answered." The malevolent folly of the municipal authorities served only to expose their city to destruction. A force landed from the Pensacola had hoisted, unopposed, a Federal flag over the Mint, and left it there unguarded. Ere it had thus remained many hours, a number of young Rebels mounted to the dome, tore it down, and dragged it through the streets. It would have been entirely justifiable and proper on the part of Farragut to have required of the authorities its immediate and respectful replacement, on penalty of the destruction of their city; but he forbore; and, even when he required them, two days afterward, to take down the flag of Louisiana, still floating over the City Hall, the Mayor positively refused. Capt. F. finally closed" the absurd altercation by sending a sist your force, do not allow themselves to be insulted by the interference of such as have rendered themselves odious and contemptible by their dastardly desertion of our cause in the mighty struggle in which we are engaged, or such as might remind them too forcibly that they are the conquered and you the conquerors. Peace and order may be preserved without resort to measures which I could not at this moment prevent. Your occupying the city does not transfer allegiance from the government of their choice to one which they have deliberately repudiated; and they yield the obedience which the conqueror is entitled to extort from the conquered. Respectfully, "JOHN T. MONROE, Mayor." 18 U. S. FLAG-SHIP HARTFORD, at anchor off the City of New Orleans, "April 28, 1862. "To His Honor the Mayor and City Council of the City of New Orleans: "Your communication of the 26th inst. has been received, together with that of the City Council. "I deeply regret to see, both by their contents and the continued display of the flag of Louisiana on the Court-House, a determination on the part of the city authorities not to haul it down. Moreover, when my officers and men were sent on shore to communicate with the authorities, and to hoist the United States flag on the Custom-House, with the strictest order not force from his ships to take down tho flag: a vast crowd looking sullenly on, or giving vent to their wrath only in idle curses. They failed to comprehend their position; but they respected the two brass howitzers, well manned and supported, which stood in front of the City Hall while the operation was quietly and thoroughly performed. Capt. Farragut had not waited to obtain formal possession of the city before moving up" to the two forts at Carrollton, eight miles above, where he was surprised to find the gun-carriages on fire and the guns spiked. The works were formidable, but constructed to resist an advance from above; so that, being taken in reverse, they had been adjudged indefensible. Gen. Butler, having witnessed from which had been hoisted by my orders on the Mint was pulled down and dragged through the streets. All of which goes to show that the fire of this fleet may be drawn upon the city at any moment; and in such an event the levee would, in all probability, be cut by the shells, and an amount of distress ensue to the innocent population which I have hitherto endeavored to assure you that I desire by all means to avoid. "The election, therefore, is with you. But it becomes my duty to notify you to remove the women and children from the city within 48 hours, if I rightly understand your determination. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, It seems incredible, yet it is a fact, that Monroe sent a rejoinder to this letter; in which, amid bombastic and turgid babble about flagrant violation of those courtesies which prevail between belligerents, and shells tearing up the graves of those who are so dear to them, he whimpered out: "Our women and children cannot escape from your shells, if it be your pleasure to murder them on a question of mere etiquette." Even Pollard barely represses his disgust at the silly repetitions and vanity of literstyle protruded by this Bobadil of a Mayor. 19 May 1 20 Afternoon of April 26. to use their arms unless assailed, they were in-ary sulted in the grossest manner, and the flag SURRENDER OF THE REBEL FORTS. 97 above the forts towed their ram Louisiana out into the current, set her on fire and abandoned her, with all her guns shotted, expecting her to drift down upon and explode in the midst of Porter's fleet; but, just as she was abreast of Fort St. Philip, she blew up and sunk, injuring no one but a Rebel soldier in the fort, who was killed by a fragment. Of the three remaining Rebel steamers, one had been scuttled; the others surrendered without resistance: their officers, with those of the Louisiana, being sent North as close prisoners, because of their attempt to destroy our fleet while a capitulation was in Commander Porter turned the forts and their contents immediately over to Gen. Phelps," and they were very soon being repaired and fitted for effective service; while Gen. Butler, leaving Gen. Williams in command there, and having easily reduced Forts Pike and Wood, at the entrance of Lake Pontchartrain, brought his steamers around into the Mississippi, and, taking on board 2,000 of his men, moved up to the city and took possession-Capt. Farragut very gladly relinquishing to him the difficult and disagreeable duty of bandying words with its spiteful, shuffling authorities, and dealing with its ferocious and ruffianly mob, who would have taken exquisite pleasure in making mince-meat of either of them. the Saxon the success of Farragut's In the conferences which ensued between the commanding General their gunboats, nor the Chalmette regiment encamped on the levee, which surrendered to Capt. Bailey. Our total loss of men in the bombardment, running the batteries, destruction of the Rebel fleet, and capture of the city, was but 40 killed and 177 wounded. and the municipality, Mayor Monroe | "Picayune Butler," which none of was counseled and prompted by Hon. Pierre Soulé, a gentleman whose ability and tact shone forth in striking contrast with the pitiable exhibition previously made of himself by the Mayor. In fact, if Soulé had had 10 or 15 good regiments and as many batteries at his back, he might have argued Butler out of New Orleans. A wide diversity as to premises rendered the progress and results of these discussions quite unsatisfactory to the weaker party. In the contemplation of Gen. Butler, New Orleans was a city of the United States, wherein Rebellion had been temporarily dominant, but which had now been restored to its rightful and lawful allegiance, and wherein no authority must be asserted, no flag displayed, but those of the Union. Soulé, Monroe, and the mob, could not see the matter in that light; but insisted on regarding our forces as intruders, who ought in simple decency to abscond; but who, since they refused to do this, should in all things consult the feelings and tastes of the patriotic and indomitable Southrons, who, from behind their barricades of women and children, delighted in hallooing, wherever Butler appeared or was expected, "Where's old cock-eye?" "Let me see the damned rascal!" "I see the damned old villain," &c., &c., interspersed with "Hurrah for Jeff. Davis!" "Hurrah for Beauregard !" "Go home, you damned Yankees !" &c., &c. It was amid a tempest of such outcries from the throats of 50,000 venomous Rebels, that the General, after vainly endeavoring to comply with a popular demand for his bands were able to play, and after having waited upon Capt. Farragut and heard his account of all that had occurred since our fleet first appeared before the city, ordered the immediate debarkation of his troops, which began at 4 o'clock that afternoon :" the crowd requiring to be slowly pressed back with the bayonet to obtain space on which our regiments were thus enabled successively to land and form; Gen. Butler and his staff-no horses having yet been landed-marching on foot at the head of the 31st Massachusetts and 4th Wisconsin to the music of the "Star-Spangled Banner," variegated by nowise complimentary observations from the mob, along the levee to Poydras street, thence through St. Charles street and Canal street, to the vast, unfinished Custom-House, where our artillery was duly posted and the men fitly quartered; while the General and his staff returned to his steamboat, and the 12th Connecticut, Col. Deming, bivouacked on the levee by its side. That evening, Gen. Butler finished his proclamation and sent it to the office of The True Delta to be printed, only to learn that the application was too late. Next morning, it was renewed, and plumply refused by the proprietor. Two hours later, a file of soldiers drew up before the building, when half a dozen of their number entered the printing office and proceeded inoffensively to print the obnoxious paper. The True Delta of next day commenting rebelliously on this performance, Gen. Butler suppressed it till further orders: which brought the concern to reason. The 23 May 1. BUTLER AND THE SHE-REBELS. 99 next day, its publication was re- the latter that is, by those of the sumed; and on the 6th the proclamation duly appeared in its columns. The great St. Charles Hotel having been suddenly closed, Gen. Butler reopened and made it his headquarters, summoning the Mayor and Council to meet him there at 2 P. M. next day, which they did; and, after considerable debate, were satisfied, first, that Gen. Butler was master of the situation; secondly, that he intended to remain so; thirdly, that any who should undertake to dispute or defy his authority would certainly get into trouble; and fourthly, that the mob, though it might hoot and howl with impunity, must stop short of actual violence and mutiny, or their streets would be swept by grape and their gutters run red with blood. It took some time to impress these truths clearly on the average Rebel mind; but the work was effectively done; and New Orleans ultimately confessed that she had not before in a generation been nearly so clean, so quiet, so orderly, so free from robbery, violence, outrage, and murder, as she was under the rule of 'Beast Butler' in the year of grace 1862. Two conspicuous instances out of many must here serve as examples of his dealings with the spirit of treason. The women of New Orleans-that portion of them who arrogated to themselves the designation of ladies, with a large majority of their sisters throughout the Confederacy-had ere this become most impassioned Rebels. The aristocratic instinct being stronger in women than in men, Slavery, though it debauched the men and degraded the women of the South, had come to be regarded by ruling caste-as their patent of nobility; and they clung to it, and stood ready to sacrifice and dare for it, as aristocrats are always ready to 'stand by their order.' They talked loudly of shedding their blood, if need be, for the Confederacy; they acted so as to insure the shedding in that behalf of the blood of their male relatives and neighbors. To proclaim a rigid non-intercourse with all young men who did not promptly enlist in the Confederate armies, and to exhort, entreat, and finally insult, those who hesitated to do so, was a very common exhibition of Southern female patriotism. To treat our officers and soldiers at all times, and under all circumstances, with indica tions of hatred, contempt, disgust, and loathing, was their still more natural and general practice. The display of a miniature Secession flag on their persons was a harmless, inoffensive exhibition of their feelings which was never objected to on our side. To vacate a church-pew, quit a street-car, or other public vehicle, upon the entrance of one of our officers, was admissible; to strum "The Bonny Blue Flag" on the piano whenever a Union officer entered the house, or a Union platoon marched by, could be endured; but when ladies, by breeding or brevet, saw fit to take several reefs in their respective noses, to make an ostentatious display of drawing aside their dresses, to oblique into the middle of the street and then back again, in order to avoid the possibility of contact with a passing officer, or being overshadowed by the American flag; still more, when, to contemptuous and insulting gestures, they added oppro brious and venomous language, they | security of its inhabitants; and all that need be added in explanation or in defense of the hated order is this: that no soldier under Gen. Butler's command ever acted upon the vile construction of that order which his enemies set up; and no woman in New Orleans ever pretended that she was anywise abused or insulted because thereof; while its success in arresting the scandalous behavior at which it aimed was immediate and complete. passed the limits of any indulgence which may properly be accorded to even feminine malignity. In New Orleans, the climax of these cowardly insults was only reached when something dressed like a lady saw fit to spit in the faces of two officers quietly passing along the street. It was this experiment on his forbearance which decided Gen. Butler to issue his famous Order No. 28. It reads as follows: "HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, NEW ORLEANS, May 15, 1862. "GENERAL ORDER No. 28: "As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subjected to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter, when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation. 66 By command of Maj. Gen. BUTLER. "GEO. C. STRONG, A. A. G., Chief of Staff.” This order was subjected to the worst possible construction, first by Mayor Monroe and his secret prompters; next by the Rebel Governor of Louisiana and the Secessionists generally; and so on, until Lord Palmerston, in the British House of Commons, took occasion to be astonished, to blush, and to proclaim his "deepest indignation" at the tenor of that order; Punch eagerly echoing his perversions. Gen. Butler was finally constrained, after too long enduring his palterings and equivocations, to send Mayor Monroe to prison, abolish his municipality, banish Pierre Soulé, and appoint Col. G. F. Shepley military commandant, to the signal improvement of the government of New Orleans and the peace and The other case, wherein Gen. Butler especially displeased his enemies and those of his country, was that of Wm. B. Mumford, a New Orleans gambler, who had led the Rebel mob who tore down our National flag from the roof of the Mint, where it had been hoisted by our sailors detailed for that duty by Capt. Morris, of the Pensacola, on the 27th, after Lovell had evacuated the city, and its Mayor and Common Council had officially declared themselves incapable of making any resistance, and that, yielding to physical force alone, they would make none, to the forces of the United States. The outrage thus committed by Mumford and his backers, furtive and riotous as it was, drew a shot from the howitzers in the main-top of the Pensacola, and might have provoked and justified the destruction of the city by our fleet; since the authorities did not disclaim, while the mob vociferously applauded and adopted it. So The Picayune of next morning eulogized its gallantry and patriotism, and proclaimed it an act of the city, and a proof of her "unflinching determination to sustain to the uttermost the righteous cause for which she has done so much and made such sacri |