and the municipality, Mayor Monroe | "Picayune Butler," which none of 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. 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 That evening, Gen. Butler finished Southrons, who, from behind their his proclamation and sent it to the barricades of women and children, office of The True Delta to be printed, delighted in hallooing, wherever only to learn that the application was Butler appeared or was expected, too late. Next morning, it was re"Where's old cock-eye?" "Let me newed, and plumply refused by the see the damned rascal!" "I see proprietor. Two hours later, a file the damned old villain," &c., &c., of soldiers drew up before the buildinterspersed with "Hurrah for Jeff. ing, when half a dozen of their numDavis !" "Hurrah for Beauregard !" ber entered the printing office and "Go home, you damned Yankees !" proceeded inoffensively to print the &c., &c. It was amid a tempest of obnoxious paper. The True Delta such outcries from the throats of of next day commenting rebelliously 50,000 venomous Rebels, that the on this performance, Gen. Butler supGeneral, after vainly endeavoring to pressed it till further orders: which comply with a popular demand for brought the concern to reason. The 23 May 1. BUTLER AND THE SHE-REBELS. 99 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 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 head-stand by their order.' They talked quarters, 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 The loudly of shedding their blood, if brious and venomous language, they | security of its inhabitants; and all 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 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. 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 FARRAGUT BEFORE VICKSBURG. 101 cupied it as a military post, it was left unmolested. The advance of our squadron, under Commander S. P. Lee, encountered no opposition until it reached Vicksburg," whence a summons to surrender was answered with defiance. Our force was inadequate to attack until the arrival, a few days later, of Capt. Farragut, accompanied by 4,000 soldiers under Gen. Thomas Williams. Vicksburg is naturally so strong, and was so firmly fices." The city having been com- | but, as the Confederates had not ocpletely occupied, and the National authority rëestablished, Gen. Butler caused Mumford to be arrested, tried, and, he being convicted and sentenced to death by hanging, that sentence was duly executed," in the face of all New Orleans anxiously looking on, and in defiance of the confident prediction of the Rebels that Butler would not dare to do it. They did not dare; he did. And his hold on the city was firmer and safer from that moment. About the same time," he pardon-held, that it was not until after still ed and set at liberty six humbler Rebels, who, having been captured and paroled at the surrender of the forts, had been induced secretly to rëenlist in the Rebel service, conspiring to force or evade our pickets and hasten to join Beauregard's army in Mississippi. Their guilt was undoubted; their crime one that military law sternly punishes with death. The occupation of New Orleans, its defenses and approaches, having been completed and assured, Commander Porter, with a part of our fleet, returned to Ship Island; a part was stationed near New Orleans to assist in its defense; and the residue, under Capt. Craven, steamed up the river to extend our sway in that direction. Baton Rouge, the State capital, was captured without resistance. The Mayor refusing to surrender, Commander Palmer, of the Iroquois, landed and took possession of the U. S. Arsenal. Capt. Farragut arrived soon afterward, and took measures to render our possession permanent. Natchez was in like manner given up to the Iroquois ; "May 31. May 7. 26 *June 7. 23 27 27 further rëenforcements had come up, including Commander Porter's mortar fleet, that a bombardment was opened." Not much impression was made on the elevated and formidable Rebel batteries by our fire; but, at 3 A. M. of the 28th, Capt. Farragut, in the Hartford, with six more of his vessels, passed Vicksburg triumphantly, with a total loss of 15 killed and 30 wounded, and exchanged cheers above with Capt. Davis's fleet of mortar and gun-boats, which had fought their way down from Cairo. Still, our forces were not strong enough for assault, and the bombardment remained ineffective; while Gen. Williams, who, on his way up from Baton Rouge, had been fired on from Grand Gulf, and had burned that village in retaliation, was losing men daily by sickness, which ultimately reduced his effective force by more than half. He had undertaken to cut a canal, or water-course, across the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, and had gathered some 1,200 negroes from the adjacent plantations to assist in the work; but it did not succeed. The soil to be ex May 12. cavated was an exceedingly tenacious | the afternoon" prior to its occurrence, warned his subordinates to be ready and watchful, so as not to be surprised next morning. The Rebels had been assured by their spies that our men were mostly sick in hospital, which was measurably trụe; but regiments that numbered but 150 on parade, counted 500 on the battlefield. clay; in good part covered with large trees. The strong current obstinately kept to the old channel, and could not be attracted to the right bank. An expedition, started" to go up the Yazoo, having unexpectedly encountered, near the mouth of that river, and been worsted by, the Rebel ram Arkansas," Capt. Farragut, having no prospect of further The Rebel force had been organusefulness above, determined to re-ized for this effort at Tangipahoa, 60 pass the frowning båtteries, cutting miles north-eastward, and 78 N. N.W. out and destroying the Arkansas by of New Orleans. It consisted of 13 the way. He succeeded in running regiments, and must have consideraby Vicksburg with little loss; but bly outnumbered ours, which was his designs upon the Arkansas were composed of nine thinned regiments baffled by darkness. A few days in all. Each side, in its account of later, Commander Porter, with the the action, made its own force 2,500, iron-clad Essex, and Lt.-Col. Ellet, and that of its adversary twice or with the ram Queen of the West, thrice as great. The Rebels were made" another attempt to cut out commanded in chief by Maj.-Gen. the Arkansas, which was likewise John C. Breckinridge, with Brig.defeated. Gen. Daniel Ruggles" leading their The village of Donaldsonville, left wing, and Brig.-Gen. Charles which had the bad habit of firing upon our weaker steamers, as they passed up or down the river, was bombarded therefor by Capt. Farragut, and partially destroyed. As the river was now falling fast, threatening to greatly impair the efficiency of our fleet, the siege of Vicksburg was abandoned, under instructions from Washington, and Capt. Farragut dropped down the river, reaching New Orleans on the 28th, with the greater part of his fleet. | Clarke their right. The attack was made at daylight," simultaneously and vigorously, by the entire Rebel force, on the two roads which lead from the south-west into Baton Rouge; and, as but three of our regiments-the 14th Maine, 21st Indiana, and 6th Wisconsin-were immediately engaged, these were soon compelled to fall back, barely saving their batteries, whereof two were for a few moments in the hands of the Rebels. A dense fog precluded a clear comprehension on our side of the position, and caused the 7th Vermont to fire into the 21st Indiana, mistaking it for a Rebel regiment. Our lines were formed nearly two miles back from the river, where our 34 From Massachusetts; formerly Lt.-Col. of the 5th Regular Infantry. 20 Aug. 5. |