The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-02-09
''BeaSt BatleF"-l True StOFy OF His
Administration i'm New Orleans.

Administration in New Orleans.
/ We are going to write a true story
and new one. The subject Is moi
very new, and not vet old; it is mid
die aged-Benjamin Z. Butler. We
/ learned the facts from a source whose
. integrity is truth itself, and although
the General may have forgotten it
it was never before in print-the Iadie:
have not The ladies9 Yes, there art
ladies in it.
1t Is, perhaps, unnecessary to re-
mark that General Butler was in com
mand at New Orleans. Equally use
less Is 1t to say that the little good Oi
him was written or thought during
! his administration Of that incOrrigi-
bic department, and that his treat.
men" of Southern ladies was describ-
ed by adjeetives of q very severe i'm
port. Malignancy in its worst form
found vent at his expense, and Beast
Butler" was the term by which he and
his character were best told in those
days, both in the North and South.
/ st. Michael's is the name Of a pretty
little village not hundreds of miles
north of New Orleans, on the Missis-
sippi, which in the war days was linn
/ tied to a convent of the Sacred Heart,
l that formed a favOrite school for the
I daughters of the rebels of that section.
Perhaps dozen dwellings surround
ed this main feature of the case, and
| st. Michae's was rebel from rim 20
core. Mother Shannon was the Alb
bess of the convent and the Superior
of the school. She and her "daugh-
1 ters in religion" certainly shared the
anti-Yankee sentiment which so sad
/ " strOve to ruin them and us in COM
mon chaos; but holding old time no.
tions of woman's sphere in political
brOils, they were not loud in the ut
terance of their thoughts. This did
not keep famine from the convent
door, however; there came a day
when the storehouse was barren as a
Southern field trOdden by MOrgan's
cavalry.
A loud knocking resOunded at the
gate, and a messenger appeared start
led and bTeathless. a deputatiOn from
DOnaldsonville, a dozen miles north
ward on the river, from the house of
the Sisters of Charity, waited to know
if Mere Shannon would receive the Sis
ters and their thirty orphan girls,
whose asylum had succumbed to the
fortunes of war, and who who were
hOuseless and hungry at Donaldson
vile. Mother Shannon is a brave wO-
man, but she blanched O little. The
nuns were astOnished at the newly
discovered distress, and for the mo-
ment thought only of miracle.
90 Hon Tlfnaf ay-fr1 ATnNhar EHeara
non, ''it is impOssiblel We have no
food; New Orleans is under Gen eral
Butler, and communication with the
city, so far as the supplies are concern
ed, is beyond my power. Much as I
may regret it"
But she could not send the refusal.
The sisters and their whole flock of
orphans were soon as comfortable
within st. Michael's walls as CHEEKY
and kindly welcome could make them.
Mother Shannon sat her desk and
wrote something like this:
"Sir-We havenO food, but we have
orphans. InclOsed is a draft for ST.
600, and an order we desire to have
filled, with your permission, at New
Orleans.n
A faithful eolOred man was the de-
putatiOn who bore this document to
Beast Butler. The General asked a
few questions; the eOntraband prov
ed intelligent, and the Beast learned
the situation. A day or two later a
supply train reached st. MichaePs,
and the the messenger was intrusted
with note from the Beast which read
something like this:
'Madame-I am sincerely sorry you
and your charge should suffer inno-
Gently by this cruel war. Should 9TH
er misfOrtunes reach you, please in
form me at once"
The supplies sent were found to be
just double the quantity Of each arti-
Gle ordered; and although the draft
was not returned, $1,000 cash came in
its place, aud supported the thirty
orphans through later and more Bit
ter times. Few knew of this action
of General Butler, and he never told
it. On many succeeding occasions, he
was called apOn in the same straight
forward, wOmanly way for aid and
protection, in every instance were
both given, justly and with the court
esy of a gentleman. The children of
rebel soldiers, fallen on the wrong side
of a cruel war, had reason to know
what a strange kind of beast ''Beast''
Butler was at New Orleans, and the
nuns notions of yankees" were very
materially modified. Mother Shan
mons idea became gradually, "When
Gen. Butler finds Southern ladies who
do not forget that they are such, they
they find Gen. Butler a gentleman"
Chicago Post.