Unknown [Poem attacking Benjamin F. Butler]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05987.39 Author/Creator: Unknown Place Written: Baltimore, Maryland Type: Broadside Date: 14 March 1863 Pagination: 1 p. ; 14.7 x 9.5 cm. Order a Copy
Consists of an unsigned acrostic poem with the name "BF Butler" as the basis. An attack against General Benjamin F. Butler [possibly for his "women around town" order while he was administering New Orleans]. The notorious declaration was issued on 15 May 1862 said if any woman should insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and shall be held liable to be treated as a "woman of the town plying her avocation", i.e., a prostitute. This order provoked protests both in the North and the South, and also abroad, particularly in England and France, and it was doubtless the cause of Butler's removal from command of the Department of the Gulf on 17 December 1862. The poem calls him a "liar" and a "coward" and says "Every woman and child will ages to come, / Remember thee, monster - vilest of scum." Printed on dark green-blue necessity paper.
[Draft Created by Crowdsourcing]
ACROSTIC.
Brutal by nature-a coward and knave,
Famed for no action noble or brave.
Beastly by instinct,-a ruffian and sot;
Ugly and venomous: on mankind a blot.
Thief, liar and scoundrel, in highest degree,
Let Yankeedom boast of such heroes as thee.
Every woman and child will ages to come,
Remember thee, monster,-vilest of scum.
BALTIMORE, MARCH 14, 1863,
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