners a week, and requested that preference first go to disabled troops since "few of these will be got in the ranks again and as we can count upon but little reinforcement from the prisoners we get."
In his military history, The Longest Night, historian David J. Eicher states that the "Union Army paroled or exchanged 329,963 Confederate prisoners of war, while the Confederacy paroled or exchanged about 152,015 Union prisoners of war.""
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Wayne Brandon Maj William W. 'Bill' Price Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown 1stSgt Eugene Harless SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx TSgt Joe C. SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Robert Ruck SrA Christopher Wright SGT Robert George CPL Eric Escasio SPC (Join to see) MSG Andrew White SGT (Join to see)
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SSgt Robert Marx
Gen. Butler served during a hard time in the nation's history but the radical Republicans caused a fissure in the relations between the former Confederate states & the rest of the Union. President Lincoln held to the premise of a "soft peace" which would hasten the re-integration of the old Confederacy back fully into the Union. I believe that the stance of radical Republicans made it possible for the South to keep its former slaves in continued bondage that was not finally lifted by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I do not doubt those Republican's decency or patriotism but holding for harsh terms for a defeated enemy has only led to trouble in world history and always ensures further conflict. The South after all were brothers with the North. The North also had troubled history with its black citizens and so was never a role model in race relations.
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His letter to the "ladies" of New Orleans was both justified and hilarious
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