2020-01 Putnal
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/18/2020
BUTLER, Benjamin F. (1818-1893). Massachusetts politician and Union general. Best known as the "Beast of New Orleans" for his infamous Order No. 28 of May 28, 1862 in which he threatened to treat the ladies of New Orleans as prostitutes should they show disrespect to Union authority. Manuscript Document, 9 pages, quarto, September 10, 1862, New Orleans, Louisiana. A secretarial copy of a letter to Confederate Lieutenant General Richard Taylor, son of U.S. President Zachary Taylor, commanding in Western Louisiana. Butler writes in small part: "...I am pleased to be informed as to the command of the Confederate forces on the Western side of the Mississippi… I need not say that acts, such as you describe, are neither ordered nor tolerated by the Government or by myself…That unlicensed acts are committed by troops, on marching service is the well known fact of all civilized warfare...if you have the guilty parties you will do well to allow them to be exchanged, as it will be impossible for me to ascertain their guilt if you retain them. I could have wished that this answer to your communication could have ended here and that you could have contended yourself not to threaten. It is true you have One hundred and thirty men duly enlisted in the 8th Vermont regiment including their Officers but how captured? A part by ambush of a supply train. This savors rather of Indian than of civilized warfare...The mischief arises from the employment of a Guerrilla force of undisciplined and lawless men brought from a neighboring state into a community where they neither interest or restraint. Now I am aware that your Authorities have called this force Partisan Rangers, but that neither alters their condition, their habits, their disposition or acts…". Light aging, else VF condition.
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