648 



NEW OKLEANS. 



informed that a withdrawal of his letter, and 

 an apology for the language which it contained, 

 would alone relieve him from incarceration ; 

 whereupon he made the annexed apology and 

 retraction, and was allowed to resume the 

 functions of his office : 



GEN. BUTLER: This communication, having been 

 sent under a mistake of fact, and being improper in 

 language, I desire to apologize for the same, and to 

 withdraw it. JOHN T. MONROE, Mayor. 



May 16, 1862. 



In explanation of the meaning and intent of 

 the order, Gen. Butler, at the same time, ad- 

 dressed the following letter to the mayor, 

 which was published together with the apology 

 of the latter, in the daily papers of New Or- 

 leans : 



HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GTJLF. I 

 NEW ORLEANS, May 16, 1862. f 



SIR : There can be, there has been, no room for mis- 

 understanding of General Order No. 28. 



No lady win take any notice of a strange gentleman, 

 and a fortiori of a stranger, simply in such form as to 

 attract attention. Common women do. 



Therefore, whatever woman, lady or mistress, gentle 

 or simple, who, by gesture, look, or word, insults, shows 

 contempt for, thus attracting to herself the notice of 

 my officers and soldiers, will be deemed to act as be- 

 comes her vocation as a common woman, and will be 

 liable to be treated accordingly. This was most fully 

 explained to you at my office. 



I shall not, as I have not, abated a single word of 

 that order ; it was well considered ; if obeyed, will 

 protect the true and modest women from all possible 

 insult. The others will take care of themselves. 



You can publish your letter, if you publish this note 

 and your apology. Respectfully, 



BENJ. F. BUTLER, 

 Major-General Commanding. 



JOHN T. MONROE, Mayor of New Orleans. 



The agitation consequent upon the publica- 

 tion of Order No. 28 was not confined to New 

 Orleans or its neighborhood, but throughout 

 all the States, loyal and disloyal, the language 

 of Gen. Butler was made the subject of com- 

 ments varying with the feelings or circum- 

 stances of the writer. Gen. Beauregard read 

 it at the head of his army, as an incitement to 

 renewed efforts against the "Northern hordes ;" 

 the Confederate journals denounced it with all 

 the resources of the language at their com- 

 mand; and even in the North many editors 

 and public speakers expressed themselves 

 strongly against the order, and called upon the 

 President to disavow it publicly and rebuke its 

 author. In the European journals unfriendly 

 to the national cause, and in some also of op- 

 posite views, it was criticized with characteris- 

 tic asperity. The order was nevertheless tol- 

 erated by the President, and, in spite of the ob- 

 loquy sought to be associated with it, was, in 

 the opinion of persons competent to judge, in 

 no respect oppressive in its operation, but ra- 

 ther productive of substantial good by prevent- 

 ing an indulgence in wanton insults, by any 

 class of the population. In a private letter 

 written in July, Gen. Butler has given the fol- 

 lowing account of his motives in acting as he 

 did, and of the presumed necessity for such ac- 

 tion: 



What was the state of things to which the woman 

 order applied ? 



We were two thousand five hundred men in a city 

 seven miles long by two to four wide, of a hundred and 

 fifty thousand inhabitants, all hostile, bitter, defiant, 

 explosive, standing literally on a magazine; a spark 

 only needed for destruction. The devil had entered 

 the hearts of the women of this town (you know seven 

 of them chose Mary Magdalen for a residence) to stir 

 up strife in every way possible. Every opprobrious 

 epithet, every insulting gesture was made by these be- 

 jewelled, becrinolined, and laced creatures, calling 

 themselves ladies, toward my soldiers and officers, 

 from the windows of houses and in the streets. How 

 long do you suppose our flesh and blood could have 

 stood this without retort ? 



That would lead to disturbances and riot ; from 

 which we must clear the streets with artillery and 

 then a howl that we murdered these fine women. I 

 had arrested the men who hurrahed for Beauregard. 

 Could I arrest the women ? No. What was to be 

 done? No order could be made, save one, that would 

 execute itself. With anxious, careful thought I hit 

 upon this : " Women who insult my soldiers are to be 

 regarded and treated as common women plying their 

 vocation." 



Pray how do you treat a common woman plying her 

 vocation in the streets ? You pass her by unheeded. 

 She cannot insult you ! As a gentleman you can and 

 will take no notice of her. If she speaks, her words 

 are not opprobrious. It is only when she becomes a 

 continuous and positive nuisance that you call a watch- 

 man and give her in charge to him. 



* * * * * * * 



Why, these she adders of New Orleans themselves 

 were at once shamed into propriety of conduct by the 

 order, and from that day no woman has either insulted 

 or annoyed any live soldier or officer, and of a certain- 

 ty no soldier has insulted any woman. 



When I passed through Baltimore, on the 23d of 

 February last, members of my staff were insulted by 

 the gestures of the ladies (?) there. Not so in New 

 Orleans. 



I can only say, I would issue it again under like 

 circumstances. 



On May 29, the further circulation of Con- 

 federate money, which had been permitted for 

 a limited period, ceased, in accordance with an 

 order from the commander-in-chief, and on 

 June 1, the port of New Orleans was declared, 

 by a proclamation of the President, again open 

 to commerce. Charles L. Lathrop, a former 

 resident of the city, was appointed collector, and 

 steam communication was almost immediately 

 resumed with the Northern States. So bene- 

 ficial were the results of reviving commerce 

 and of the strict attention to police and sanitary 

 measures which was exacted, that the "Delta" 

 of June 1, commenting upon the sullen and de- 

 serted aspect of the city at the entrance of the 

 national troops, observed : 



One short month has elapsed. The streets are filled 

 with smiling faces, business attracts with open doors, 

 thugs have left for summer watering places, property 

 is secure, and Abraham Lincoln, by the grace of God 

 and the electoral vote of the people President of the 

 United States of America, might walk, unarmed and 

 unaccompanied, at any time through these streets, in 

 full security, and to the joy and delight of numbers 

 who have heretofore been accustomed to link his name 

 with curses and execrations. 



This change was not effected without a 

 resort to measures which were denounced as 

 arbitrary and tyrannical. Arrests of suspected 

 persons had constantly to be made, at the dis- 



