It is unfortunate that you must make up lies. Of course, your lying, idiotic nonsense is void of any quote of my saying anyone was shot in voting booths because I never said it. But I will be more than happy to repeat what I did say, and then some.
As you apparently do not like the story written by George Edmonds, here is the story as directly written by Benjamin F. Butler himself.
SOURCE: Butler's Book, Benjamin F. Butler, 1892, pp. 754-761; 771
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[Butler speaking] "What do you want me to do?"
[Stanton] "I want you to go there and take command of the Department of the East, relieving General Dix, and I will have sent you from the front a sufficient force to put down any insurrection."
"I don't want to take command of the Department of the East and lose my command in the front," said I. "And then I think it would not be good polities to relieve General Dix, a New Yorker, from his command, just on the eve of election. Let me suggest that if I am to go I might be sent there with troops enough to take care of the city, and let me report to General Dix, leaving him in command."
"But," said Stanton,"Dix won't do anything. Although brave enough, he is a very timid man about such matters, as he wants to be governor of New York himself one of these days."
"Well," I said, "then send me with directions to report to him to command the troops that are to preserve the peace in the city of New York. [1] But I want to go only upon the understanding that if we come to a row I shall have a confidential order from the President by which I can relieve General Dix at once, and take supreme
[1] See Appendix 85
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command of the fight, if there is one. I will coddle the general and be his obedient servant until it becomes necessary to be something else, and of that you must leave me to judge."
"Very well, but keep the peace with Dix if you can!" He then asked what troops I wanted, and I said: --
"A couple of batteries of artillery, say twelve pieces, and about three thousand men will be enough, but a larger show of force may be better for overawing an outbreak."
"I suppose you will want your Massachusetts troops sent."
"Oh," said I, "not Massachusetts men to shoot down New Yorkers; that won't do. I have as faithful, loyal, good soldiers in my New York regiments as there are in the world, and I can fully rely on them. Perhaps I will take a Connecticut regiment or two and select the batteries."
"Do you think there are enough?"
"Plenty, with the addition of my headquarters guard of Pennsylvanians, who have already voted in the field."
"Make out your list of troops," said he, "and I will have them sent." [1]
"Well," I said,"you cannot get them there under a few days at best, and, Mr. Secretary, see; I have just come from the field in a flannel blouse with my staff in the same condition. We have not a white shirt with us."
"Never mind that, General; there are plenty of tailors in New York."
"Very well, Mr. Secretary, I want a new uniform, and if you order me off in this condition of rig I shall put it in the bill. When do you want me to go?"
"By the next train."
"As the troops cannot get there for three days, you will permit me to have my headquarters guard sent to Fortress Monroe to meet my own very fast boat, and come up and bring some of my staff to me?"
"Oh, yes; order anything you like."
"All right, I am gone;" and I left Washington for New York that night.
Our appearance there in Washington was such that it did not draw any attention to us, so that it was not publicly known that I
[1] See Appendix 86
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was in Washington, and no notice of my being there got into the New York papers.
I arrived in Jersey City the next morning and was met there by a prominent loyal man of New York, one of Stanton's correspondents, who greeted me and desired me to make his house -- a very fine one on Fifth Avenue -- my headquarters while I remained in the city.
I said to him : --
"You know not what you ask. I will come down and dine with you, but to come into your house with my staff and orderlies, and the hundreds of people who may be brought there or visit me would drive you from your home. Besides, I must have very much more extensive accommodations."
I had telegraphed to Assistant Quartermaster-General Van Vliet to meet me there, and he told me that he had looked about for headquarters for me. He said that the Hoffman House, in the rear part of which General Soott had rooms, had not yet been opened, and that he had taken the whole of the building for my use.
Early in the morning of the 4th of November I occupied my headquarters. As the first incident I learned that one Judge Henry Clav Dean, in utter ignorance that I was at that time in New York, had made a speech the night before in which, according to a newspaper report, he stated that if I should attempt to march up Broadway I would be hanged to a lamp-post, or words to that effect. Although I had no troops in New York then except my orderlies and aids, I sent my compliments to Judge Dean with the information that I would like to see him fit my headquarters at the Hoffman House. He reported at once, and I received him. He seemed to be in a great fright. I greeted him and told him that such a speech had been brought to my attention, and as I was sure that a gentleman of his position never could have made it in the words reported, I desired to ascertain the facts from him.
He said he had been wholly misrepresented.
"Well," I said,"I supposed so, and I rely upon you to correct that matter by having the report withdrawn, or, if that cannot be done, by making some explanatory statement." He said he certainly would, and there the matter ended.
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I then reported to the commander of the Department of the East, General Dix, and he issued an order that I was in command of the troops sent to preserve the peace in the State of New York.
I suggested to him that he should put me in command of the military district comprising the States of New York and New Jersey, as he had command of the whole department, but he expressed a disinclination so to do, and I, after a conference, yielded and said I would report to the Secretary of War for orders, but that I hoped it would not be necessary. I asked him how many regulars could be spared from the garrison on Governor's Island. He said lie thought he could let me have five hundred men. I told him they might as well remain in the garrison as anywhere.
I had been expressly cautioned by the Secretary of War against the machinations of Gen. John A. Green.
Monday my headquarters boat came up with my guard, one hundred Pennsylvanians. They were landed at the battery, and put into barracks there.
That day Major-General Sanford, commanding the division of State militia in the city of New York, called upon me and said that he proposed on the day of election to call out his division of militia to preserve the peace. I told him that that could not be done without his reporting to me as his superior officer; that being assigned to the command of the troops in the city of New York by the President, I of necessity became his commander; and, further, that the Articles of War required that I should be his commander. Of course a militia officer could not agree to that. I then told him that I did not need his division, and that I did not think it would be advisable to have the militia called out; that if they were called out they would be under arms, and in case of difficulty it was not quite certain which way all of them would shoot; and besides, it might cause a claim of interference with the election to have troops called out and hold positions while the election was going on, and thus might vitiate the election.
He was very obstinate about it, and said he should call out the militia.
"Then," said I,"here is an order that you do not. You have no power to call out the militia except in a case of disturbance." Still he did not yield.
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"Well," I said,"if there are to be armed forces here that do not report to me, and are not under my orders, I shall have to treat them as enemies. In case of disturbance they may suffer, for I cannot stop to select whom to shoot at of the armed troops which I find in New York not under my orders; but I certainly shall most efficiently take care of those who put them in arms."
He told me he should apply to the governor of the State for orders.
"Your governor is a very high militia officer," said I, "but I shall not recognize his authority here as against the authority of the United States any more than that of any militia officer of lower grade. And from the reported doings of Governor Seymour in the centre of the State in organizing new companies of militia, which I believe to be a rebellious organization, I may find it necessary to act promptly in arresting all those whom I know are proposing to disturb the peace here on election day."
He retired in disgust, and I have never seen the clever old gentleman since. It is sufficient to say that I at once took measures to ascertain where all the arms in the city were, and in whose possession they were. [1] I immediately reported the matter to the Secretary of Wax, [2] and asked permission to issue a general order on the subject, and to have a territorial jurisdiction given me. The Secretary of War afterwards advised me that I had better not issue a general order, because my right to do that would be the subject of "abstract discussion." But I wanted territorial jurisdiction, not so much for that as for another reason which will appear.
Meanwhile my troops had not arrived. They were not embarked at Fortress Monroe-such were the unaccountable delays -- until Friday and Saturday. I then issued my General Older No 1, [3] in which I made it plain that there were several thousand secessionists in New York. They were there in such numbers as to impede the Union men getting lodgings and boarding-house accommodations, the landlords saying that they could let all the room they had to Southerners at their own prices. I took care that the Southerners should understand that means would be taken for their identification, and that whoever of them should vote would be dealt with in such a manner as to make them uncomfortable. That was sufficient, and substantially no Southerners voted at the polls on election day.
[1] See Appendix No. 87.
[2] See Appendix No. 88.
[3] See Appendix No. 89.
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Here another question troubled me. Although it had been thought l»est to have a pretty large force, say five thousand, yet I did not get thirty-five hundred. Much the larger portion of them were New Yorkers who had voted in the field. I consulted with Gen. Daniel Butterfield, who was in New York on leave for some purpose, and he loyally gave me very valuable advice and assistance, for which service I hero express my high and grateful appreciation.
The question was, how to have troops in readiness to put down a riot in the city on election day, and yet not have them actually there, lest the votes which they had previously cast in the field should not he counted, -- for the law was that troops might vote in the field, but if they were in the State on election day their votes should not be counted.
Examining into the difficulties of this problem, I found that there were nine ferry slips on one side of the city of New York and ten on the other. Into these the largest ferry-boats could lie brought to land their passengers. The ferry-boats could each comfortably accommodate more than a regiment of infantry in the saloons, and in the drive-ways as many as four pieces of artillery with their equipment. I determined thereupon to take possession of four of the larger ferry-boats, and place two on the North River and two on the east side of the city. It was arranged to have on each side of the city four swift tugs always with steam up and under the command of my officers. From my headquarters I could communicate with them by the telegraph lines, so that in case of a gathering of rioters in any part of the eity I could throw four regiments there, if need be, in less time than I could march them from any place of encampment in the city. That is, the troops being on the ferry-boats and the artillery being all harnessed, I could direct the boat to any slip where the force was needed, and the infantry could immediately land and march double quick across the island to the point where it was needed, the artillery preceding or following, as the case might he. These ferry-boats, while not in action, were to be anchored in Jersey waters.
I made an arrangement with the manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company to bring into a room at my headquarters adjoining my office telegraph lines from more than sixty points. There
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was one line from High Bridge, where a gunboat was stationed, lest somebody should attempt to break the aqueduct which brought water into the city. There was another line from a gunboat anchored opposite Mackerelville, which was supposed to contain the worst population in New York; and still another from a gunboat anchored so as to cover the Sub-Treasury Building and the Custom House on Wall Street and the United States Arsenal. There was a line from some point near each polling-place in the city.
At the several polling-places I had an officer in plain clothes, in command of my scouts and detective officers who were around the polls. On this officer, in case of any disturbance, the police -- who were under the command of Superintendent John A. Kennedy, a very loyal, able, and executive officer, -- might, call for assistance. Any disturbance was to be immediately communicated to me by telegraph.
On the day of election the officers and men for the polls were to be on duty an hour before the polls opened. Each telegraph station was numbered, and the officer was to report to my headquarters hourly the state of quiet at the polls.
The remainder of my troops were held on board of transports, ready to land when the point at which they were wanted was indi-
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cated by the tug. Steam was kept up and the cables were in readiness to be slipped when the transports were required to move.
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November 10, General Grant telegraphed a very high compliment to Stanton, at the quiet way in which the elections in New York passed off, as follows: --
The elections have passed off quietly; no bloodshed or riot throughout the land; is a victory worth more to the country than a battle won. Rebeldom and Europe will construe it so. [1]
On Monday, the 14th, under the direction of a committee of the most distinguished citizens of New York, a reception was given me at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The scene was brilliant beyond any possible conception of mine, and the reception ended with a banquet at which I was called upon to make a speech, giving to the assembly my opinion as to what should be done in the future….
[1] See Appendix No. 95
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