New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-02-03
ale,r Orleats 3epubliea,l.
OFFICIAL JOURNAL or THE UNITED STATES
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS
TRUE STORY ABOUT GENERAL But
LEK.

.->~.,o>.>>>~o~o~>~~I>~~~
TRUE STORY ABOUT GENERAL But
LEK.
The Governor Of New Orleans the BeDc
factor Of n Starving Convcnt-The Gen
eral Gentleman to Southern Ladies
Who Were Really Such-Materiai fol
an Appendix to the Historical Novel o
!Ir. Mark PomerOy.
IFrom the Chicago Evening Post.i
We are going to write true story, and :
new one The subject is not very new. anC
vet not old: it is dle-aged-Benjamin r
Butler. We learned the facts from a source
whose integrity is truth itself. and although
the General may have forgotten tit wa:
never before in print-the ladies have not
The ladies' Yes, there are ladies i'll it.
Ii is, perhaps, unnecessary to remark thai
General Butler was once in command a
New Orleans. Equally useless is it to say
that little good of him was written OF
thought during his administration Of tha
incOrrigible department. aud that his
treatment" of Southern ladies was de
scribcd by adjectives Of 4 very severe i'm
port. Malignance in its very worst torn
found vent at his expense. and Beast But
Ier'' was the term by Which he and his
alleged character were best told III those
DAYS. both in the North and South.
Jbs II -
village not hundreds OF miles north of New
Orleans, on the Mississippi, which in war
days was limited to Convent otthe Sacred
Heart, that formed q favorite school for the
daughters of the rebels of the section. Per-
haps a dozen dwellings, surrounded this
main feature of the place, and st. Michaefs
was rebel from rim to core. Mother Shan
non was the AbbeSs of the convent and the
Superior of the school. She and her
daughters inireligion," certainly shared the
anti Yankee sentiment which so sadly strOve
to ruin them and us in common chaos; but
holding Old-time notions of woman's sphere
in political brOils, they were not loud in the
utterance of their thoughts. This ibid not
keep famine from the convent door, however:
there came day when the storehouse was
as barren as a Southern field trodden by
MOrgan's cavalry.
The Iarder shelves were on line impair
TALLY horizontal; neither fruit, nor fish. nor
flesh, nor cereal bore them down to tho :.c-
custOmed curve Of heaviness Hunger al
ready stalked among the houses of the vii
layers, and the famished people gathered at
the convent gate. clamoring for food. Mere
Shannon walked the convent sad and
prayerful, telling her beads. The silent.
whitc-veilcd nOvices fitted about their
usual duties, asking not question but
wondering. perhaps. how many fast days
there would be in the coming week. The
serious black wells, still more thoughtful.
gathered about Mere Shannon's chair. when
she sat at the evening recreation. and, read
ing the query in her eyes. beheld no answer.
If the nuns uttered 4 bon mo! that Right, it
must have been exquisitely spiritual
loud knocking resounded at the gate.
and messenger appeared, startled. and
breathless. A deputatiOn from Donaldson
vile, dozen miles nortlward on the river,
from the house of the Sisters of Charity,
waited to know if Mere Shannon would re-
ceive the sisters and their thirty orphan
girls, whose asylum had succumbed to the
fortunes of war, and who We're hOuseess
and hungry at Donaldsonville. Mother
Shannon is brave woman. but she
blanchcd little. The nuns were aston
iShed at the newly discovered distress.
and for the moment thought only OF Il
miracle.
Mon Dieu,' cried Mother Shannon. it is
impossible! We have no food; New Or
leans is under General Butler, and com
municatiOn with the city, SO far as the sup
plies are concerned is beyond my power.
Huch as | may regret it"
But she could not send the refusal. The
sisters and their whole flock OF orphans
were soon as comfortable within St. Nj
chaers walls as CHEEKY welcome and kindly
hands could make them. Mother Shannon
sat at her desk and wrote something like
this:
SIR: We have no food. but we have or
phans. Incloscd is a draft for $1,000 and am
order which we desire to have filled with
your permission. at New Orleans"
a faithful colored man was the deputation
who bore this document to Beast Butler
The general asked a few questions: the
contraband proved intelligent. and the
Beast learned the situation. A day or two
later a supply train reached St. Mchaels.
on ;,-ru tcl
note from the Beast, which read something
like this:
MADAM: l am sincerely sorry YOU and
your charge should suffer innocently by
this cruel war. Should other mistortunes
reach you please inform me at once
The supplies sent were found to be just
double the quantity of each article ordered:
and although the draft was not returned.
$4,000 in cash came in its place, and sup
ported the thirty orphans through later and
more bitter times. Few knew Of this action
OF General Butler, and he never told it.
On many succeeding occasions he was called
lIpon in the same straightforward womanly
way for aid and protection, and in every
instance were both given, justly and with
the courtesy of the gentleman. The
children of rebe! soldiers. fallen on the
wrong side of cruel war. had reason to
know what a strange kind of beast Beast"
Butler was at New Orleans. and the nuns
notion OF Yankees were VERY materially
modified. Mother Shannon- idea became |
gradually: when General Butler finds !
Southern ladies who do not forget that they
are such, they find Genera. Butte. :. gen
!lcman.'
An American Pres. Association dispatch |
reads:
WASHINGTON. Jan .a-- 3o.-!n recent !
conversation with prominent; New Yorker. +,
General Pleasanton salu ne was rec.;v;no |
at least twenty letters from tn. West 10 |
every one from New York and other sea
board cities in support Of IA" position lie