November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893
Massachusetts
- criminal defense lawyer
- major general of the Union Army during the American Civil War
- September 27, 1862, Butler formed the first African American regiment in the US Army, the 1st Louisiana Native Guard
- 1869 – founded the United States Cartridge Company
- leadership role in the impeachment of U.S. President Andrew Johnson
- 1882 33rd Governor of Massachusetts
– January 4, 1883 – January 3, 1884 - coauthored the Civil Rights Act of 1875
About Benjamin F. Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire on November 5, 1818, was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1840 and built a prominent law practice in Lowell. As a Union general early in the Civil War, he refused in 1861 to return three escaped slaves to their Confederate owner at Fort Monroe, treating them as “contraband of war,” a policy the Lincoln administration supported. As military governor of New Orleans in 1862, he formed the 1st Louisiana Native Guard on September 27, the first African American regiment in the U.S. Army.
Butler served in the U.S. House from 1867 to 1875 and again from 1877 to 1879. He was a lead House manager in the 1868 impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, wrote the initial version of the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act and co-proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 with Charles Sumner. He served as the 33rd governor of Massachusetts from 1883 to 1884 and ran for president in 1884 on the Greenback and Anti-Monopoly tickets. For firearms history, Butler is notable as the founder of the United States Cartridge Company of Lowell, which grew into one of the nation’s largest ammunition makers. He died in Washington, D.C. on January 11, 1893.
Key Facts
- November 5, 1818: Born in Deerfield, New Hampshire
- September 27, 1862: Forms the 1st Louisiana Native Guard
- 1868: Lead House impeachment manager in the trial of President Andrew Johnson
- 1869: Founds the United States Cartridge Company in Lowell, Massachusetts
- 1883-1884: 33rd Governor of Massachusetts
- January 11, 1893: Dies in Washington, D.C.
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Sources
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