Department of
Annapolis, Headquarters,
ANNAPOLIS, May 9,
1861
To his Excellency, JOHN A. ANDREW, Governor and
Commander-in-Chief
SIR: I have delayed replying to your excellency's despatch
of the 25th of April in my other despatches, because, as it involved
disapprobation of an act done, couched in the kindest language, I suppose the
interests of the country could not suffer in the delay; and incessant labor up
to the present moment has prevented me giving full consideration to the topic.
Temporary illness which forbids bodily activity gives me now a moment's pause.
The telegraph, with more than usual accuracy, has rightly
informed your excellency that I had offered the services of the Massachusetts
troops under my command to aid the authorities in Maryland in suppressing the
threatened slave insurrection. Fortunately for us all the rumor of such an
outbreak was without a substantial foundation. Assuming, as your excellency
does in your despatch, that I was carrying on military operations in an enemy's
country when a war a l'outrance was to be waged, my act might be an act
of discussion. And in that view, acting in the light of the Baltimore murders
and the apparent hostile position of Maryland, your excellency might, without
mature reflection, have come to the conclusion of disapprobation expressed in
your despatch. But the facts, especially as now aided by their results, will
entirely justify my act and reinstate me in your excellency’s good opinion.
True, I landed on the soil of Maryland against the formal
protest of its governor and of the corporate authorities of Annapolis, and
expecting opposition only from insurgents assembled in riotous contempt of the
laws of the State. Before, by letter, at the time of landing, by personal
interview, I had informed Governor Hicks that the soldiers of the Union, under
my command, were armed only against the insurgents and disturbers of the peace
of Maryland and of the United States. I received from Governor Hicks assurances
of the loyalty of the State to the Union, — assurances which subsequent events
have fully justified. The mayor of Annapolis also informed me that the city
authorities would in no wise oppose me, but that I was in great danger from the
excited and riotous crowds of Baltimore, pouring down upon me and in numbers
beyond the control of the police. I assured both the governor and the mayor
that I had no fear of a Baltimore or other mob, and that, supported by the
authorities of the State and city, I should suppress all hostile demonstrations
against the laws of Maryland and the United States, and that I would protect both
myself and the city of Annapolis from any disorderly persons whatsoever. On the
morning following my landing, I was informed that the city of Annapolis and
environs were in danger from an insurrection of the slave population, in
defiance of the laws of the State. What was I to do? I had promised to put down
a white mob and to preserve and enforce the laws against that. Ought I to allow
a black one any preference in the breach of the laws? I understood that I was
armed against all infractions of the laws, whether by white or black, and upon
that understanding I acted, certainly with promptness and efficiency; and your
excellency’s shadow of disapprobation, arising from a misunderstanding of the
facts, has caused all the regret I have for that action. The question seemed to
me to be neither military nor political, and was not to be so treated. It was
simply a question of good faith and honesty of purpose. The benign effect of my
course was instantly seen. The good but timid people of Annapolis, who had fled
from their houses at our approach, immediately returned; business assumed its
accustomed channels; quiet and order prevailed in the city; confidence took the
place of distrust, friendship of enmity, brotherly kindness of sectional hate,
and I believe to-day there is no city in the Union more loyal than the city of
Annapolis. I think, therefore, I may safely point to the results for my
justification. The vote of the neighborhood county of Washington, a few days
since, for its delegate to the legislature, wherein four thousand out of five
thousand votes were thrown for a delegate favorable to the Union, is among the
many happy fruits of firmness of purpose, efficiency of action, and integrity
of mission. I believe, indeed, that it will not require a personal interchange
of views, as suggested in your despatch, to bring our minds in accordance; a
simple statement of the facts will suffice.
But I am to act hereafter, it may be, in an enemy's country,
among a servile population, when the question may arise, as it has not yet
arisen, as well in a moral and Christian as in a political and military point
of view. What shall I do? Will your excellency bear with me a moment while this
question is discussed?
I appreciate fully your excellency’s suggestion as to the
inherent weakness of the rebels, arising from the preponderance of their
servile population. The question, then, is, “In what manner shall we take
advantage of that weakness?” By allowing, and of course arming, that population
to rise upon the defenceless women and children of the country, carrying
rapine, arson, and murder – all the horrors of San Domingo a million times
magnified – among those whom we hope to reunite with us as brethren, many of
whom are already so, and all who are worth preserving will be, when this
horrible madness shall have passed away or be thrashed out of them? Would your
excellency advise the troops under my command to make war in person upon the
defenceless women and children of any part of the Union, accompanied with
brutalities too horrible to be named? You will say, “God forbid.” If we may not
do so in person, shall we arm others to do so over whom we can have no
restraint, exercise no control, and who, when once they have tasted blood, may
turn the very arms we put in their hands against ourselves as a part of the
oppressing white race? The reading of history, so familiar to your excellency,
will tell you the bitterest cause of complaint which our fathers had against
Great Britain in the War of the Revolution was the arming by the British
Ministry of the red men with the tomahawk and the scalping knife against the
women and children of the colonies, so that the phrase “May we not use all the
means which God and Nature have put in our power to subjugate the colonies?”
has passed into a legend of infamy against the leader of that ministry who used
it in Parliament. Shall history teach us in vain? Could we justify ourselves to
ourselves? Although with arms in our hands amid the savage wildness of camp and
field, we may have blunted many of the finer moral sensibilities in letting
loose four millions of worse than savages upon the homes and hearths of the
South. Can we be justified to the Christian community of Massachusetts? Would
such a course be consonant with the teachings of our holy religion? I have a
very decided opinion on the subject, and if anyone desires, as I know your
excellency does not, this unhappy contest to be prosecuted in that manner, some
instrument other than myself must be found to carry it on. I may not discuss
the political bearings of this topic. When I went from under the shadow of my
roof tree I left all politics behind me, to be resumed when every part of the
Union is loyal to the flag, and the potency of the government through the
ballot-box is established.
Passing the moral and the Christian view, let us examine the
subject as a military question. Is not that state already subjugated which
requires the bayonets of those armed in opposition to its rulers to preserve it
from the horrors of a servile war? As the least experienced of military men, I
would have no doubt of the entire subjugation of a State brought to that
condition. When, therefore, — unless I am better advised, — any community in
the United States who have met me in honorable warfare, or even in the prosecution
of a rebellious war in an honorable manner, shall call upon me for protection
against the nameless horrors of a servile insurrection, they shall have it, and
from the moment that call is obeyed I have no doubt we shall be friends and not
enemies.
The possibilities that dishonorable means of defence are to
be taken by the rebels against the government I do not now contemplate. If, as
has been done in a single instance, my men are to be attacked by poison, or, as
in another, stricken down by the assassin's knife and thus murdered, the
community using such weapons may be required to be taught that it holds within
its own border a more potent means for deadly purposes and indiscriminate
slaughter than any which it can administer to us.
Trusting that these views may meet your excellency's
approval, I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully,
Your obedient
servant,
BENJ. F. BUTLER
SOURCE: Jessie Ames Marshall, Editor, Private and
Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler During the Period of the
Civil War, Volume 1: April 1860 – June 1862, p. 38-41
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