BUTLER, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1818-1893), American lawyer, soldier and politician, was born in Deerfield, N.H., on Nov. 5, 1818. He graduated from Waterville (now Colby) College in 1838, was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1840, began practice at Lowell, Mass., and early attained dis tinction as a lawyer, particularly in criminal cases. Entering politics as a Democrat, he was a member of the Massachusetts house of representatives in 1853, and of the State senate in and was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions from 1848 to 186o. In that of 186o at Charleston he supported the movement that nominated Breckinridge and divided the party.
After the opening of the Civil War, Butler joined the Union Army, and took possession of Baltimore without bloodshed. While in command at Fortress Monroe, he agreed to return fugitive slaves to their owner only on the condition that the owner, a Virginian colonel, take an oath of allegiance to the United States. In commenting on the decision, Blair wrote Butler he was cor rect in regarding negroes as "contraband of war," thus originating the phrase "contraband" as applied to the negroes. In the conduct of tactical operations Butler was almost uniformly unsuccessful, and his first action at Big Bethel, Va., was a humiliating defeat for the national arms. In 1862 he commanded the force which occu pied New Orleans. In the Administration of that city he showed firmness and severity. Many of his acts, however, gave great offence, particularly the seizure of $800,000 which had been de posited in the office of the Dutch consul, and an order, issued after some provocation on May 15, that if any woman should "insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and shall be held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation." This order provoked a storm of protests and was doubtless the cause of his removal in Dec. 1862. In the campaign of 1864 he commanded the Army of the James creditably in several battles. But his mismanage ment of the expedition against Ft. Fisher (N.C.), led to his recall by General Grant in December.
He was a Republican representative in Congress from 1867 to 1879, except in 1875-77. In Congress he was conspicuous as a Radical Republican in reconstruction legislation, and helped to conduct the impeachment of President Johnson; he was regarded as President Grant's spokesman in the House, and one of the foremost advocates of the payment in "greenback$," of the Gov ernment bonds. As a candidate for governor of Massachusetts, he was twice defeated, but in 1882 he was elected by the Democrats. After bitterly opposing Grover Cleveland as presidential nominee for the Democratic Party he ran on the ticket of the Greenback Party, and was defeated (1884). He was an able but erratic administrator and soldier, and a brilliant lawyer. Many charges of corruption were made against him, apparently well substantiated. He died at Washington, D.C. on Jan. 11, See James Parton, Butler in New Orleans (1863), The Autobiog raphy and Personal Reminiscences of Major-General B. F. Butler: Butler's Book (1893), none too accurate; and Gamaliel Bradford, Damaged Souls (1923).