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When the Devil Came Down to Dixie: Ben Butler in New Orleans
written by Chester G. Hearn
Studio : Louisiana State University Press
by Louisiana State University Press
Publisher : Louisiana State University Press
Released : 2000-10
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780807126233
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 2 reviews)
List Price : $19.95
Our Price : $9.00
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Product Description |
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Addressing the controversy concerning Major General Benjamin F. Butler's administration in New Orleans during the second year of the Civil War, Chester Hearn vividly describes Butler's childhood and his political career before and after the war. Hearn shows Butler to be a fascinating case study of contradictions, a remarkable man with a politician's appetite for wealth and power as well as a sincere empathy for the poor. 32 halftones. 2 maps . |
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Americancivilwar.com Review |
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One of the most robust and astonishing characters of the Civil War, Major General Benjamin Butler has long deserved a modern biographer. He finally has a skilled one in Chester G. Hearn, author of The Capture of New Orleans, 1862. Butler headed the federal occupation of New Orleans, where he quickly imposed order on a rebellious city. He also made out like a bandit, diverting an enormous amount of money into his personal coffers. High society scorned him for his infamous "Woman Order," in which he castigated the "women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans" for rudeness toward his troops. An international furor erupted over this purported slight to southern womanhood, but history has always appreciated its comic element. "Butler--no matter where he was or what he did--attracted trouble," writes Hearn, who has given us a good rendering of an unforgettable man. |
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"I was supreme. Having supreme power, I used it." |
So General Benjamin "Beast" Butler summed up his time as military governor of New Orleans. Chester Hearn's book is an examination of Butler's six-month tenure in the Crescent City.
Everyone who knows anything about the Civil War knows something about Butler. A political general from Massachusetts, Butler was cross-eyed, huge, bald, loud, arrogant, stubborn, and crooked as a hound dog's hind leg. He was also remarkably inept as a military leader. His arrogant tenure as commandant of Fortress Monroe came close to pushing Maryland into the Confederacy; he lost one of the initial battles of the war, Big Bethel, largely through extraordinary incompetence; he did absolutely nothing in the capture of New Orleans, but took as much credit for it as he could; he evacuated Baton Rouge when scared by the threat of a(nonexisting) Confederate invading force; and he famously allowed his entire Army of the James to be bottled up at Bermuda Hundred during Grant's overland campaign (where he was probably less bother to Grant than he would've been in the field).
But what Butler's primarily known for are two things: declaring runaway slaves "contrabands of war" and brutally ruling New Orleans. His depredations in that city are remarkable. Along with a crew of trusted scoundrels (including especially his brother Andrew Jackson Butler) equally interested in lining their own pockets, Butler stole everything he could get his hands on. He bought commodities such as sugar and cotton at forced low prices and sold them high in the North; he sold salt to Confederates stationed just across Lake Pontrachain; civilians requesting interviews with the general or travel passes routinely paid out the nose for the privilege; under the two Confiscation Acts, houses with all their possessions were swallowed up; and specie at New Orleans bank tended to disappear. Butler was smart, and although there were numerous complaints and several official inquiries, he was never caught. But it's clear he was on the take. When Butler went to New Orleans in May '62, his personal worth was about $150,000. When he left in December '62, he was worth about $3 million.
In addition to being larcenous, his reign in New Orleans was also brutal. He regularly imprisoned at hard labor civilians who angered him, and he notoriously executed a man who defiantly tore down the Stars and Stripes right after the city was captured (but before it surrendered--a legally important point). Although Butler did go out of his way to feed the city's hungry, his motive seems to have been more hatred for the landed aristocracy than the unlanded poor.
Hearn's book is largely derivative. There's little original research (which is okay; not every book can or should be ground-breaking). But a bit more documentation on how Butler's peers reacted to his larceny, as well as some reflection on the state of affairs during the Civil War that gave men such as Butler almost unlimited power, would've been welcome. |
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The Beast of New Orleans as real person |
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I have always been fascinated with General Benjamin Butler both because of the story of his ill fated term as military governor of New Orleans during the Civil War and because of his physical image. The photographs always show someone who seems to be a grotesque characature of a human being rather than a real person, somehow appropriate for a man known as 'the Beast of New Orleans'. This book is significant not only for its detailed account of the conflicts and controversy that surrounded Butler during his time in New Orleans, but also for providing enough complementary material to see him as more than an evil abberation. The author does detail the evidence for Butler's depredations - his thefts, corruptions and overzelous application of lethal force - but also provides ample evidence that he was a complex and sometimes thoughtful person as well. In one case, he condemns a man to be hung because he had pulled down the union flag. The man's wife and children go to Butler to plead for his life. He refuses to stop the hanging but promises to be of whatever assistance he can be in the future. Years later the widow approaches him to say that she has been cheated by her lawyer out of her life savings and that she and her children are in jeapordy. Butler finds her a government job and, at his own expense, sees to the children's education. A very complex 'devil' indeed. For those who enjoy new light cast upon old oversimplified history, this book is excellent. Well written and with a lot that is new to say, this book represents a chance to actually learn something new rahter than simply revisiting the old story. |
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