The Collected Library, Including Americana and Early Photography

"I have just heard that Butler has been detached...It is too good news to be true; if so he is the 4th major General I have thrown overboard this war...

Off New Jalet-N.C., January 13, 1865. Bifolium sheet on North Atlantic Squadron letterhead, 10 x 7.5 in. (254 x 190 mm.) Autograph letter signed by Admiral David D. Porter to Admiral Hiram Paulding, marked "Private" at top left. In part: "We know that the Navy did its work beautifully and we don't mind what Butler's parasites may say in his defence or against us. You need not fear dear Admiral that I shall ever enter a newspaper controversy with him...His own letter to me will stand against him when the matter has been forgotten... Grant has applied to have him detached from his present command, and Mr. Grimes and other influential senators have applied to have Sherman placed in command...There are none of us here regret much not taking the forts, if it kills Butler, for it gives us a chance for another fight, and this time I will open on the rebels in earnest. I intend to go to them at daylight, and hope before the setting sun, we will prove that the Fort is 'substantially injured as a defensive work'... Twenty men could have taken the Fort as we have since learned, but for the cowardice of Butler...The present General is Terry...If he concludes not to assault we will lay siege to them...they cannot hold out forever... I have just heard that Butler has been detached...It is too good news to be true; if so he is the 4th major General I have thrown overboard this war. If anything is wanted to kill him I have a mass of evidence that will crush him, if not hang him... Creasing from old folds, scattered light offsetting. Accompanied by a typed transcription.

Lengthy and scathing letter by Union Admiral David D. Porter (1813-1891) to Hiram Paulding, wailing against the actions of General Benjamin Butler (1818-1893) during the first siege of Fort Fischer near Wilmington, North Carolina in December of 1864.

Paulding (1797-1878) was a career U.S. Naval Officer who served with distinction from the War of 1812 through the American Civil War, eventually attaining the rank of Rear Admiral.

By the end of 1864, Fort Fisher was the Confederacy's only port left on the Atlantic Ocean, but its capture would require coordination between the Union Army and Navy. General Benjamin F. Butler, as commander of the Army of the James, decided to lead the land component, with Porter in command of the North Atlantic Squadron. Butler proposed that the Fort could be breached by loading a ship full of gunpowder, sailing it near the walls, and igniting it. Porter accepted the idea, since if successful, it would remove the need of a prolonged siege. On December 24, 1864, the plan was put into effect, however after the ship was blown, the fort was left undamaged. Upon receiving the news, Butler was convinced the plan was hopeless, and pulled his men back without authorization.

Porter was so enraged by this retreat that he went directly to General Ulysses S. Grant, who had Butler removed and replaced with Alfred H. Terry (1827-1890). The second assault on the Fort began on the date of this letter, January 13, and after two days of Union artillery assaults and unopposed landings, the Southern garrison surrendered.

Butler was the last of the "political" major generals in the Union Army, who assumed command without military experience, and was highly controversial for his brutal tenure as Military Governor of occupied New Orleans. After being recalled by Grant, he returned to Washington and used his connections to gain a hearing before the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of War to justify his actions at Fort Fisher. Butler was presenting before the committee, claiming the Fort was impregnable, when news of its capture on January 15 was received in Washington. The embarrassment proved to be the end of his military career.