New Orleans

This chapter focuses exclusively on the months Butler commanded the U.S.’s occupation forces in rebel New Orleans, where the epithets “Beast Butler” and “Spoons Butler” (among others) were born. The details and quality of Butler’s leadership in New Orleans yielded both high praise and harsh criticism from residents and observers at the time, as well as from historians and Civil War enthusiasts since. This chapter carefully reexamines and reevaluates Butler’s record during the occupation, including his execution of William Mumford, his issuing of the “Woman Order,” his conflicts with unapologetic rebels and foreign consuls in the region, his efforts to protect the population from epidemic disease and uplift local Blacks and the poor, all while grappling with the complexities of his role in initiating national reconstruction and what to do about the enslaved people’s ongoing self-emancipation.