Can Benjamin Butler be redeemed?

[major bill]

The latest issue of The Civil War Monitor magazine arrived in my mail yesterday. One of the headine articles is 'A Man Called Beast' by Elizabeth B. Leonard. The article appear to be a short summary of her recently published bibliography of Benjamin Butler. People's view of Butler are pretty well set, but was she be able to shed new light on Butler and help redeem his reputation? Guess I will need to read the article to see. Her book might be worth obtaining.

Was Benjamin Butler as bad as some make him out to be? Can most forum members keep an open mind on the possible redemption of Benjamin Butler?

 

[archieclement]

What has he done in the last 100 years to be "redeemed"?

 

[breckod]

Leonard's book was quite good. I don't think anyone is going to be arguing that Butler was a great field commander, but there's a lot more to the guy than makes it into the usual story, and his political career was rather fascinating. He was a fervent champion for USCTs (and freedmen generally but also specifically the USCTs he commanded) both during and after the war, and they continued to regard him as one of their greatest friends for decades. To me that is a more compelling statement about him than the opinions of certain others.

 

[archieclement]

Leonard's book was quite good. I don't think anyone is going to be arguing that Butler was a great field commander, but there's a lot more to the guy than makes it into the usual story, and his political career was rather fascinating. He was a fervent champion for USCTs (and freedmen generally but also specifically the USCTs he commanded) both during and after the war, and they continued to regard him as one of their greatest friends for decades. To me that is a more compelling statement about him than the opinions of certain others.

That's the thing with figures like Butler, they came with alot of baggage. He was a rather poor general, arguably a poor politician as he couldn't avoid controversy or be more bi partisan, as well had corruption and anti semitism following him around.

Unless one is going to ignore the reality of many of his aspects he can't be redeemed, as they still exist..........

The whole "redeemed" or "reinterpreted" angle is rather played out as the individuals or events haven't actually changed...........it always has seemed strange to me that someone over 100 years later with far less information available thinks they can correctly "reinterpet" an event, personality or events. Historians 1865-1900 would had access to the limited recorded accounts we have.....as well a wealth of living first hand accounts that we don't, to have based their opinions and conclusions on.

 

[delta rifles]

I also thing Butler's reputation is based in large part on his heavy-handed and--at times--dubious financial gains in New Orleans during the war (dare I say that his reputation suffered mores than any Northern figure save Sherman at the hands of the Lost Cause apologists in the post-war years). I understand that he was reviled in the South and among his political enemies during the war as well and many of the grievances the people of New Orleans had against him were certainly understandable, but I don't think he has truly been given a fair shake historically.

On one hand General Order Number 28, the imprisonment of non-oath takers in New Orleans/South Louisiana, and the closure of newspapers in the city critical of the Northern War effort rightly ruffled feathers, but they do not tell the whole story of his military service. I just read Chester Hearn's biography of When the Devil Came Down to Dixie: Ben Butler in New Orleans and William Glenn Robertson's Back Door to Richmond:The Bermuda Hundred Campaign, April- June 1864, and I came away with a far more sympathetic view of the general.

His treatment of William Mumford's wife and children after Mumford's execution seems totally incompatible with Butler's reputation as a whole, but he is a much more dynamic man than we have given him credit for. Butler may have been single handedly responsible for saving the poor of New Orleans from starvation once the city fell, and he was certainly responsible for the massive cleanup efforts around the city once the federals took over. Whether he was looking out for his men or not, he undertook the task of draining the swamps around the city and cleaning up the trash/refuse that littered the city's streets-- I cannot help but think that his efforts went a long way in mitigating New Orleans' exposure to yellow fever during the war (the city lost somewhere around 12-15% of its population during a yellow fever outbreak in 1853 and returned again with a vengeance after the war). His administration was also largely responsible for introducing education to a population that was largely neglected before the war. Butler's administration was also one of the first to dabble in the prospect of incorporating African-American units into the army (albeit John Phelps was certainly the catalyst for this).

There is no doubt that Butler's administrative qualities far surpassed his ability to command an army in the field and certainly helped him line his own pockets, but I truly contend that his time in New Orleans was a net-positive for the city during the war. The people of New Orleans poked the bear too many times and his heavy-handed policies were a reaction to their actions.

 

[breckod]

I also thing Butler's reputation is based in large part on his heavy-handed and--at times--dubious financial gains in New Orleans during the war (dare I say that his reputation suffered mores than any Northern figure save Sherman at the hands of the Lost Cause apologists in the post-war years). I understand that he was reviled in the South and among his political enemies during the war as well and many of the grievances the people of New Orleans had against him were certainly understandable, but I don't think he has truly been given a fair shake historically.

Leonard discusses this and the idea Butler was lining his own pockets in New Orleans seems misguided. What he does appear to be guilty of is glancing the other way at dubious trading activities his brother (who was on Butler's staff) was engaged in. The brother was the one who was not financially independent and Butler was quite the opposite, so I somewhat doubt he was taking a cut. It's still a form of corruption of course, but pretty distinct from stealing spoons.

 

[RobertP]

They've managed to redeem Grant a bit so why not Spoons too.

 

[delta rifles]

The nickname "Spoons Butler" always makes me laugh, and I can imagine was created in someone's parlor or in a tavern or the like.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Butler's brother was never commissioned by the army to serve in any administrative role with the Butler regime, right?

 

[delta rifles]

As to the question of whether or not if Butler's reputation can be redeemed, I think that the historiography the present will provide a more favorable opinion of him compared to the works of the previous generations.

 

[breckod]

The nickname "Spoons Butler" always makes me laugh, and I can imagine was created in someone's parlor or in a tavern or the like.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Butler's brother was never commissioned by the army to serve in any administrative role with the Butler regime, right?

I believe that's correct, he was an aide to Butler, in the way that relatives often were on generals' staffs.

 

[eBrowne]

I believe that Blanche (Butler) Ames who married Gen. Adelbert Ames worked to "correct" the historical record of her father. She felt that the "Lost Causers" had unduly maligned her father and their interpretation of events had become the historical facts. She even wrote to JFK criticizing a passage in Profiles of Courage. Kennedy wrote back to her stating that he would make corrections in the next edition of the book which never happened.

 

[Pollaco]

Many myths about the war are still floating around,the press must have had a heyday following the war. How do you undo a myth and set the record straight? People tend to believe the "bad qualities" in a celebrity even the made up stories.

 

[eBrowne]

Correction to my previous post:

Adelbert Ames died in his winter home at Ormond Beach, Florida, on April 12, 1933, at the age of 97. At the time of his death, he was the last surviving general of the Civil War. Ames was buried in the Hildreth Family Cemetery – the family of his mother-in-law, Sarah Hildreth Butler – behind the main cemetery in Lowell. A Medal of Honor plaque for Ames' gravesite was dedicated at a ceremony honoring Benjamin Butler's 191st birthday.

General Ames was portrayed by Matt Letscher in the movie adaptation of Jeffrey Shaara's Gods and Generals.

Among the Ames children were the noted scientist Adelbert Ames, Jr. and suffragist Blanche Ames Ames (she married Oakes Ames, no relation), who was also an inventor, artist and writer. The mansion she designed and had built is now part of Borderland State Park in Massachusetts.

Adelbert Ames was also the great-grandfather of George Plimpton. John F. Kennedy, through George Plimpton, is indirectly responsible for a full-length biography of General Ames. In Profiles in Courage, Kennedy relied on Jim Crow-era historical texts to produce a brief but devastating portrait of Ames' administration in Mississippi. Ames' daughter Blanche, a formidable figure in Massachusetts, bombarded the then-senator with letters complaining about the depiction, and continued her barrage after Kennedy entered the White House.

President Kennedy then turned to his friend Plimpton to tell Blanche, Plimpton's grandmother, that she was "interfering with state business." Her response was to write her own biography of her father, Adelbert Ames, which was published in 1964. In the years since Profiles in Courage was published, historical opinion has shifted, and Ames' role as a politician in Mississippi is viewed far more favorably.

Blanche Butler Ames did extensive genealogical research on her family, and the portion of the Ames Family Papers pertaining to her life includes a great deal of historical and genealogical information. She was also a gardener and a sculptor known for her fanciful creations. In 1935, she compiled a collection of letters that the family published in 1957 as Chronicles From the Nineteenth Century: Family Letters of Blanche Butler and Adelbert Ames.

Blanche Butler Ames died in Ormond Beach, Florida, on December 26, 1939.

 

[Louisiana Jayhawker]

I fail to see where he needs to be redeemed. He was the greatest Political General in the Civil War.

 

[JeffBrooks]

If I could rewrite the Shattered Nation novels, I would portray Butler more positively.

 

[ErnieMac]

IMO Butler was a good administrator, a decent campaign planner but no so good on executing those plans. His opening of the rail lines from Annapolis to Washington in April 1861 and seizure of Baltimore the following month seem to have been forgotten in recent years.

 

[General Casey]

I'm studied Butler for years (and even thought about writing a book on him) and have read Leonard's book (and several other biographies). I always feel there's a lot more to Butler's story than what is commonly known.

His work at eradicating yellow fever during his tenure in New Orleans is remarkable and often forgotten. Yellow fever was the disease that killed his father and Butler wanted the disease gone when the Union captured New Orleans. He spent weeks conferring with doctors (both in the North and in the South) on the causes and ways to prevent the disease from spreading. He enforced sanitary regulations which cut down the spread of yellow fever. There's a chart online which shows the numbers of yellow fever deaths in New Orleans year by year and there are years the deaths are in the four or five digits. During the Union occupations they were always in the double digits.

I think a lot of negative press comes from political opponents. A lot make light of William Mumford's execution for ripping down the US flag and how cruel Butler was for executing a man for expressing a political opinion. I'll hold off on my opinions on whether the execution was justified or not, but postwar, Mumford's widow wrote to Butler, who was in Congress, and expressed concerns for her livelihood as she had fallen on hard times. Butler wrote back offering her a government position so she would have a nice pension to retire on and from what I've read, Mrs. Mumford respected Butler for the rest of her life.

Butler championed the use of black troops. He advocated for the little guy in life. He was a champion for immigrants and for the working class. He advocated for establishing employment laws both in Massachusetts and Federally.

Yes, he did have some flaws. He was ambitious, but so is everyone, and did what it took to get to the top.

However, he was brilliant and had an almost eidetic memory and easily found loopholes to his advantage. One of my favorite stories was postwar when Lowell had passed an ordinance requiring dogs to wear muzzles. Butler had gone out to walk his dog who was unmuzzled the day the law went into effect and an officer saw him and reminded him of the law. The next day the same cop sees Butler walking his unmuzzled dog and reminds the ex general of the law. Every day for the week the same cop has to remind Butler that his dog needs to be muzzles when out in public. Finally, on Saturday, the cop sees Butler walking his unmuzzled dog and fed up, goes to write a ticket. Butler stops the man and says something like, "My good man, I've examined the law and it says that dogs must wear a muzzle. However it doesn't state where the dog must wear the muzzle and if you look, my dog has it's muzzle on." The cop looks and tied around one of the dog's rear legs is a muzzle, dragging on the ground.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

A decade ago in my Senior Seminar in Civil War, one of my female classmates wrote about Butler. She expected to vilify him easily, but by the time she'd finished researching her paper she was surprised to have reached mostly positive conclusions about his infamous time in New Orleans.

However, Butler's excessive caution at Petersburg and Wilmington ended his wartime career on a sour note.

 

[General Butler]

The nickname "Spoons Butler" always makes me laugh, and I can imagine was created in someone's parlor or in a tavern or the like.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Butler's brother was never commissioned by the army to serve in any administrative role with the Butler regime, right?

Right he was a volunteer officer

 

[CowCavalry]

Right he was a volunteer officer

There you are! Where have you been? We have missed your always entertaining posts! Figures, that it would take a thread about BB to conjure you up!