OIU'ITAKIKS, AMERICAN. (BROCKETT BUTLER.) 



543 



WM 

 niuk 

 lad of an African Cruiser,'' ecUtM by Nathaniel Huw- 



thorne. 



Brockett. Linus Pierpont, author, born in Canton. 

 Conn. .<><!. lii, IM;(I ; .li.'.l in Brooklyn, N. Y.. .Inn. 

 18. IK- \\u-~ educated ut Brown Iniversity; 

 graduated ut lli- ^ ale Medical Sdi. Mil in IH.JII ; pra.- 

 ticcd tor four years; was lecturer on physiology ami 

 anatomy at Georgetown Collide, Kentucky, in 1-11 

 'I.'. ; was a publisher in Hartford, Conn., in 1847-'58; 

 an. I was a r..mmi>Moii<-r to invcstiirutc idiocy in Con- 

 necticut in 1 >">! '."''!. At time* between L864odl878 

 lie \\a> employed on Applctons' " Anierieaii '' and 

 "Annual" CTolopndiM, und from 17;> till 1888 on 

 "Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia." As editor <>r 

 Contributor he was connected with rnuny mugu/ines, 

 reviews, and other publications. Among the many 

 works of which he was author wholly or in part, 

 wer<-: "Geographical History of New York "(1847): 

 " Pioneer Preacher " (1850) ; " History of Education " 

 (1859); "Eighty Years' Progress of the United State*" 

 (1861); "Life of Lincoln" (1865) ; "Our Great Cap- 

 tains" (1868); "Woman's Work in the Civil War" 



then retired n pay director, with the relative the Massachusetts delegation, on tin- grand that 

 of. ..mmodorc. ID 1842 hi- iiuhlihhcd the ".lour there hud been a withdrawal in part of a mujoriu of 

 if an African Cruiser,'' edited by Nathaniel Haw- the States. In closing, he said that he ulw. withdrew 



Paupers" (1874); "Our Country's Wealth and In- 

 fluence" (1881); "Our Western Empire" (1881-'82; 

 "Descriptive America" (1884-'85); and "The Great 

 Metropolis" (1888). 



Brown, Simeon, military officer, born in New Hamp- 

 shire, in 1812; died in St. Clair, Mich., Marcli 17, 

 L8M. He removed to Michigan in 1835; was com- 

 mi>-ioned major of the 6th Michigan Cavalry at the 

 beginning of the civil war; promoted colonel of the 

 llth Michigan Cavalry in 1862 j brevetted brigadier- 

 general for distinguished services at Marion, Va,; 

 and took part in 72 battles and skirmishes. 



Burke, Denis F., military officer, born in Cork, Ire- 

 land, April 19, 1841 ; died in New York city, Oct. 19, 

 1893. He removed to New York city in 1855, and was 

 engaged in the dry -goods business till the beginning of 

 the civil war. He was among the first to enlist in 

 the company of the 69th Regiment, of which (Jen. 

 Thomas F. Meagher went out as captain ; served to 

 the close of the war; and for gallantry at Harrison's 

 Landing, Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, 

 Todd's Tavern, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Peters- 

 burg, and Fort Sedgwick, he rose from the rank of 

 second lieutenant to that of brevet brigadier-general. 

 At Gettysburg he was personally commended by 

 Gen. Hancock on the field, and his brevet of brig- 

 adier-general was conferred on that commander's 

 recommendation. In 1866 he returned to Ireland, 

 where he was arrested on suspicion of being a 

 Fenian, and was imprisoned for seven months. He 

 returned to New York city in 1868, supported the 

 candidacy of Gen. Grant for the presidency, and 

 after the election received a clerksnip in the New 

 York tax commissioner's office. For several years 

 before his death he was employed in the New York 

 customhouse. 



Butler, Benjamin Franklin, lawyer, born in Deerfleld, 

 N. H., Nov. 6, 1S18 ; died in Washington.!). C., Jan. 

 11, 1893. His father was Captain John Butler, who 

 served ut New Orleans under (ien. Jackson. Benja- 

 min was graduated at Colby University (then Water- 

 ville College 1 ), Maine, in 1838, and was admitted to the 

 bar in 1840. He begun practice in the town of Low- 

 ell, Muss., and soon became eminent, especially in 

 criminal cases. He was a Democrat, and almost 

 from the outaet of his career took an active part in 

 political affairs. In 1*~>:> he was elected to the Mas- 

 sachusetts House of Representatives, and in 1859 to 

 the State Senate. In 1860 he was delegate to the 

 Democratic National Convention nt Charleston, S. C., 

 and was with the portion that reassembled at Baltimore 

 after the break made by the resolution in regard to 

 -ion. He took an active part in the proceedings 

 for a time, but finally announced the withdrawal of 



upon the ground that he would not, hit in u conven- 

 tion when- the " African slave trade, which i* piracy 

 by the law* of my country, is ai*pn>vingl> advo- 

 cated." The Democrats of llMMctltlMttl nominated 

 him for Governor that year, but he w a* defeated. In 

 April. iM'd. when President Lincoln issued the lin<t 

 .all for troop-, den. llutler (then brigadier-general 

 of militia) ottered his 

 services und WUH put 

 in command of the 

 eighth Massachusetts 

 Keiriment. On the 

 17th of April he 

 marched to Annapo- 

 lis, and was given 

 command of the dis- 

 trict of Annapolis, 

 which contained Bal- 

 timore. On May 13 

 he entered that city 

 at the head of 900 

 men, and occupied it 

 without opposition. 

 On the 16th he was 

 promoted to major- 

 general, and assigned to command of Fort Monroe 

 and the Department of Eastern Virginia. When slaves 

 who had escaped from their masters' plantations 

 came within his lines and their return was de- 

 manded, they were withheld on the ground that the 

 slaves were held as property, and wure therefore 

 contraband of war. From this incident the term 

 "contrabands" soon became popular, and was used 

 throughout the National armies and the North to 

 designate fugitive slaves. In August, 1861, Gen. 

 Butler commanded an expedition that captured Forte 

 Hutteros and Clark, on the North Carolina coast. His 

 next work was to return to Massachusetts to get re- 

 cruits for an expedition to the mouth of the Mi>*is- 

 sippi, in which he was successful, and on March 23, 

 1802, sailed with his command for Ship Island. On 

 April 17, after Farragut had passed the forts and cap- 

 tured New Orleans,Gen. Butler went up the Mississippi 

 with his forces, and on May 1 occupied the city. Here 

 he showed great ability in ruling a turbulent popu- 

 lace. He compelled the rich secessionist to assist the 

 poor, instituted the strictest sanitary regulations, 

 cleaned the city, armed the free colored men, caused 

 one Mumford to be hanged for hauling down the 

 United States flag from the mint, and issued an order 

 intended to prevent women from insulting the sol- 

 diers in the streets. The last two orders raised u furi- 

 ous discussion, and Jetterson Davis issued an order de- 

 nouncing him as an outlaw and setting a price on his 

 head. On May 11, 1802, Gen. Butler seized $800,000 

 that had been deposited in the office of the Dutch 

 consul, on the ground that it was intended for the 

 purchase of arms for the Confederacy. The foreign 

 consuls all entered a protest, and, on examination, the 

 Government caused the money to be returned. On 

 Dec. 16 he was recalled. He always contended that 

 the act was done at the instigation of Louis Napoleon, 

 who supposed Gen. Butler to be hostile to his schemes 

 in Mexico. Near the close of 1863 he was given com- 

 mand of the troops in the Department of Virginia 

 and North Carolina, afterward called the Army of 

 the James. When (Jen. Grunt planned his great 

 campaign in the spring of 1864, he designed to have 

 all the National armies move at once against the 

 forces of the Confederacy. t<> prevent the latter from 

 being massed at any one point. The part assigned to 

 the Army of the .lames was to move westward, south 

 of James river toward Petersburg and the south- 

 ern defenses of Richmond, virtually attacking Lee's 

 army in the rear, while the Army o"f the Potomac at- 

 tacked it in front. But in this Gen. Butler was 

 thwarted by Gen. Beauregard, who threw up an im- 

 passable line of defenses across the peninsula between 



