Carte de visite, oval bust etching of Butler in civilian clothes. Facing to the left. Artistic gold framing. Printed at bottom, "MAJ. GEN. B. F. BUTLER, Ship Island, Gulf of Mexico" along with printers names.

Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Massachusetts, Butler was a politically appointed major general of the Union Army during the Civil War and had a role in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.

Butler joined the Union Army, where his lack of military skill was evident time and again. His controversial military governing of New Orleans made him widely disliked in the South and earned him the "Beast" epithet. Butler came up with the idea of designating freed slaves as "contraband of war," an idea that the Lincoln administration endorsed and that played a role in making emancipation an official war goal.

After the war, Butler continued to be very active in State and National politics. Butler died on January 11, 1893, of complications from a bronchial infection, two days after arguing a case before the Supreme Court. He is buried in his wife's family cemetery, behind the main Hildreth Cemetery in Lowell, MA.  [JET][PH:L]

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