National Republican., 1880-09-09
BEN B UTLER As A MAJoR-GENERAL

Heavy Load for Hancock to Garry.
IT always thought Major.General Benjamin
+. Butler out Of place in and heavy load for
the republican party to carry, still am not
sorry ho has left tho party. l am suro my
friend, General Hancock, will find Ben quito
rs heavy a load to carry as Wade Hampton and
the solid south. / remember Ben when he
was playing major.general on tho Peninsula,
aud had his famous ''bull-pcn," in which he
used 10 keep his prisoners The officers of the
regulars assigned to Ben's command had n
good deal of fun at his expense. Indeed,
these West Point gentlemen made Ben the
butt of largo amount of ridlcule, for which
he at times cursed thom, and referred TO thom
as knavcs, who were continually throwing
impedimonts in his way. / remember an oc-
casion on which Ben ordered court
martial for the trial of two soldiers.
The court was composed of three West Point
and two volunteer officers. The court, after
due deliberation, found tho offenders guilty,
and gravoly sentenced them 10 hard labor for
life on Dutch Gap. Ben cast his weather eye
over the findings and sentence, and at once
took in the meaning of the latter Instead of
approving the sentence, he reprimanded the
court and sent the prisoners back to their regi
ments. Hard labor for life on Dutch Gap,
eli 2 said Ben. Instead of getting bottled up,
there is no knowing how many battles Ben
would have fought, or how many victories he
would have won, had it not been for those mis-
chievous West Pointers.
II cannot close this chapter" says one of
our military writer's In 1864, without briefly
referring TO a matter which gave us much
trouble, and at times caused serious confusion
on the peninsular. 1t was the utter want of
| correct information concerning the onemy's
strength and Positions rs well as the topog-
| raphy of tho country. This was not very
creditable to the generals who had commanded
Mt Fort Monroe previous to our arrival. Dur
ing march of scarcely twenty miles our
army was twice thrown into confusion by the
inaccuracy of maps furnished usas true guides
by Butler aud other generals Of equal rcnown
| One of these maps had imaginary islands and
streams tho inhabitants had never heard of
marked down ou it. l heard an officer say
either Butler had employed blind man to
| make his maps or the mischievous West
Pointers of his command had been practicing
another joke Mt his expense
After the scandalous disaster at Big Bethel,
Butler and his staff seem to have come to the
conclusion that 1t was safer to turn an honest
penny in little trade than TO venture to tho
front in pursuit of knowledge that might be
useful in u military way. Ii is said some.
where that the devil, having done all the
mischief he could, must needs turn rciormer,
and TO that end put on the armOr OF saint
| anu MCnb uDuub WIN ulh MINUS uDllltGu III
search of cure for his smitten conscience.
But so shrewd saint was this dovil that he
| came in time to use his new occupation rs Il
means of profit. And this so bent the ambi-
| tiOn OF his soul that he eventually fell u mar
tyr to his love of gain. Perhaps this case of
the devil does not bear any resemblance TO
that Of General Butler, and perhaps 1t does.
At least the general was content TO believe
he had performed the duties Of q maor-gen-
| nrnl commanding yvhnn hn had nroaniynI a
system of moral reform for freedmen with
whom he had suddenly fallen in love and
now worshiped with the zeal of an apostato
That may have been necessary for every new
roformer who sets himself up us teacher oi
the people and who has trouble in making
them believe him sincere. Hence his anxiety
| to punish those who refused to accept his
mode of repentance as true.
Before Butler became q maior-goneral and
went soldering, his political master was Mr..
Jefferson Davis, the man who has now set up
government of his own at Richmond, and is
now making such desperate efforts to maintain
| IL. This ambitious master he served well and
faithfully, assisting him to drive home the last
rivet in the fetters that were to bind more
| gallingy the despised and down.trodden
slave. And yet he forgot that in doing this
servile work for SO naughty u master he was
| insulting the manhood of the great free north
and the great free west. Saddest of AL, this
ungratefu master betrayed his too willing
servant as soon as his despicable work was
done, and sent him away without his wages.
Was not that thing enough to make an as
piring gentleman, left without party or politi.
cal leg to stand on, suddenly tack his political
ship and go in search of new fields for the
exercise of his peculiar genius? Is il any
wonder that he bore down upon his old friends
the lre-eaters, with all the force of outraged
patriotism2 1t was asking too much Of this
majOr-general that he care for and attend to
tho discipline oil his troops; that he got infor-
nation concerning the enemy beyond his
picket lne that he fight battles, gain VIC
tories aud show his misunderstanding West
Pointers that he elnew what war was, lie had
to show unboundcd lovo for race he had
helped to keep in degradation; in short, he
had to wink at mammon and prove to the in
nocent that there was no dross in his philan.
|