346

GENERAL BUTLER IN NEW ORLEANS.

destination. Captain Everett posted his cannon around the Custom House, and comparative quiet prevailed in New Orleans that night. Colonel Deming's Twelfth Connecticut landed, and bivouacked on the levee by the side of Butler's head-quarters ship, the Mississippi, on board of which the commanding general spent the night. At an early hour in the evening, he had completed a proclamation to the inhabitants of New Orleans, in which his intentions, as the representative of the Government, were explicitly stated.1

General Butler had resolved to act with strictest justice toward the deluded people, and to be kind and lenient to all who showed a disposition to be peaceable. But his first trial of the temper of those with whom he had to deal was discouraging. He sent his proclamation to the office of the True Delta newspaper, to be printed as a hand-bill. The proprietor flatly refused to use his types in such an act of " submission to Federal rule." Two hours afterward an officer with a file of soldiers (half a dozen of whom were printers) had possession of the True Delta office, and the proclamation was soon issued in printed form. Meanwhile, Colonel Deming had encamped in Lafayette Square, and General Butler had taken possession of General Lovell's recent head-quarters in the St. Charles Hotel, not far distant, established his own there, and invited the city authorities to a conference. The silly Monroe told the General's messenger that the Mayor's place of business was at the City Hall. It was intimated to him that such a reply would not satisfy the commanding general; so the Mayor, taking counsel of prudence, waited upon General Butler at the St. Charles, with Pierre Soulé, formerly a representative in Congress, and some other friends. The interview was instructive to both parties. There appeared a wide difference of opinion as to the

that the real merriment would be on the side of himself and friends; so he requested the lively air of "Picayune Butler" to be played when they should debark. But none of the band-masters had the music, and the inore appropriate National airs were the first that the citizens of New Orleans heard when the troops landed.

1 In that proclamation, General Butler called upon all who had taken up arms against their Government to lay them down, and directed all flags and devices indicative of rebellion to be taken down, and the American flag-the emblem of the Government-to be treated with the greatest respect. He told them that all welldisposed persons, natives or foreigners, should be protected in person and property, subject only to the laws of the United States; and he enjoined the inhabitants to continue in their usual avocations. He directed the keepers of all public property whatever, and all manufacturers of arms and munitions of war, to report to headquarters. He directed that shops and places of amusement should be kept open as usual, and the services in the churches and religious houses to be held as in times of profound peace. Martial law was to be the governing power; and to the Provost-Marshal, keepers of public houses and drinking saloons were required to report and obtain license, before they were permitted to do business. He assured the inhabitants that a sufficient number of soldiers would be kept in the city to preserve order; and that the killing of any National soldier by a disorderly mob should be punished as murder. All acts interfering with the forces or laws of the United States were to be referred to a military court for adjudication and punishment. Civil causes were to be referred to the ordinary tribunals. The levy and collection of taxes, excepting those authorized by the United States, were forbidden, save those for keeping in repair and lighting the streets, for sanitary purposes. The use, in trade, of Confederate bonds or other evidences of debt was forbidden, excepting those in form of bank notes, which constituted the only circulating medium, and the use of the latter was to be allowed only until further orders. No seditious publications were to be allowed; and communications or editorials in newspapers, which should give accounts of the movements of the National soldiers, were not permitted to be circulated until the same had been submitted to a military censor. The same rule was to be apped to telegraphic dispatches. It was requested that any outrages committed by the National soldiers upon the persons or property of the citizens, should be reported to the provost-guard. Assemblages of persons in the streets were forbidden; and the municipal authority was to be continued, so far as the police of the city and its environs were concerned, until suspended. To assist in keeping order, the "European Brigade," which, as we have observed, had professedly been employed for that purpose, on the evacuation of the city by Lovell and his troops, were invited to co-operate with the military authorities. The General said, in conclusion: "All the requirements of martial law will be imposed, so long as, in the judgment of the United States authorities, it may be necessary; and while it is desired by these authorities to exercise this government mildly, and after the usages of the past, it must not be supposed that it will not be vigorously and firmly administered, as the occasion calls for it."

REBELLION REBUKED AND CHECKED.

347

status of the inhabitants of New Orleans in relation to the General Government; and the dividing line was so distinctly seen at this interview, that there could be no question about it thereafter. Butler took the broad national ground that the inhabitants in general had been in rebellion against their lawful Government; that the authority of that Government, being supreme, rightfully demanded the allegiance of the people; and that no other authority, except that sanctioned by the Government, could be allowed in the management of the public affairs of the city. Soulé and his friends persisted in regarding Louisiana as an independent sovereignty, and the object of the primary allegiance of its citizens. They considered the National troops as invaders and intruders, and, as a sequence, the people as doing right in treating them with contempt and abhorrence, and fully justified in driving them from the city if they could,

An instant reply to this assumption was practically given. An immense mob had collected in the street in front of the St. Charles. They were exasperated by the seizure of that building by General Butler, and threatened violence. Cannon had been planted and a regiment had been posted for the protection of head-quarters, but, while the General and the city authorities had been in conference, the conduct of the populace had become so alarming, that General Williams sent word to Butler that he feared he could not control them. The General calmly replied: "Give my compliments to General Williams, and tell him, if he finds he cannot control the mob, to open upon them with artillery." The Mayor and his friends sprang to their feet in consternation. "Don't do that, General," exclaimed the terrified Monroe. "Why not, gentlemen ?" said Butler. "The mob must be controlled. We can't have a disturbance in the street." The lunatic Mayor had partially recovered his senses in Butler's presence, and, going out to the balcony, he informed the mob of the General's orders, and advised them to disperse. That evening the inhabitants of New Orleans, who chose to listen, heard "The Star Spangled Banner" and other National airs, to which their ears had long been strangers, played by a band on the balcony of the St. Charles.'

Within twenty-four hours after this occurrence, the temper of the people and that of General Butler were mutually understood; and his proclamation, which was not issued until the 6th of May, was a rule for all loyal or disloyal citizens. It had been read at the conference at the St. Charles just mentioned, when Soulé declared that it would give great offense, and that the people, who were not conquered, and could not be expected to act as a conquered people, would never submit to its demands. "Withdraw your troops, General," said the distinguished and accomplished Frenchman, "and leave the city government to manage its own affairs. If the troops remain, there will certainly be trouble."

This threat, though uttered in smooth terms, brought a withering rebuke from the commanding general. "I did not expect to hear from Mr. Soulé a threat on this occasion," he said. "I have long been accustomed to hear threats from southern gentlemen in political conventions; but let me assure the gentlemen present that the time for tactics of that nature has passed, New Orleans is a conquered city. If not, why are we

never to return.

Parton's Butler in New Orleans, page 285.

348

MARTIAL LAW IN NEW ORLEANS.

here? How did we get here? Have you opened your arms and bid us welcome? Are we here by your consent? Would you or would you not expel us if you could? New Orleans has been conquered by the forces of the United States, and, by the laws of all nations, lies subject to the will of the conquerors."

In accordance with this doctrine General Butler found it necessary to administer the affairs in the Department of the Gulf, of which he was the commander. In his interview with the Mayor and Soulé, he had generously offered to leave the municipal government of New Orleans to the free exercise of all its powers so long as it should act in consonance with true allegiance to the General Government, and that offer had been answered by a threat. He saw clearly that compromise was out of the question, and that rebellion must be treated as rebellion, and traitors as traitors. He accordingly commenced a most vigorous administration of public affairs. Major Joseph W. Bell was appointed Provost-Judge and Colonel Jonas H. French Provost-Marshal. At the same time an effort was made to remove all causes for unnecessary irritation, and to conciliate the people. The General left the St. Charles Hotel, and made his military head-quarters in the

house of General Twiggs, and his private residence in the fine mansion of Dr. Campbell, on the corner of St. Charles and Julia Streets, which was afterward occupied by General Banks.

The Common Council having accepted a generous proposition of the General, the civil city government was allowed to go on as usual. The troops were withdrawn from the vicinity of the City Hall, and camps on public squares were broken up. Quite a large number of the soldiers were sent to Carrolton, under General Phelps, where a permanent camp was formed. Others, under General Williams, went up the river with Commodore Farragut, to take possession of and hold Baton Rouge. Others were sent to points in the vicinity of New Orleans, and in the course of a few days the wish of Soulé was literally complied with, for the troops were all withdrawn from the city, excepting a sufficient number retained to act as an efficient provost-guard.

GENERAL BUTLER'S RESIDENCE.

These concessions did not necessarily imply any relaxation of all proper authority. They were mistaken as such, however, and the rebellious spirit, which was made quiet only by compulsion, soon began to show itself. That spirit speedily learned that the commander of the Department was a real power within the sphere of his assigned duty, that must not be resisted. Sensible men also perceived that he was a power fraught with much good for the city, which had been ruled for years by vicious politicians of the Monroe school.' He established the most perfect order, and instituted a

1 Parton's Butler in New Orleans, page 295

2 "For seven years past." said the True Delta, on the 6th of May, in commenting on Butler's proclamation, "the world knows that this city, in all its departments-judicial, legislative, and executive-had been at the

THE REBELLIOUS SPIRIT IN NEW ORLEANS.

349

system of cleanliness for the promotion of the health of the citizens, before unknown to them, and which is yet in successful operation. On his arrival, ribald voices in the crowd on the levee had cried out, "Wait till Yellow Jack [yellow fever] comes, old Cock-eye! He'll make you fly!" But "Yellow Jack" was not allowed to come; and that terrible scourge has not appeared in New Orleans since General Butler made it clean, and taught the inhabitants to keep it so. Residents there declared to the author, when he visited that city in the spring of 1866, that gratitude for incalculable blessings should prompt the inhabitants to erect a statue of General Butler in one of the public squares, in testimony of their appreciation of a real benefactor.

General Butler organized plans for the alleviation of the distress among the inhabitants, and invited the civil authorities to unite with him in the merciful work. But they were deaf to the voice of righteousness. Withholding relief from their starving fellow-citizens, they sent provisions to the camps of the insurgents who had fled from the city. In every possible way attempts were made to thwart the orders and wishes of General Butler while he was feeding the starving poor by thousands, and was working day and night to revive and restore the business of the city, that its wonted prosperity might return. Among his troops there was perfect order. No man had been injured, and no woman had been treated with the least disrespect. But the corrupt Mayor was surly and insolent. The newspapers were barely restrained from seditious teachings. The foreign consuls, and foreign population generally, sympathized with the spirit of resistance; and many of the women who claimed to be of the better sort, taking advantage of the wide latitude in speech and action allowed to their sex in American society, were particularly offensive in their manifestations of contempt for the General and his troops. When Union officers approached, they would leave the sidewalks, go round them in the middle of the street, and with upturned noses would utter some insulting words, often more vigorous than elegant. They would draw away their skirts when a private soldier passed them, and leave street cars and church pews when Union officers entered them. They wore secession colors on their bonnets; in feminine schools they kept the pupils singing rebel songs; groups on balconies turned their backs on passing soldiers, and played airs that were used with rebellious words; and in every conceivable way they insulted the troops. These things were patiently borne, as sensible men endure the acts of imbeciles or lunatics, notwithstanding they were indicative of the hellish spirit that was making war on the Government and the rights of man; and the follies of these deluded women were the subjects of much merriment among the troops. But when, at length, a woman of the "dominant class," with the low manners of the degraded of her sex, deliberately spat in the face of two officers, who were walking peacefully along the street, General Butler determined to arrest the growing evil at once, and on the 15th of May the town was startled by an order that struck the root of the iniquity, by placing such actors in their appropriate social position.

absolute disposal of the most godless, brutal, ignorant, and ruthless ruffianism the world has ever heard of since the days of the great Roman conspirators."

1 See Butler's Order, May 9, 1862.

350

BUTLER'S "WOMAN ORDER."

That order was intended to work silently, peacefully, and effectually. And so it did. The grave offense was not repeated. Sensible and virtuous women did not indulge in such vulgarities, and were not touched by the order. The foolish women recovered their senses through its operation; and so did the Mayor and his accomplices in crime, when the power of their outraged Government was felt by the former, by arrest and threatened imprisonment in Fort Jackson; by Soulé, the ablest of the instigators of treason in Louisiana, as a prisoner in Fort Warren; and by one of the leaders of the mob, when he stood a felon on the scaffold, in the midst of a vast number of his fellow-citizens, because of his overt act of treason in pulling down the National flag from the Government Mint.3

The Mayor had made the publication of the "Woman Order" the occasion of a most impudent and absurd letter to General Butler, saying, among other things, "Your officers and soldiers are permitted by the terms of this order to place any construction they may please upon the conduct of our wives and daughters, and upon such construction to offer them atrocious insults." This letter was answered by the deposition and arrest of the

The following is a copy of the document known as the Woman Order," which the General himself framed from a similar one, and for a similar purpose, which he had read long before in a London newspaper: "HEAD-QUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, NEW ORLEANS, May 15, 1862.

"General Order No. 28:

"As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy of our part, it is ordered that hereafter, when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation.

"By command of

"GEORGE C. STRONG, Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief of Staff.”

"MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER

2 Mr. Parton says that one of the women-"a very fine lady "—who lost her senses and behaved indiscreetly, and who, in sweeping her skirts away from possible contact with passing Union officers, lost her balance, fell in the gutter, and received the proffered aid of one of them, which she spurned, afterward declared that she really felt grateful to the officer at the time for his politeness, and added, “Order 28 [the Woman Order'] served the women right."

See page 343.

4 This willful perversion of the plain letter and spirit of the "Woman Order" was made the key-note of a ery of indignation that was heard in every part of the Confederacy, and was echoed by the friends of the conspirators in the North and in Europe. "Do not leave your women to the merciless foe," appealed "The daughters of New Orleans" to "every Southern soldier." "Rather let us die with you, oh, our fathers! Rather, like Virginias, plunge your swords into our breasts, saying, 'This is all we can give our daughters." The Governor of Louisiana said: "It was reserved for a Federal general to invite his soldiers to the perpetration of outrages, at the mention of which the blood recoils with horror." A Georgian offered a reward of $10,000 "for the infamous Butler's head;” and “A Savannah Woman" suggested a contribution "from every woman in the Confederacy" to triple the sum." Paul R. Hayne, the South Carolina poet, was again inspired to write nonsense (see page 104, volume I.), and said:-

"Yes! but there's one who shall not die

In battle harness! One for whom

Lurks in the darkness silently

Another and a sterner doom!

A warrior's end should crown the brave

For him, swift cord! and felon grave!"

Lord Palmerston, the British premier, in the plenitude of his admiration for the insurgents, and remembering "how savages in red coats had been wont to conduct themselves in captured cities" on the Peninsula, and naturally supposed that “patriots in blue coats would follow their example," made himself appear exceedingly absurd before the world by mentioning the matter in Parliament, and saying, " An Englishman must blush to think that such an act has been committed by one belonging to the Anglo-Saxon race." Beauregard, whose wife and mother, living in the house of John Slidell, in New Orleans, were there treated in the most tender and respectful manner by the commanding general, first applied to that officer, it is said, the vulgar epithet of "Butler the Beast," and it was freely used by every enemy of the Government, South and North, until the end of the strife.