Begins as an aide to Butler, ends a Lt Col

General Butler

First Sergeant
Joined
Nov 16, 2017
Young Mr Clarke begins as a volunteer aide to Butler in NO Feb 10 1862. Earns a brevet to both Major and Lt Col and is discharged Nov 1865.
Bet his fresh face didnt last long

15901888419282096490264157175107.jpg


15901888954758720818546522941952.jpg
 
Did Clarke pen a memoir? You said aide in NOLA- been trying to re-find the name of the aide who wrote some of the best Butler/New Orleans stuff I've ever come across. If it's Clarke, he'd be the one who related the story of the young woman who came to Butler for help- she was the ex-enslaved daughter and mistress of a wealthy property owner, left without a dime when the Union army took over and this guy fled.

Butler was so enraged/disgusted/disturbed, the aide ( hopefully Clarke! Been trying to re-find him for 5 years ) said Butler locked himself in his office until his rage wore off then came out and took the woman on a tour of all her father's properties, telling her to pick one for her own.

Please tell me Clarke left a diary? Somehow managed to lose the name and link to the aide's manuscript.
 
Mmmm, not sure but let me nose around. I have many books on Butler, some not so nice. Maybe in one of them it relates this same story.
I will reveal many officers from his staff and maybe one of them will trigger your memory for the right name.
Just wondering, did you try the Mass Hisorical Society for more info?
 
Mmmm, not sure but let me nose around. I have many books on Butler, some not so nice. Maybe in one of them it relates this same story.
I will reveal many officers from his staff and maybe one of them will trigger your memory for the right name.
Just wondering, did you try the Mass Hisorical Society for more info?


No, but now you've suggested it I will, thank you! Had it bookmarked on a previous laptop that bit the dust and have made no progress re-finding him.

Too funny ' some not so nice '. You should research poor Mary Lincoln. Goodness.
 
No, but now you've suggested it I will, thank you! Had it bookmarked on a previous laptop that bit the dust and have made no progress re-finding him.

Too funny ' some not so nice '. You should research poor Mary Lincoln. Goodness.
You mean Mary wasnt a sweatheart?
 
You mean Mary wasnt a sweatheart?
No, she means just the opposite. Many "not so nice" things have been written and said about Mary Lincoln that were wholly undeserved. It's something she shares with Butler ... though Ben did give his enemies a good bit of provocation. Mary's bad press was mostly just mean gossip and jealousy.
 
It's occurs to me that it must have been a terrifying experience for a young, newly-minted officer to be assigned as an aide de camp of Ben Butler.

Butler was highly intolerant of incompetence and hesitation, and bursts of temper were not uncommon. Most of all, when given an order he expected immediate and exact obedience. The young aide had to hope he understood exactly what the general wanted and expected, because he did not want to have to ask for clarification. That could easily result in an explosion of awesome proportions.

That said, Butler did not hold such an incident against the young aide, and the next time he was called into the general's presence, no allusion was ever made to his previous "failure." And, once an aide was established as part of his military "family," Butler was loyal and generous in the extreme.
 
No, she means just the opposite. Many "not so nice" things have been written and said about Mary Lincoln that were wholly undeserved. It's something she shares with Butler ... though Ben did give his enemies a good bit of provocation. Mary's bad press was mostly just mean gossip and jealousy.
Must have been due to her relations being Rebel officers and her family owning slaves?
 
She us a rockstar on here.


Mary Lincoln would certainly have gone down in History as a rock star had it not been so lucrative an occupation slicing and dicing her. One man in particular was mostly responsible- not only wrote a book as THE expert on her, filled actual lecture halls ( I forget how much tickets cost..... )- then his book got sourced by the next guy looking for source info, then of course the next, into 2020. William The Misogynistic Blowhard Herndon, an ex-law partner of Lincoln. Herndon interestingly also made the claim he was THE ex-law partner- there were 3. Herndon features in my vocabulary as The Man Lincoln Forgot To Punch In The Head.

There were others. Lincoln pointed out how much easier it was for his enemies to attack his wife than it was to square up to him, for one thing.She also couldn't win. Born Southern ' aristocracy ', she married the enemiest-enemy of them all- THEN couldn't be accepted by Northern elites because she was Southern.... . Like I said, couldn't win. There's a lot more to it- she sure didn't suffer fools gladly but had a wonderfully compassionate side, too. I'm not sure I've ever read anything that captures more than an elusive glimpse of who she really was. It's a shame- like I said, yes, she'd have been a rock star.
 
Mary Lincoln would certainly have gone down in History as a rock star had it not been so lucrative an occupation slicing and dicing her. One man in particular was mostly responsible- not only wrote a book as THE expert on her, filled actual lecture halls ( I forget how much tickets cost..... )- then his book got sourced by the next guy looking for source info, then of course the next, into 2020. William The Misogynistic Blowhard Herndon, an ex-law partner of Lincoln. Herndon interestingly also made the claim he was THE ex-law partner- there were 3. Herndon features in my vocabulary as The Man Lincoln Forgot To Punch In The Head.

There were others. Lincoln pointed out how much easier it was for his enemies to attack his wife than it was to square up to him, for one thing.She also couldn't win. Born Southern ' aristocracy ', she married the enemiest-enemy of them all- THEN couldn't be accepted by Northern elites because she was Southern.... . Like I said, couldn't win. There's a lot more to it- she sure didn't suffer fools gladly but had a wonderfully compassionate side, too. I'm not sure I've ever read anything that captures more than an elusive glimpse of who she really was. It's a shame- like I said, yes, she'd have been a rock star.
I do enjoy passion from a historian...Butler and Mary would not have gotten along I suspect but there passionate followers do.
Happy Memorial Day
 
@General Butler, I was just thinking of you. There's going to be a discussion of Butler in New Orleans on the Civil War Institute's Facebook page this evening. Sounded like it was something you'd enjoy.
Thanks. As I dont have a Facebook account, frankly I lack all types of social media...yes I am the last one.
I hope it goes really well and they do t bash Ben to hard
Thank you so much for thinking of me
 
Thanks. As I dont have a Facebook account, frankly I lack all types of social media...yes I am the last one.
I hope it goes really well and they do t bash Ben to hard
Thank you so much for thinking of me
I think it's a public page, so you don't need a FB account to watch. You just Google Civil War Institute and Facebook and it takes you to it. Since they had to cancel this year's symposium, they've been doing chats twice a week, including many with the people who would have been presenting. The person who's talking tonight is a grad student whose been researching him.

And you're not quite the last dinosaur - I have neither wifi nor television at home. I access this page on my phone these days, because the cafes, library and schools (work) where I usually get online are all still closed here in Massachusetts.

I really miss the library....
 
I think it's a public page, so you don't need a FB account to watch. You just Google Civil War Institute and Facebook and it takes you to it. Since they had to cancel this year's symposium, they've been doing chats twice a week, including many with the people who would have been presenting. The person who's talking tonight is a grad student whose been researching him.

And you're not quite the last dinosaur - I have neither wifi nor television at home. I access this page on my phone these days, because the cafes, library and schools (work) where I usually get online are all still closed here in Massachusetts.

I really miss the library....
Ok cool. What time are the festivities on line
Where in Mass are ya. Though in VA now I was born and raised in Andover and graduated from Suffolk
 
34074v.jpg

He's in this LOC photo. The LOC is experiencing technical difficulties and I couldn't download a larger version. This smaller one is in my computer.

NA - Gen. Benjamin F. Butler and staff of twelve: Kensel, Dr. McCormack, and Gen. Godfrey Weitzel recognized by Mr. Butler in 1873. - Huntington Digital Library - Genl Ben F Butler & Staff on the James River Standing; 1 - Col Geo A Kensel; 2 - Capt Fred Martin; 3 - Capt Fred L. Manning; 4 - Signal Officer; 5 - Lt Sidney De Kay; 1 Capt H.C. Clark; 2 Col B.C. Ludlow; 3 Genl B.F. Butler; 4 Surgeon McCormick; 5 Genl - Godfrey Weitzel; 6 Capt Jake Weitzel; 7 Artillery Major; 8 Capt W.F. Shaffer.

http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16003coll6/id/4943/show/4615/rec/1228 MOLLUS IDS - Benjamin Franklin Butler (Major General), Haswell Cordis Clarke (Captain, A.D.C.), George Amos Kensal (Lieutenant Colonel, A.I.G.), Sidney De Kay (1st Lieutenant, 8th Connecticut Infantry), George Crockett Strong, Godfrey Weitzel (Brigadier General), Lewis Weitzel (Captain)
 
Last edited:
Interestingly no...most of his NO staff stayed in NO.

Weitzel is an exception...

This Army of the James team loved Butler in slippers...LOL...The Army of the James "coulda been a contendah" but alas...
 
Back
Top