United States Congressman from Massachusetts

Member of the President Andrew Johnson Impeachment Congress

Governor of Massachusetts

(1818-1893) Born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, he was a colorful and often controversial figure on the national stage, and on the Massachusetts political scene. He studied law, and passed the Massachusetts bar in 1840, and opened a practice in Lowell. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1853, and to the State Senate in 1859. The following year Butler was a delegate to the Democratic Convention which met in Charleston, where he initially supported John C. Breckinridge for president, but then shifted his support and voted to nominate Jefferson Davis for President of the United States, believing that only a moderate Southerner could keep the Democratic party from dividing. A conversation he had with Davis prior to the convention convinced him that Davis might be such a man, and he gave him his support before the convention split over slavery. As a Brigadier General of the Massachusetts Militia, Butler entered the war in dramatic fashion; five days after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, he lifted the blockade of Washington with the 8th Massachusetts. He was the first volunteer general appointed by President Lincoln. He was badly defeated at Big Bethel, Va., the first land battle of the Civil War. Butler was the first to apply the term "contraband of war" to slaves. He commanded the successful attack on Hatteras Inlet, N.C., and he led the forces that captured New Orleans, La., in May 1862. He soon became the vilified military governor of New Orleans where he earned the nickname of "The Beast," by the locals. Many of his acts, were highly unpopular, most notorious among them was Butler's General Order No. 28, of May 15, 1862, stating that if any woman should insult or show contempt for any Union 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," in other words a prostitute. This was in response to various and widespread acts of overt verbal and physical abuse from the women of New Orleans, including cursing at and spitting on Union soldiers and pouring out chamber pots with human waste on their heads from upstairs windows when they passed in the street. Butler also censored New Orleans newspapers, and bank currency. In 1864, he was given command of the Army of the James which he saw action with at Bermuda Hundred, Va., and in the Petersburg campaign. The Army of the James also included several regiments of United States Colored Troops. These troops saw combat in the Bermuda Hundred campaign, at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm where the U.S. Colored Troops performed extremely well. The 38th USCT defeated a more powerful force despite intense fire, heavy casualties, and terrain obstacles. Butler awarded the Medal of Honor to several men of the 38th USCT. He also ordered a special medal designed and struck, which was awarded to 200 African-American soldiers who had served with distinction in the engagement. This was later called the Butler Medal. On November 4, 1864, General Butler arrived in New York City with 3,500 troops as Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton had requested that Grant send troops to New York City to help oversee the presidential election. Stanton's concern arose from the city's perennial political and racial divisions, which had erupted during the 1863 draft riots, and because of the fear of Confederates coming down from Canada to burn the city on Election Day. General Grant selected Butler for the assignment. Butler later saw action at the 1st battle of Fort Fisher, N.C. Elected to Congress in 1866, he served five terms as a United States Congressman from Massachusetts, and he played a prominent role in the President Andrew Johnson impeachment serving as the lead prosecutor among the House-appointed impeachment managers in the trial proceedings. Additionally, 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. He later became Governor of Massachusetts. He ran for president on the Greenback Party, and the Anti-Monopoly Party tickets in 1884. In his later years Butler reduced his activity level, working on his memoir, "Butler's Book," which was published in 1892. Butler died on January 11, 1893, of complications from a bronchial infection, two days after arguing a case before the United States Supreme Court. He is buried in his wife's family cemetery, behind the main Hildreth Cemetery in Lowell, Mass. The inscription on Butler's monument reads, "The true touchstone of civil liberty is not that all men are equal, but that every man has the right to be the equal of every other man—if he can."

Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph, mounted to 2 3/8 x 4 card. Seated view in uniform with rank of brigadier general, and holding his kepi with Massachusetts hat wreath insignia. He has a wide stripe running down the side of his trouser leg. Back mark: E. Anthony, New York, 501 Broadway, N.Y., with vignette of their photographic emporium on Broadway. Made from a photographic negative from Brady's National Portrait Gallery. Very sharp image. Extremely desirable early war pose of General Butler!