Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1864-05-05
BENJAMIN T Butler.

well written article on the character and
biography Of Cen BUTLER, from which we
! make a few selections: hdHgl1 "
+ Benjamin Franklin Butler was born in
I fDeerfeld,d New Hampshire, Nov. 5, 1918.
His father was a soldier under General
\ Jackson at New Orleans The boy had
also martial aspirations, and wanted to
fstudy at West Point His lpious mother
sent him instead to Waterville College,
1in Maine. He worked his way through
college, supported himself by teaching +;
left eelege inadebt and broken health; re-
gained the last by cruise to Labrador,
and in his twentieth year entered law
ioffiee in Lowell, and at the same time joined
the City Guard, a company Of that Sixth
Regiment Of Massachusetts, militia which
made IafterWard the famous and bloody
march through Baltimore. -asa ift-tA !
/ That he was a noted lawyers generally
oknown, but few are aware that he was also
4 an, enthusiastic militia-man, and served in
every grade, from private to- brigadier-
general in the Massachusetts citizen.sol-
diery. ssh f,a 9dI
:" For many years. Mr.. Parton says,
,''the drills parades, and annual encamp-
sings Of his regiment Were the only recrea-
ton for which he could find leisure much
to, the wonder Of his professional friends,
who were. wont, in the old pea ceable times,
to banter him severely upon what seemed
to them a rather ridiculous foible. What
a fool you are they would say, TO spend
so much time in marching around town in
soldier clothes.
I Events have proved that those who neg
lected these things were the fools rather
than he. sa4ao5"f afif a. sih3h
/ AS. a lawyer he is thus characterized
BY bis biographer: :isIa se5 d4aT r8H
T" In some important particulars General
! Butler. surpassed all his. contemporaries at
the New England bar. His memory was
such that he could retain the whole of the
testimony Of the. very longest trial without
taking "a note. His power Of labor seemed
! unlimited. In fertility of expedient and
in the lightning quiekness Of his devices
J to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat,
his equal has seldom lived. To these gifts
add a perseverance that knew no discourage
ment, and never accepted defeat while one
possibility Of triumph remained. d. /
t In politics General Butler was sturdy.
!. unflincfing democrat in a popular minority
in his State and rather liking, we sus-
pect, that attitude of opposition which gave
full scope to his native pugnacty. He was,
as everybody knows, a member of the
| Charleston Convention; but few remember
I that.in, that body Butler stood alone, dis
senting from .bothsranches ofhis party. At
the adjourned meeting at Baltimore, Gen
eral Butler finally joined himself to the
Breckenridge faction, believing, Mr., Par
ton, his biographer, tells us, that Mr..
| Breckinridge was then an honest Union
man.
As soon as General BUTLER aseertained
to has own satisfaction that, war. could not
be, averted, ne went himself, to, Governor
Andrew, and advised him to put the militia
I Of his State on a ,war7footing, sending
! away all who were unwilling to leave the
State, and supplying their. splaces.f Also,
he urged him to have twenty thousand
oyereoats made ; to. this there was. oppo7
sition, but Governor Andrew was equal to
the emergency he ordered the coats, and
'"the last stitches in the last hundred
OF them were performed while the men stood
drawn UPON the Con1monI Waiting TO strap
them to their knapsacks before getting.
into the ears for Washington.n 90 II 9o
Ii General Butler was appointed a brigadier
I-o oi volunteers 12uIlt and made his famous march
into Maryland, which is yet fresh. in the
memory Of the people. He was soon after
commissioned as major-gerieral, and given
the command of Fortress Monroe. It was
while there that he suggested a solution
Of the slavery question. BY pronouneing the
negroes contraband of war, since which they.
have been known as ""contrabands."
The origin of the expedition for the cap
ture of'New ofieans is thus narrated by
Mr. faflon 0 &. ofI = 4es)
a. one day labout January loth), toward
the ne close Of long conference between the
General and the Secretary, Mr. Stanton
suddenly asked os ss'l-5' ,&'
''A Why can't New Orleans be taken p
q The question thrilled General Butler to
-the marrow. "a sisQsq sdl a3 by7aao
1T can he replied5 brezsr ii sraila
The Secretary told him to- prepare a
programme anime and for. the third. time9t the.
General dashed at the books and charts
General Mcclellan, too, was requested to
present an opinion upon the feasibility