Nathaniel P . Banks Nathaniel Prentice ( or Prentiss ) Banks ( January 30 , 1816 – September 1 , 1894 ) was an American politician and soldier , Speaker of the House , Governor of Massachusetts , and a Union general during the American Civil War . A millworker by background , Banks was prominent in local debating societies , and his oratorical skills were noted by the Democratic Party . But his abolitionist views fitted him better for the nascent Republican Party , through which he became Speaker of the U . S . House of Representatives in 1856 and Governor of Massachusetts in 1857 . At the outbreak of the civil war , Lincoln appointed Banks as one of the first ‘ political ’ major generals , over the heads of West Point regulars , who initially resented him , but came to acknowledge his influence on the administration of the war . After suffering an inglorious defeat in the Shenandoah at the hands of the newly famous ‘ Stonewall ’ Jackson , Banks replaced Benjamin Butler at New Orleans as commander of the Department of the Gulf , charged with liberating the Mississippi . But he failed to reinforce Grant at Vicksburg , and only took the surrender of Port Hudson after Vicksburg had fallen , making further resistance futile . Banks was then put in charge of the Red River campaign , a doomed attempt to occupy eastern Texas . Banks had no faith in this strategy , but the outgoing General - in - Chief , Henry Halleck , is believed to have told Grant that it was Banks ’ idea , in order to dodge responsibility for this expensive failure , for which Banks was removed from command . After the war , Banks returned to the Massachusetts political scene , where he influenced the Alaska Purchase legislation and supported women ' s suffrage . Early life . Nathaniel Startle Prentice Banks was born at Waltham , Massachusetts , the first child of Nathaniel P . Banks , Sr . , and Rebecca Greenwood Banks , on January 30 , 1816 . His father worked in the textile mill of the Boston Manufacturing Company , eventually becoming a foreman . Banks went to local schools until the age of fourteen , at which point the family ' s financial demands compelled him to take a job in the mill . He was a bobbin boy , responsible for replacing bobbin s full of thread with empty ones . Because of this he became known as Bobbin Boy Banks , a nickname he carried throughout his life . He was eventually apprenticed as a mechanic alongside Elias Howe . Recognizing the value of education , he continued to read , sometimes walking to Boston on his days off to visit the Atheneum Library . He attended company - sponsored lectures by luminaries of the day including Daniel Webster and other orators . He formed a debate club with other mill workers to improve their oratorical skills , and took up acting . He became involved in the local temperance movement ; speaking at its events brought him to the attention of Democratic Party leaders , who asked him to speak at campaign events during the 1840 elections . He honed his oratorical and political skills by emulating Robert Rantoul , Jr . , a Democratic Congressman who also had humble beginnings . His success as a speaker convinced him to quit the mill . He first worked as an editor for two short - lived political newspapers ; after they failed he ran for a seat in the state legislature in 1844 , but lost . He then applied to Rantoul , who had been appointed Collector of the Port of Boston , for a job . The job gave him sufficient security that he was able to marry Mary Theodosia Palmer , an ex - factory employee he had been courting for some time . Banks ran unsuccessfully for the state legislature in 1847 . Antebellum political career . In 1848 Banks was victorious in a second run for the state legislature , successfully organizing elements in Waltham whose votes were not easily controlled by the Whig - controlled Boston Manufacturing Company ( which could effectively compel votes for Whigs because there was no secret ballot ) . He was at first moderate on the expansion of slavery , but recognizing the potency of the burgeoning abolitionist movement , he became more strongly attached to that cause . This brought Banks , along with fellow Democrats Rantoul and George S . Boutwell to form a coalition with the Free Soil Party that successfully gained control of the legislature and governor ' s chair . The deals negotiated after the coalition win in the 1850 election put Boutwell in the governor ' s chair and made Banks the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives . Although Banks did not like the radical Free Soiler Charles Sumner , he supported the coalition agreement that resulted in Sumner ' s election to the United States Senate . His role as house speaker and his effectiveness in conducting business raised his status significantly , as did work he did on the side for the state Board of Education . Congress . In 1852 Banks sought the Democratic nomination for a seat in the United States Congress . While it was at first granted , his refusal to disavow abolitionist positions meant party support was withdrawn . He ended up winning a narrow victory with Free Soil support . In 1853 he presided over the state Constitutional Convention of 1853 . This convention produced a series of proposals for constitutional reform , including a new constitution , all of which were rejected by voters . The failure , which was led by Whigs and conservative anti - abolitionist Democrats , spelled the end of the Democratic - Free Soil coalition . In Congress Banks sat on the Committee of Military Affairs . He bucked the Democratic party line by voting against the Kansas - Nebraska Act , which overturned the 1820 Missouri Compromise . Supported by his constituents , he then publically endorsed the abolitionist cause . In 1854 he formally joined the Know Nothing cause , was renominated for Congress by the Democrats and Free Soilers , and won an easy victory in the Know Nothing landslide . In 1855 Banks agreed to chair the convention of a new Republican Party convention , whose platform was intended to bring together antislavery interests from the Democrats , Whigs , Free Soilers , and Know Nothings . When Know Nothing Governor Henry Gardner refused to join in the fusion , Banks carefully kept his options open , passively supporting the Republican effort but also avoiding criticism of Gardner in his speeches . Gardner was reelected . At the opening of the Thirty - Fourth Congress in December 1855 , men from several parties opposed to slavery ' s spread gradually united in supporting Banks for speaker . After the longest and one of the most bitter speakership contests on record , lasting from December 3 , 1855 to February 2 , 1856 , Banks was chosen on the 133rd ballot . This has been called the first national victory of the Republican party . He gave antislavery men important posts in Congress for the first time , and cooperated with investigations of both the Kansas conflict and the caning of Senator Charles Sumner . Because of his fairness in dealing with the numerous factions , as well his parliamentary ability , Banks was lauded by others in the body , including former Speaker Howell Cobb , who called him " in all respects the best presiding officer [ I ] had ever seen . " Banks played a key role in 1856 in bringing forward John C . Frémont as a moderate Republican presidential nominee . Because of his success as speaker , Banks was considered a possible presidential contender , and his name was put in nomination by supporters ( knowing that he supported Frémont ) at the Know Nothing convention , held one week before the Republicans met . Banks then refused the Know Nothing nomination , leaving them little option but to support Frémont . Banks was active on the stump in support of Frémont , who lost the election to James Buchanan ; Banks easily won reelection to his own seat . Democrats , however , regained control of the House of Representatives , depriving him of the speakership . Governor of Massachusetts . In 1857 Banks ran for Governor of Massachusetts against the incumbent Henry Gardner . His nomination by the Republicans was contentious , with opposition coming primarily from radical antislavery interests opposed to his comparatively moderate stand on the issue . After a contentious campaign Banks won a comfortable victory . Banks ' tenure in office coincided with a period of government contraction forced by the depression of those years . He made a serious attempt to gain the Republican presidential nomination in 1860 , but discord within his party in Massachusetts , a residence in a " safe " Republican state , and his Know - Nothing past doomed his chances . He then was briefly resident director in Chicago , Illinois , of the Illinois Central Railroad , hired primarily to promote sale of the railroad ' s extensive lands . Civil War . As the Civil War became imminent , President Abraham Lincoln considered Banks for a cabinet post , and eventually chose him as one of the first major general s of volunteers , appointing him on May 16 , 1861 . Perceptions that the Massachusetts militia was well organized and armed at the beginning of the Civil War likely played a role in the appointment decision , as Banks had also been considered for quartermaster general . He was initially resented by many of the generals who had graduated from the United States Military Academy , but Banks , given his national prominence as a leading Republican , brought political benefits to the administration , including the ability to attract recruits and money for the Union cause . First command . Banks first commanded at Annapolis , Maryland , suppressing support for the Confederacy in a slave - holding state that was at risk of seceding , then was sent to command on the upper Potomac when Brig . Gen . Robert Patterson failed to move aggressively in that area . The Shenandoah Valley Campaign . When Maj . Gen . George B . McClellan entered upon his Peninsula Campaign in spring 1862 , the important duty of keeping the Confederate forces of Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley from reinforcing the defenses of Richmond fell to the two divisions commanded by Banks . When Banks ' s men reached the southern Valley at the end of a difficult supply line , the president recalled them to Strasburg , Virginia , at the northern end . Jackson then marched rapidly down the adjacent Luray Valley , driving Banks ' s retreating men from Winchester , Virginia , on May 25 , and north to the Potomac River . Jackson ' s campaign of maneuver and lightning strikes against superior forces in the Valley — under Banks and other Union generals — humiliated the North and made him one of the most famous generals in American history . On August 9 , Banks again encountered Jackson at Cedar Mountain , in Culpeper County , and attacked him to gain early advantage , but a Confederate counterattack led by A . P . Hill repulsed Banks ' s corps and won the day . The arrival at the end of the day of Union reinforcements under Maj . Gen . John Pope , as well as the rest of Jackson ' s men , resulted in a two - day stand - off there . The Northern newspapers provided flattering versions of Banks ' s performance while Southern newspapers called the battle a Southern victory . Banks made numerous tactical errors before and during the battle , including poor placement of troops , inadequate reconnaissance , and failing to commit reserve resources when he had a chance to break the Confederate line . The Army of the Gulf . Banks next received command of the defense forces at Washington . In November 1862 he was asked to organize a force of thirty thousand new recruits , drawn from New York and New England . As a former governor of Massachusetts , he was politically connected to the governors of these states , and the recruitment effort was successful . In December he sailed from New York with a this large force of raw recruits to replace Maj . Gen . Benjamin Butler at New Orleans , Louisiana , as commander of the Department of the Gulf . According to historian John D . Winters , " Butler hated Banks and was jealous of his political success and his ' reputation of being the best general selected from civil life . ' " Nevertheless , Butler , " swallowing his bitter pill with a show of good grace " welcomed Banks to New Orleans and briefed him on civil and military affairs of importance . Gideon Welles , Secretary of the Navy , doubted the wisdom of replacing Butler [ a later Massachusetts governor ] with Banks . According to historian Winters , " Welles ' s opinion of the military abilities of both men was very low , but he did not question Butler ' s skill as a ' police magistrate ' in charge of civil affairs . Banks , he thought did not have ' the energy , power or ability of Butler . ' He did have ' some ready qualities for civil administration , ' but was less reckless and unscrupulous ' and probably would not be able to hold a tight enough rein on the people " once placed under Union control . " Mrs . Banks joined her husband in New Orleans and held lavish dinner parties for the benefit of Union soldiers and their families . On April 12 , 1864 , she played the role of the " Goddess of Liberty " surrounded by all of the states of the reunited country . She did not then know of her husband ' s unhappy fate at the Battle of Mansfield just three days earlier . By July 4 , 1864 , however , New Orleans had recovered from the Red River Campaign to hold another mammoth concert extolling the Union . Banks issued orders to his men prohibiting pillage , but the undisciplined troops had chosen to disobey them , particularly when near a prosperous plantation . A soldier of the New York 114th wrote : " The men soon learned the pernicious habit of slyly leaving their places in the ranks when opposite a planter ' s house . . . . Oftentimes a soldier can be found with such an enormous development of the organ of destructiveness that the most severe punishment cannot deter him from indulging in the breaking of mirrors , pianos , and the most costly furniture . Men of such reckless disposition are frequently guilty of the most horrible desecrations . " Banks ' orders were to ascend the Mississippi River to join forces with Ulysses S . Grant , who was then trying to capture Vicksburg . However , he did not immediately attempt the capture of Port Hudson , Louisiana , the main Confederate stronghold below Vicksburg , because the garrison was reported to be large . He did detach forces that engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to gain control of Galveston , Texas , and sent troops to take out of commission a Confederate gunboat on Bayou Teche . Siege of Port Hudson . In March 1863 naval commander David Farragut sought to run the river past Port Hudson in a bid to control the Mississippi between Port Hudson and Vicksburg , and convinced Banks to make a diversionary land attack on the confederate stronghold . Banks marched with 12 , 000 men from Baton Rouge on March 13 , but was unable to reach the enemy position due to inaccurate maps . He then compounded the failure to engage the enemy with miscommunications with Farragut , promising a diversionary attack . The naval commander successfully navigated two gunboats past Port Hudson , taking fire and without any diversionary attack . Banks ended up retreating back to Baton Rouge , his troops plundering all along the way . The episode was a further blow to Banks ' reputation as a military commander , leaving many with the false impression he had not wanted to support Farragut . Banks embarked on operations to secure a route that bypassed Port Hudson via the Red River in late March . He was eventually able to reach Alexandria , Louisiana , but stiff resistance from the smaller forces of Confederate General Richard Taylor meant he did not get there until early May . His army seized thousands of bales of cotton , and Banks claimed to have interrupted supplies to Confederate forces further east . During these operations Admiral Farragut turned command of the naval forces assisting Banks to David Porter , with whom Banks had a difficult and prickly relationship . Following a request from Grant for assistance against Vicksburg , Banks finally laid siege to Port Hudson in May 1863 . Two attempts to carry the works by storm , as at Vicksburg , were dismal failures . The first , made against the entrenched enemy on May 27 , failed because of inadequate reconnaissance and because Banks failed to ensure the attacks along the line were coordinate . After a bloody repulse , Banks continued the siege , and launched a second assault on June 14 . It was also badly coordinated , and the repulse was equally bloody : each of the two attacks resulted in more than 1 , 800 Union casualties . The Confederate garrison under General Franklin Gardner surrendered on July 9 , 1863 , after receiving word that Vicksburg had fallen . This brought the entire Mississippi River under Union control . Port Hudson was the first time African American soldiers were used in a major Civil War battle . In the autumn of 1863 , Banks organized two seaborne expeditions to Texas , chiefly for the purpose of preventing the French in Mexico from aiding the Confederates or occupying Texas . He eventually secured possession of the region near the mouth of the Rio Grande and the Texas outer islands . Red River Campaign . In 1863 Chief of Staff Henry Halleck continually promoted to Banks the Red River Campaign , and implied that the other major commanders favored the expedition . Banks in 1863 had disagreed with the Red River plan , hoping instead to mount sea expeditions to capture the Galveston area and Mobile . General Grant considered this a strategic distraction , as he wanted Banks to drive east to capture Mobile , Alabama , as part of a coordinated series of offensives in the spring of 1864 . When preparations for the 1864 Red River expedition were far advanced , Halleck wrote Banks he was withdrawing any suggestion as to action after receiving from Banks a detailed negative report about the operation . There is no evidence Halleck provided the negative report on the Red River to Grant , who was being asked for input on overall operations at the time . Halleck began referring to the Red River expedition as Banks ' s plan in keeping with an established pattern of deflecting responsibility . The campaign lasted from March to May 1864 . Banks ' s army was routed at the Battle of Mansfield by General Richard Taylor ( son of former President Zachary Taylor ) and retreated to make a stand the next day at the Battle of Pleasant Hill . Despite winning a tactical victory at Pleasant Hill , Banks continued the retreat to Alexandria , his force rejoined part of the Federal Inland Fleet . That naval force under David Dixon Porter had joined the Red River Campaign to support the army and to take on cotton as lucrative prizes of war , and Banks had allowed rich speculators to come along for the gathering of cotton . The cooperating land force was unable to arrive overland from Arkansas , having been turned back during the Camden Expedition ; two attached corps belonging to General William T . Sherman acted semi - independently ; and , the river had dangerously low water levels . Part of Porter ' s large fleet became trapped above the falls at Alexandria by the low water . Banks and others approved a plan proposed by Joseph Bailey to build wing dams as a means to raise what little water was left in the channel . In ten days , 10 , 000 troops built two dams , and managed to rescue Porter ' s fleet , allowing all to retreat to the Mississippi River . After the campaign , just before General Sherman began his operations against Atlanta , Sherman said of the Red River campaign that it was " One damn blunder from beginning to end . " On April 22 , 1864 , Grant wired Chief of Staff Halleck asking for Banks ' s removal . He was replaced by Edward Canby , who was promoted to major general . The Confederates held the Red River for the remainder of the war . They finally surrendered in June 1865 , two months after Confederate General Robert E . Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House in Virginia . Louisiana Reconstruction . Banks undertook a number of steps intended to facilitate the Reconstruction plans of President Lincoln in Louisiana . When Banks arrived in New Orleans , the atmosphere was somewhat hostile to the Union owing to some of Butler ' s actions . Banks moderated some of Butler ' s policies , freeing civilians that Butler had detained and reopening churches whose ministers refused to support the Union . He recruited large numbers of blacks for the military , and instituted a formal work program to organize the many slaves who had wandered from their plantations , believing they had been freed . Because Banks believed the plantation owners would need to play a role in Reconstruction , the work program was not particularly friendly to the blacks , requiring them to sign year - long work contracts , and subjecting vagrant blacks to involuntary public work . In August 1863 , President Lincoln ordered Banks to oversee the creation of a new state constitution , and in December granted him wide - ranging authority to oversee the creation of a new civilian government . However , because voter enrollment was low , Banks cancelled planned Congressional elections , and worked with civilian authorities to increase enrollment rates . After a February 1864 election organized by Banks , a Unionist government was elected in Louisiana , and Banks optimistically reported to Lincoln that Louisiana would " become in two years , under a wise and strong government , one of the most loyal and prosperous States the world has ever seen . " A constitutional convention held from April to July 1864 drafted a new constitution that provided for the emancipation of slaves . Banks was a significant influence on the convention , insisting that provisions be included for black education and at least partial suffrage . By the time the convention ended , Banks ' s Red River Campaign had come to its ignominious end and Banks was superseded in military matters by General Canby . President Lincoln ordered Banks to oversee elections held under the new constitution in September , and then ordered him to return to Washington to lobby Congress for acceptance of Louisiana ' s constitution and elected Congressmen . Congress refused to seat Louisiana ' s two Congressmen in early 1865 . After six months , Banks returned to Louisiana to resume his military command under Canby . However , he was politically trapped between the civilian government and Canby , and resigned from the army in May 1865 after only one month in New Orleans . He returned to Massachusetts in September 1865 . A secret presidential investigating commission headed by conservative Democrats William Farrar Smith and James T . Brady in early 1865 sought without success to connect Banks with vice and irregular trading permits in the New Orleans area . The somewhat one - sided final commission report , which did not specifically accuse him of wrongdoing , was never released . But Banks had definitely granted special favors without apparent compensation to men later connected to the Crédit Mobilier scandal and to a few others of questionable reputation . Postbellum career . Banks was once again elected as a representative to Congress , serving from 1865 to 1873 , during which time he chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee and sometimes also headed the Republican caucus . He played a key role in the final passage of the Alaska Purchase legislation , supported women ' s suffrage , and was one of the strongest early advocates of Manifest Destiny . Banks ' s financial records strongly suggest he received a large gratuity from the Russian minister after the Alaska legislation passed . Banks wanted the United States to acquire Canada and the Caribbean islands to reduce European influence in the region . He also served on the committee investigating the Crédit Mobilier scandal . Unhappy with the administration of President Ulysses Grant , in 1872 he joined the Liberal - Republican revolt in support of Horace Greeley . While Banks was campaigning across the North for Greeley , an opponent successfully gathered enough support in his Massachusetts district to defeat him as the joint Liberal - Republican and Democratic candidate . Banks thought his involvement with a start - up Kentucky railroad and other railroads would substitute for the political loss . But the Panic of 1873 doomed the railroad , and Banks went on the lecture circuit and was elected to the Massachusetts Senate . In 1874 , he was elected to Congress again as an independent and served the following two terms ( 1875 – 1879 ) . He was a member of the committee investigating the irregular 1876 elections in South Carolina . After he was defeated in 1878 , President Rutherford B . Hayes appointed him as United States marshal for Massachusetts as a patronage reward for his service . He held the post from 1879 until 1888 , but exercised poor oversight over his subordinates , and consequently became embroiled in legal action over the recovery of unpaid fees . In 1888 Banks once again won a seat in Congress . He played little role , because his mental health was failing . After one term he was not renominated , and retired to Waltham . His health continued to deteriorate , and he was briefly sent to McLean Hospital shortly before his death in Waltham on September 1 , 1894 . His death made nationwide headlines ; he is buried in Waltham ' s Grove Hill Cemetery . Legacy and honors . Fort Banks in Winthrop , Massachusetts , built in the late 1890s , was named for him . A statue of him stands in Waltham ' s Central Square , and Banks Street in New Orleans is named after him .