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Benjamin Franklin ButlerAmerican statesman and military leader, general
Date of Birth: 05.11.1818
Country:  USA |
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Biography of Benjamin Franklin Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler was an American statesman and military figure, serving as a general and participating in the American Civil War. Born in 1818, Butler studied law and became a lawyer in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1840. He joined the Democratic Party and was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1853 and the state Senate in 1859. Butler also served as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1848, 1852, 1856, and 1860, where he supported the candidacies of Jefferson Davis and John C. Breckinridge.
Civil War and Military Career
In 1855, Butler became a brigadier general of the state militia. When the Civil War broke out, he was sent by the governor of Massachusetts to Washington with his troops, passing through the sympathetic territory of Maryland, which leaned towards the Confederacy. Landing his forces in Annapolis, Butler occupied Baltimore on May 13, 1861, where he arrested the mayor, members of the city council, and the police chief. Due to his decisive and swift actions, he was promoted to the rank of major general by President Abraham Lincoln on May 16. However, Butler's troops suffered a defeat at the Battle of Big Bethel, one of the first battles of the Civil War. In August 1861, he captured Fort Hatteras on the coast of North Carolina.
On January 5, 1862, with the assistance of Admiral David G. Farragut's fleet, Butler's army occupied New Orleans, the largest city of the Confederacy. General Butler became well-known for his defense and liberation of escaped and reaching-the-frontline African-American slaves. He also ordered the execution of a farmer who had removed and torn down the United States flag displayed over his house. At the same time, Southerners criticized his cruelty and harsh treatment of the civilian population of the Confederacy. He was also accused by residents of the areas occupied by his troops of looting the property of wealthy citizens. For these crimes, Butler was sentenced to death in absentia by a Confederate court. As a result, the federal government in Washington was forced to recall Butler from Louisiana in 1862.
Later Political Career
Following the end of the Civil War, Benjamin Franklin Butler joined the Republican Party and served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1867 to 1879. In 1882, he became the governor of Massachusetts. In 1884, he unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States as the candidate of the Greenback Party.
According to the opinions of several military figures in the United States, General Benjamin Franklin Butler possessed only mediocre military talent.
