unhappy state of facts; yet, for the good of all, some stringent measures upon the subject are necessary. "Hereafter, all packages brought into this department for any officer of whatever grade, will be subjected to the most rigid inspection; and all spirituous and intoxicating liquors therein will be taken and turned over to the use of the medical department. Any officer who desires may be present at the inspection of his own packages. "No sale of intoxicating liquor will be allowed in this department, and any citizen selling will be immediately sent out. "If any officer finds the use of intoxicating liquor necessary for his health, or the health of any of his men, a written application to the medical director will be answered; and the general is confident that there is a sufficient store for all necessary purposes. "The medical director will keep a record of all such applications, the name of the applicant, date of application, amount and kind of liquor delivered, to be open at all times for public inspection. "In view of the alarming increase in the use of this deleterious article, the general earnestly exhorts all officers and soldiers to use their utmost exertions, both of influence and example, to prevent the wasting effects of this scourge of all armies. "The general commanding does not desire to conceal the fact that he has been accustomed to the use of wine and liquors in his own quarters, and to furnish them to his friends; but as he desires never to ask either officers or men to undergo any privation which he will not share with thein, he will not exempt himself from the operation of this order, but will not use it in his own quarters, as he would discourage its use in the quarters of any other officer. Amid the many sacrifices of time, property, health and life, which the officers and soldiers of his command are making in the service of their country, the general commanding feels confident that this, so slight, but so necessary a sacrifice of a luxury, and pandering to appetite, will be borne most cheerfully, now that its evil is seen and appreciated. "This order will be published by reading it at the head of every battalion, at their several evening parades. "By command of "T. J. HAINES, A. A. A. General." "MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER. The whisky at Fortress Monroe inspired one piece of wit, which amused the command. This was the time when it was customary to "administer the oath" to arrested secessiorists, and set them at liberty. A scouting party having brought in a rattlesnake, the question arose what should be done with it. A drunken soldier hiccoughed out: "d-n him, swear him in and let him go."* With equal vigor, General Butler made war upon a practice which no commanding officer has ever been able entirely to suppress, that of plundering abandoned houses. The possession of a chair, a table, a piece of carpet, an old kettle, or even a piece of plank, adds so much to the comfort of men in camp, that the temptation to help themselves to such articles is sometimes irresistible. If any man could have prevented plundering, Wellington was that individual; but he could not, though he possessed and used the power to hang offenders on the spot. Subsequent investigation proved *It also gave rise to the following correspondence: "ASTORIA, N. Y., July 26, 1861. "General B. F. BUTLER-SIR: You are aware of the interest felt by the loyal people of this country in their army. Men and women are ready to do all in their power to sustain and encourage the noble men who have gone forth to defend our country. This very day many of the ladies of this village have been seen hard at work making up garments and other things for hospital use. Our ladies here sent a large quantity of articles to Fort Monroe, and have others ready to send. I doubt not in other places thousands have been similarly employed. This being the case, we feel that everything affecting the character of our army concerns us. A lady in the village has receiv. ed a letter from a soldier under your command, a reliable man, who says, one of the officers has been drunk a week. An army in which such conduct is tolerated, is of course demoralized. 1 felt it my duty as a citizen to inform you of the impression made by such a statement on all who hear it. Our cause is hopeless if such men are to hold office in our army, or if such conduct does not receive condign punishment. Most respectfully yours, B. F. STEAD, Pastor of the Presbyterian church, Astoria, L. 1." "HEAD-QUARTErs, Department of Virginia, July 29, 1861. "MY DEAR SIR: Your note received. I am pained by its contents. 'A reliable man says that an officer has been drunk for a week.' "I did not appoint this officer. I do not know who he is. I have no means of knowing unless the reliable man' will complain of him to me. I do not tolerate' such conduct. Why did the people of his county, who must have known that officer's habits, allow him to be commissioned? Why did this reliable man vote for him? "I have established a scrutiny over the packages sent to the men to have them cleared of liquor given by misguiding friends: and have taken away to be turned over to hospital as many as one hundred and five packages of liquor a day from one express company. "I have assumed that the officers chosen and commissioned by the state of New York could be trusted to receive unopened packages from their friends. If in your judgment they can not be so isted, please apply to the governor, and upon his suggestion I will have the stores and boxes nt to New York officers seized and searched. "No spirituous liquors are permitted to be sold within the lines in my department; and every barrel of whisky not under the charge of an officer, when there is reason to believe sales have been made, has been stove and contents spilled, and the seller sent out of the lines. I have no power to discharge a drunken or incompetent officer I can only call a court-martial when charges are preferred. If I prefer charges I can not call a court. I assure you, sir, a court-martial is as unwieldy a machine for investigating a certain class of offenses as a council of ministers would be. I have appeared before both tribunals as advocate, and know how difficult it is to convict in either. "But, sir, have the charges made, and the reliable man sent as a witness, and I will have the officer punished if possible. Thanking you for the interest you take in the case, "I am, most respectfully yours, BENJAMIN F. BUTLER." that our troops around Fortress Monroe plundered little, considering their opportunities and their temptation. But that little was disgraceful enough, and gave rise to much clamor. All that any man could have done to prevent and punish offenses of this nature was done by the commanding general.* No man abhorred plunderng more than Colonel Phelps; but he could not quite prevent it. Coming in to dinner one day, he saw upon the table a porcelain dish filled with green peas. He stood for a moment with eyes fixed upon the suspicious vessel, wrath gathering in his face. "Take that dish away," said he, in a tone of fierce command for so gentle a man. The alarmed contraband prepared to obey, but ventured to ask what he should do with the peas. "Put them into a wash-basin, if you can't find anything better. But take that dish away, and never let me see it again." The dish was removed, and Colonel Phelps ordered it to be taken to the hospital for the use of the sick. One truth became very clear to General Butler while he held command in Virginia. It was, that men enlisted for short terms can not, as a rule, be relied upon for effective service. When the time of the three months men was half expired, all other feelings seemed to be merged in the longing for release. Like boys at school before the holidays, they would cut notches in a stick and erase one every day; and, as the time of return home drew nearer, * The following order on this subject was issued during the first week of General Butler's command:"HEAD-QUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA, May 26, 1861. "The general in command of this department has learned with pain that there are instances of depredation on private property, by some persons who have smuggled themselves among the soldiers under his command. This must not and shall not be. The rights of private property and of peaceable citizens must be respected. When the exigencies of the service require that private property be taken for public use, it must be done by proper officers, giving suitable vouchers therefor. It is made the special duty of every officer in command of any post of troops on detached service, or in camp, to exercise the utmost vigilance in this behalf, to cause all offenders in the matter of this order to be sent to head-quarters for punishment, and such measure of justice will then be meted out to them as is due to thieves and plunderers. "If any corps shall share or aid in receiving such plundered property or offenders, such corps shall be dealt with in its organization in such a manner as to check such practices. "This order will be promulgated by being three times read with distinctness to each battalion at evening parade. "Any citizen at peace with the United States, despoiled in his person or property by any of the troops in this department, will confer a favor by promptly reporting the outrage to the nearest officer. "By order of "BENJ. F. BUTLER, Major-General Commanding." they would cut half a notch away at noon. It appeared that shortterm troops are efficient for not more than half their time of enlistment; after that, their hearts are at home, not in their duty. The general was of opinion, that an army, if possible, should be enlisted not for any definite term, but for the war; thus supplying the men with a most powerful motive for efficient action; the homeward path lying through victory over the enemy. CHAPTER IX. RECALL FROM VIRGINIA. THE visitors attracted to the fortress severely taxed the time and hospitality of the general in command and of the gracious lady who presided at his table. Senators, representatives, governors, editors, officers, private persons, crowded that table to the number of thirty a day. Some enterprising individuals even projected grand excursions to the fortress, threatening it with steamboat loads of pleasure seekers. An order was issued to prevent such an untimely irruption, and requiring a special permit to land. Mr. Russell of the London Times has given as an amusing record of his visit to the fortress. General Butler went the rounds with him. "The day," he reports, "was excessively hot, and many of the soldiers were lying down in the shade of arbors formed of branches from the neighboring pine wood, but most of them got up when they heard the general was coming round. A. sentry walked up and down at the end of the street, and as the general came up to him he called out 'Halt.' The man stood still. 'I just want to show you, sir, what scoundrels our government has to deal with This man belongs to a regiment which has had new clothing recently served out to it. Look what it is made of.' So saying the general stuck his fore-finger into the breast of the man's coat, and with a rapid scratch of his nail tore open the cloth as if it was of blotting paper. 'Shoddy, sir. Nothing but shoddy. I wish I had these contractors in the trenches here, and if hard work would not make honest men of them, they'd have enough of it to be examples for the rest of their fellows.' "In the course of our rounds we were joined by Colonel Phelps, who was formerly in the United States army, and saw service in Mexico, but retired because he did not approve of the manner in which promotions were made, and who only took command of a Massachusetts regiment because he believed he might be instru mental in striking a shrewd blow or two in this great battle of Armageddon—a tall, saturnine, gloomy, angry-eyed, sallow man, soldier-like too, and one who places old John Brown on a level with the great martyrs of the Christian world. * * "Yes, I know them well. I've seen them in the field. I've sat with them at meals. I've traveled through their country. These Southern slaveholders are a false, licentious, godless people. Either we, who obey the laws and fear God, or they, who know no God except their own will and pleasure, and know no law except their passions, must rule on this continent: and I believe that Heaven will help its own in the conflict they have provoked. I grant you they are brave enough, and desperate too, but, surely justice, truth and religion, will strengthen a man's arm to strike down those who have only brute force and a bad cause to support them.' * "In the afternoon the boat returned to Fortress Monroe, and the general invited me to dinner, where I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Butler, his staff, and a couple of regimental officers from the neighboring camp. As it was still early, General Butler proposed a ride to visit the interesting village of Hampton, which lies some six or seven miles outside the fort, and forms his advance post. A powerful charger, with a tremendous Mexican saddle, fine housings, blue and gold-embroidered saddle-cloth, was brought to the door for your humble servant, and the general mounted another, which did equal credit to his taste in horseflesh; but I own I felt rather uneasy on seeing that he wore a pair of large brass spurs, strapped over white jean brodequins. He took with him his aide-de-camp and a couple of orderlies. In the precincts of the fort outside, a population of contraband negroes has been collected, whom the general employs in various works about the place, military and civil; but I failed to ascertain that the original scheme of a debit and credit account between the value of their labor and the cost of their maintenance had been successfully carried out. The |