The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1893-01-13
Buffers Military Career.

Buffers Military Career.
It was in his capacity as an officer of
the Massachusetts militia that he en-
tered the service of the United States,
April Is, 1867. On the 10Th he started
for Washington, and his experience at
Annapolis, Md, from which his troops
repaired the railway and locomotives
and ran the latter, was one of the most
Interesting and encouraging incidents of
the time.
March 90, 1862, the so called Butler
expedition reached and took possession
of Ship island; April II it started up the
Mississippi, and May 1 took formal
possession of Now Orleans. For the
next twenty months General Butler was
the most talked about and most thor
oughly hated man in America. He has
undoubtedly been threatened with sud
den death oftener than any other man in
the world, except the car of Russia, but
verified the problem by living long.
His first important act was to seize
$500, 900, which had been deposited in
the Office of the Dutch consul, ON the
ground that it was for Confederate uses.
With this and money subsequently OBJ
tanned by ''asking banks and mer-
chants" for an amount equal to what
they had subscribed for the Confederacy,
he fed and provided for the poor of the
city and paid for administering the local
government. On the 18th of May he is
sued the famous ''Order, 49," known as
the :'Woman Order" to the effect that
''any female who shall by word GESTURE
or movement insult or show contempt
for any officer or soldier of the United
States, shall be regarded and held liable
to be treated as a woman of the town
plying her vocation"
Dec. Is, 1869, he was recalled, and he
always believed that it was at the insti-
cation of Louis Napoleon. Late in 1868
he was placed in command of the coast
division of Virginia and North Carolina,
In December, 1864, General Butler
Joined n the failure at Fort Fisher"
of which so much has recently been
said, and soon after was removed from
command by General Grant.
Buffers Political Life.
OF course no prominent American Of
the era since 1850 has been quite con-
sistent-eventS moved too rapidly for
that. But there Is a higher kind of con-
sistency of always aiming at the
best results-which many can claim;
and General Butler always claimed for
himself that in each new situation that
developed he took that side which he
thought best for the laboring millions.
From the first day of his law practice to
the last he was ever ready to take the
case of a poor person who complained of
oppression for a small fee or none.
In 1861 he was elected to congress by
the Republicans, but though he strug-
gled long and earnestly for it they
would never give him the governorship.
In congress he was hard and success
full fighter till the Hayes administration
came in; then the issues on which he
had fought seemed to become obsolete
all at once, and on the new issues he
was singularly unfortunate. In 1882
there was CLEAN of success; by COM
bination of Democrats and Greenback-
ers he became governor of Massachu-
sets. His term as governor was pic
turesque throughout. 1t is best remem-
bered, perhaps, by the reason of the ex-
posureS of the abuses in the management
of the Tewksbury almshouse. The
next years vote showed that his politi-
cal power was on the wane, and the
vote for him for president on the Green
back-Labor ticket in 1884 proved that it
was not only waning, but was about
styyaned out. Thereafter he ranked as
what one might call an independent
Democratic-Liab -Greenbacker.