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Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts.
Learn about the life and career of Benjamin F. Butler, a controversial Union general during the Civil War. He served in various roles, such as military governor of New Orleans, and was known for his controversial orders and actions.
Benjamin F. Butler (born Nov. 5, 1818, Deerfield, N.H., U.S.—died Jan. 11, 1893, Washington, D.C.) was an American politician and army officer during the American Civil War (1861–65) who championed the rights of workers and black people.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Early Life
- Early Professional Life
- Marriage
- Politician
- 1860 Presidential Election
- Civil War
- U.S. Congressman
- Governor of Massachusetts
- Unsuccessful Presidential Candidate
- Return to Private Life
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Benjamin Franklin Butler was born on November 5, 1818, at Deerfield, in southeastern New Hampshire, approximately seventy miles north of Boston, Massachusetts. He was the youngest of John Butler and Charlotte Ellison Butler’s three children. Butler’s father served as a captain of dragoons during the early part of the War of 1812before suffering a s...
After graduation, Butler returned to Lowell, where he secured a clerkship in the office of William Smith as Butler studied law. While living there, in 1839, he served briefly as the headmaster of a local academy in Dracut, a town adjoining Lowell.
In Dracut, Butler met his future wife Sarah Hildreth, daughter of Dr. Israel Hildreth. In 1839, Butler also enlisted as a private in the Massachusetts militia. In 1840, Butler passed his bar examination and began practicing law in Lowell. He soon became successful at his craft and expanded his practice to nearby Boston. In 1843, Butler traveled to ...
State Legislator
As Butler’s success as an attorney grew, he became active in politics as a member of the Democratic Party. Like many Democrats, he supported the Compromise of 1850 and opposed abolition. In 1852, voters elected Butler to a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He spent most of his term, which began in 1853, fighting discriminatory policies advanced by members of the Know-Nothing Party. He also supported labor reform legislation, including adoption of the ten-hour workday. In 185...
In 1860, Democrats selected Butler as a delegate to the party’s national convention at Charleston, South Carolina. Butler initially supported Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas as the party’s presidential nominee on the first seven ballots. When Douglas did not receive enough votes to secure the nomination, Butler swung his support to future Confeder...
Political General
By 1860, Butler had risen to the rank of brigadier-general in the Massachusetts Militia, even though he had no military experience. When President Abraham Lincoln issued his call for volunteers following the beginning of the American Civil War, Butler quickly responded. In contrast with his pro-Southern sympathies, Butler allegedly stated in an oft-cited (but perhaps apocryphal) pronouncement, that “I was always a friend of southern rights but an enemy of southern wrongs.” Butler used his pol...
Crisis in Baltimore
As Butler’s men traveled south via ships, pro-secession forces in Maryland threatened to cut off rail service between the nation’s capital and the North. Butler responded by landing his troops at Annapolis and declaring that a state of martial law existed in Baltimore. Reinforced by the 7th New York, Butler’s men reopened the rail route through Baltimore and prevented the isolation of Washington. Although Scott had not authorized Butler’s actions, he and a grateful President Lincoln rewarded...
Fort Monroe Doctrine Contraband
Two weeks later, on May 23, 1861, three Virginia slaves, Frank Baker, Sheppard Mallory, and James Townsend, commandeered a rowboat and escaped during the night to the Federally controlled fort. When an agent for the slave owner later arrived at the fort and demanded their return as mandated by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Butler refused. In his response, on May 27, sometimes referred to as the “Fort Monroe Doctrine,” Butler argued that the Fugitive Slave Act “did not affect a foreign count...
Following the war, Butler resumed his political career. In 1866, voters from the Massachusetts 5th Congressional District elected Butler to a seat in the United States House of Representatives. Reelected three times, Butler served in the 40th through the 43rd Congresses from March 4, 1867 through March 4, 1875. During his tenure, Butler supported t...
In 1878 and 1879, Butler made unsuccessful bids for the governorship of Massachusetts. By 1882, however, Butler had undergone another political conversion, and a coalition of members of the Democratic Party and the Greenback Party elected him to the office. Butler served one term as governor of Massachusetts, from January 4, 1882, to January 3, 188...
In 1884, the Anti-Monopoly Party and the Greenback Party nominated Butler as their presidential candidate. Despite having the endorsement of two parties, Butler received less than two percent of the votes cast (134,294 of 10,049,754) in the November election and finished a distant fourth to Democrat Grover Cleveland.
Following his defeat in the presidential election of 1884, Butler left the public arena and returned to his lucrative law practice. He also served as president of the highly profitable United States Cartridge Company, which he founded in 1869.
Learn about the life and career of Benjamin Franklin Butler, a prominent Union officer, politician and governor during the American Civil War. Explore his early years, military achievements, political controversies and legacy.
- Harry Searles
May 23, 2024 · Benjamin F. Butler was a controversial, self-aggrandizing, and colorful politician who served as a Union general during the American Civil War (1861–1865). A state senator in Massachusetts, Butler was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention, where he briefly supported Jefferson Davis. Always popular, he was nevertheless dogged ...
Jul 9, 2019 · Learn about the life and career of Benjamin F. Butler, a controversial Union general who fought in Maryland, Virginia, and Louisiana. Find out how he became known as "Beast Butler" and what he did after the war.
Aug 23, 2019 · Learn about the life and achievements of Benjamin F. Butler, a Union general who made the 'Contraband Decision' that enabled thousands of enslaved people to seek refuge behind Union lines. Find out how his decision influenced the Civil War, Reconstruction, and civil rights.
