Butler reasoned that if each regiment would have to be commanded by colonel, the colonels would have to be commanded by a brigadier general. Ben knew it would take money to move troops from Mass. to Washington. He persuaded the banker to loan him money, with the stocks of his mill as collateral, and advanced the State the necessary funds for transporting the troops, without waiting for the slow legislative action, with a stipulation that the loan was good only if Butler received the high command. There were several men more senior and had more military experience than Butler. When the treasurer of the Commonwealth, Henry Oliver, burst into Gov. Andrew's office and screamed that there were no available fund, Butler took out his trump card and laid it on the table.
Timing is everything.
So Ben got the top job by hassling, by his quick thinking and by his daring move. He commanded 6,000 men. En route Baltimore, his 6th Mass regiment was attacked by a mob and returned fire. The first blood was shed. Butler's name was spread all over the newspapers across the country.