Butler, Benjamin

Butler, Benjamin (Franklin)

(1818–93) soldier, politician; born in Deerfield, N.H. He supported Jefferson Davis for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1860, but still managed to obtain a senior command in the Union army. Butler led federal land forces against New Orleans in 1862 and became the draconian and allegedly corrupt governor of the occupied city. A postwar member of Congress (Rep., 1866–75; Ind., 1878–82), he was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1882.