General Benjamin Butler Grouping

General Benjamin Butler Grouping. Click picture and detailed description.

This is a professionally framed grouping of Union Civil War General Benjamin F. Butler. It has a period engraving of Butler in his Generals uniform and below it is his clipped signature “Yours truly, / Benj F Butler”. The overall dimension is 16” x 14”. 

In 1861 Butler commanded an expeditionary force that, in conjunction with the United States Navy, took Forts Hatteras and Clark in North Carolina. He directed the first Union expedition to Ship Island, off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, in December 1861. In May 1862, he commanded the force that occupied New Orleans after it was captured by the Navy. In the administration of that city he showed great firmness and severity. New Orleans was unusually healthy and orderly during the Butler regime. Many of his acts, however, gave great offense, such as the seizure of $800,000 that had been deposited in the office of the Dutch consul and his imprisonment of the French Champagne magnate Charles Heidsieck. 

Most notorious was Butler's General Order No. 28 of May 15, issued after some provocation, 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. This order provoked protests both in the North and the South, and also abroad, particularly in England and France, and it was doubtless the cause of his removal from command of the Department of the Gulf on December 17, 1862. 

He was nicknamed "Beast Butler," and "Spoons," for his alleged habit of pilfering the silverware of Southern homes in which he stayed. On June 7 he had executed one William B. Mumford, who had torn down a United States flag placed by Admiral Farragut on the United States Mint in New Orleans; for this execution, he was denounced (December 1862) by Confederate President Jefferson Davis in General Order 111 as a felon deserving capital punishment, who if captured should be reserved for execution. 

In November 1863, Butler commanded the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, and, in May 1864, the forces under his command were designated the Army of the James. He was ordered 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 from the north by Ulysses S. Grant. In 1865 he would participate in the expeditions against Fort Fisher, North Carolina. He resigned his commission on November 30, 1865. 

This is a beautiful piece and has been part of my private collection for over 20 years. It is professionally done with museum quality framing, having acid-free matting and ultraviolet glass. Feel free to email me for additional pictures or information.