RARE CIVIL WAR PATRIOTIC COVER MASSA BUTLER/SLAVES (03/26/2011)

Home > Worthopedia – Price Guide > Stamps >

RARE CIVIL WAR PATRIOTIC COVER MASSA BUTLER/SLAVES

Terms and Conditions for using our site

RARE CIVIL WAR PATRIOTIC COVER MASSA BUTLER/SLAVES

Sold For:

or Sign In to see what it's worth.

Sold Date: 03/26/2011
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Stamps

RARE CIVIL WAR TYPE PATRIOTIC COVER SHOWING MASSA BUTLER WITH SLAVES FROM HARPER FERRY! A COMICAL YET AWESOME HISTORICAL REFERENCE! Check out my other items !

INTERNET INFO:

The Imagined Civil War : Popular Literature of the North and South, ... - Google Books Result

American Civil War Contraband

/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_Butler_(politician )

Baltimore and Virginia operations

After rioting in Baltimore , Governor John A. Andrew sent Butler with a force of Massachusetts troops to reopen communication between the Union states and Washington, D.C. A major railroad connection from the Northeast passed through Baltimore and immediately after the start of the war it was unclear whether Maryland would stay in the Union. Butler arrived with the 8th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment by steamer at Annapolis on April 20, 1861. He employed his expert negotiation skills with Governor Thomas H. Hicks and, by April 22, his regiment had disembarked and was put to work repairing damaged railroad tracks around Baltimore. At the same time, the 7th New York Infantry arrived and Butler assumed command of the entire force; his military career would be characterized by his eagerness to assume authority in the absence of official instructions. While Butler remained at Annapolis, the New Yorkers were among the first Union troops to march into Washington following President Lincoln's initial call for volunteers. On May 13, Butler's remaining force occupied Baltimore without opposition. On May 14, Union artillery and scores of camps crowned Federal Hill and Union troops patrolled the streets, further supported by the heavy artillery in Fort McHenry . Butler's reward for his aggressive but unauthorized premature action was to be relieved of command by a livid General Winfield Scott . However, Lincoln appointed him one of the first major generals of U.S. Volunteers, ranking from May 16, 1861. (Also on that day, appointments were given to John A. Dix and Nathaniel P. Banks . Both appeared on the promotion order before Butler, making him the third highest ranking major general of volunteers.)

Butler was assigned command of Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia , and of the Department of Virginia . In the conduct of tactical operations in Virginia, Butler was almost uniformly unsuccessful. His first action at Battle of Big Bethel was a humiliating defeat for the Union Army . While in command at Fort Monroe, Butler declined to return to their owners fugitive slaves who had come within his lines, on the grounds that, as laborers for building fortifications and other military activities, they were contraband of war, thereby justifying granting these slaves a relative freedom, in spite of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 . The U.S. Congress later mandated that other Union commanders refuse to return slaves to their former masters.