2-356-105 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

General Butler, Union general of the American Civil War and politician, (c1880). Butler (1818-1893) commanded the force that occupied New Orleans after the Union Navy captured the city in 1862. The severity of his governance of New Orleans earned him the nickname 'Beast Butler' in the South. On one occasion he had a man executed for pulling down the Stars and Stripes that had been raised on the New Orleans Mint. He also issued an order stipulating that any woman of the city who insulted or showed disrespect to any officer or soldier of the US Army should be held liable to be treated as if she were a prostitute. The controversial nature of his administration of New Orleans led to him being reassigned in December 1862. After the war, he served as a congressman for Massachusetts and later as Governor of the state. A print from Cassell's History of the United States, by Edmund Ollier, Volume III, Cassell Petter and Galpin, London, c1880.