The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1869-12-03
BUTLER AND THE SWORDS.

A statement has been published that
Gen. B. F. Butler had been arrested at
| the instance of woman said to be a
niece of Gen. Twiggs, and held, to an
swer to the charge of stealing silver
plate and swords, formerly the proper
ty of the said Twiggs. The enemies of
Gen. Butler have thus been supplied
with a rich morsel with which to feed
their villifying natures. Gen. B. has
that has been heaped upon him from
this source, but j. w. Shaffer, Colonel
and Chief Quartermaster of the De-
partment of the Gulf, at the time Gen.
Butler was in command, in a letter dat
ed Nov. 81, 1869, and published IN the
New York World, gives the whole his
tory of the 'sspoon" and sfsword" steal
ing, according to his own personal OBJ
servations, and clearly vindicates the
action of Gen. Butler, not only in this
matter, but in the administration of his
Department, when in command at New
Orleans. We make the following ex-
tracts from the letter:
II WAS my SOOO AOTlulO anu pTlf1-
lege to be assigned to the staff of Gen.
Bntler-whom l had never met before
by the War Department, and / am
thus enabled to speak from an official
and personal acquaintance with the
facts. General Butler and part of his
staff did take possession of General
Twiggs' house, and for brief period
lived in it, until more convenient quar-
tiers could be obtained. Upon taking
possession, correct and complete in
ventory of all effects and valuables be-
longing to the absconding traitor,
Twiggs, was taken by order of General
await the action of the Government.
An inventory of the furniture of the
house, as we'll as that of all other ADAM
doned houses, was made by the Provost
Marshall, who was held responsible for
its safe keeping. This was the course
pursued towards properly of all des-
criptions abandoned by rebel owners.
No other property of any kind was
ever seized, to my knowledge. When
General Butler was relieved, he re-
quested General Banks to detail an Off
Ger to examine and make inventory of
all the plate which fell into our hands
by taking possession of Abandoned
houses. General Banks promptly de-
C5
al staff, to take possession and receipt
for this property, and, to my certain
knowledge, when receipted for every
article on the inventory was there.
General Butler has, and has always had,
this staff officers receipt in his posses
sion a certified copy is filed as the
usual voucher in the proper bureau of
the Treasury Department.. Every piece
of plate or other property which fell
into the hands of General Butler while
commanding the Army of the Gulf is
thus accounted for, and / have no
doubt that Captain Mcclure rendered a
satisfactory account of his stewardship
to his commanding officer, or to the
Government at Washington.
Now for the swords: Gen. Butler,
regarding them as trophies of war suit
able for such action, sent them to
Washington. Congress took charge of
them, passed a resolution consigning
one of them to West Point, to be there
preserved as warning to the cadets of
the fate of all traitors, and voted the
other to Gen. Butler. This disposition
was not ratified, l believe, by the Sen
ate, owing to the early adjournment of
that body, and the swords have since
remained in the treasury. Gen. Butler
was solicited by certain parties to in
tercede for their restoration, as they
are valuable, and promptly refused, as
he has consistently done when asked to
favor rebels. Hence, the lawsuit
brought by the woman Miss Florence,
who is not the niece of Gen. Twiggs.
81 have made this statement of the
facts in justice to Gen. Butler. When /
reported to him for duty L had never
seen him, but his effective and splendid
administration of affairs in the Gulf
epartment-infiexibly just to the rich
rebel, generously indulgent to the poor
oyalist-attached me stongly to him as
it did every member of his staff, most
class none too quick in those days to
affiliate with volunteer" generals.