Details
[NEW ORLEANS]. BUTLER, BENJAMIN F., 1818-1893, Major General, commander of captured New Orleans. Printed broadside: Proclamation Headquarters, Department of the Gulf, New Orleans, May 1st, 1862. The city of New Orleans...having been surrendered to the combined naval and land forces of the Unites States, and having been evacuated by the rebel forces...the Major-General Commanding...makes known and proclaims...the rules and regulations by which the laws...will be...enforced and maintained....[etc.]. [New Orleans, 1 May 1862]. Folio broadside, 615 x 193mm. (24 1/4 x 7 1/2in.), printed on inexpensive foolscap paper. Fine condition.
"BEAST" BUTLER PROCLAIMS MARTIAL LAW IN UNION-HELD NEW ORLEANS
The city of New Orleans and surrounding parishes fell to Union combined land and naval operation launched 25 April 1862. The city, one of the Confederacy's chief ports and economic bastions, was surrendered and occupied by Butler's Army of the Gulf, on 1 May, the day this proclamation was issued. In the broadside, meant to be posted on walls and fences, Butler announces that "until the restoration of municipal authority" New Orleans will be governed "by the law Martial." All Confederates are "requested to surrender themselves..." He also proclaims, "the Armies of the United States came here not to destroy, but to make good, to restore order out of chaos..." Butler did administer martial law vigorously and firmly, and he provoked much controvery. On 27 April, he ordered the hanging of a gambler, William B. Mumford, who had pulled down a U.S. flag flown over the U.S. Mint; on 15 May he issued the infamous order that any woman who insulted a Union soldier on duty "shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation." This offence to southern womanhood outraged the Confederacy and earned him the sobriquet "Beast" Butler. He was removed from authority in December 1862.
"BEAST" BUTLER PROCLAIMS MARTIAL LAW IN UNION-HELD NEW ORLEANS
The city of New Orleans and surrounding parishes fell to Union combined land and naval operation launched 25 April 1862. The city, one of the Confederacy's chief ports and economic bastions, was surrendered and occupied by Butler's Army of the Gulf, on 1 May, the day this proclamation was issued. In the broadside, meant to be posted on walls and fences, Butler announces that "until the restoration of municipal authority" New Orleans will be governed "by the law Martial." All Confederates are "requested to surrender themselves..." He also proclaims, "the Armies of the United States came here not to destroy, but to make good, to restore order out of chaos..." Butler did administer martial law vigorously and firmly, and he provoked much controvery. On 27 April, he ordered the hanging of a gambler, William B. Mumford, who had pulled down a U.S. flag flown over the U.S. Mint; on 15 May he issued the infamous order that any woman who insulted a Union soldier on duty "shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation." This offence to southern womanhood outraged the Confederacy and earned him the sobriquet "Beast" Butler. He was removed from authority in December 1862.