Year: 1862

HEADQUARTERS Department Of the Gull,


NEW ORLEANS, July 2.


Ny DEAR SIR: am as Jealous of the good
opinion of my friends as am careless Of the
slanders Of my enemies, and your kind ex-
pressions in regard to Order No. % lead me
to say a word to you on the subject.


That it ever could have been so misconceiv-
ed as it has been by some portions of the
Northern press, is wonderful, and would lead
one to exclaim with the Jew 80, Father
Abraham, what Christians these are, whose
own hard dealings teach them to suspect the
very thoughts Of others"


What was the state Of things to which the
woman order applied?


We were two thousand five hundred men
in a city seven miles long by two to four wide,
of hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants,
all hostile, bitter defiant explosive, standing
literally on a magazine; a spark only needed
for destruction. The devil had entered the
hearts of the women Of this town, Cyou know
seven Of them chose Mary Magdalen for a
residence to stir up strife in every way pos
ible. Every opprobrious epithet, every in
sulting gesture was made by those bejeweled,
becrinolined and laced creatures, calling them
selves ladies, towards my soldiers and officers
from the windows Of houses and in the streets.
How long do you suppose our flesh and blood
could have stood this without retort? That
would lead to disturbances and riot, from
which we must clear the streets with artillery
and then howl that we had murdered
these fine women. had arrested the men
who had hUYahed for Beauregard. Could l
arrest the women? No. What was to be
done? No order could be made save one
that would execute itself With anxious,
careful thought bit upon this: Women
who insult my soldiers are to be regarded and
treated as common women plying their vO-
cation"


Pray, how do you treat a common woman
plying her vocation in the streets2 You pass
her by unheeded. She cannot insult you I
As a gentleman, you can and viii take no no
tice of her If she speaks, her words are not
opprobrious. It is only when she becomes a
continued and positive nuisance that you call
a watchman and give her in charge to him.


But some of the Northern editors think
that whenever one meets such a woman, one
must stop her, talk to her, insult her, or hold
dalliance with her, and so from their own con-
duct they construed my order.


The editor Of the Boston Courier may so
deal with common women, and out Of the
abundance Of the heart his mouth may speak
but 50 do not I.


Why, those she adders of New Orleans
themselves were at once shamed into proprie-
ty Of conduct by the order, and from that day
no woman has either insulted or annoyed any
live soldier or officer, and of certainty no
soldier has insulted any woman.


When passed through Baltimore on the
23d of February last, members Of my staff
were insulied by the gestures Of the ladiesD
there. Not so in New Orleans.


One Of the worst possible of all these wo-
men showed disrespect to the remains of gal
liant young De Kay, and you will see her pun,
isbment, a copy of the order which I inclose
is at once a vindication and a construction 0
my order.


I can only say that I would issue it agar
under like circumstances. Again thanking
you for your kind interest,


l am truly your friend,


BENZ. +. BUTLER,


Maior-Gen. Commanding.


D.. En,..--nL