Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00666

Author/Creator: Beauregard, G. T. (Gustave Toutant) (1818-1893)

Place Written: Corinth, Mississippi

Type: Document signed

Date: 19 May 1862

Pagination: 1 p. ; 14 x 13 cm.

Summary of Content: General Beauregard’s order rallying Confederate soldiers, in response to Benjamin F. Butler’s infamous General Order number 28, signed by Smith as Assistant Adjutant General. Butler’s order number 28, stating that New Orleans women showing contempt for Union soldiers will be treated as prostitutes is reprinted here, as well as Beauregard’s words rallying the men to ”drive back from our soil, those infamous invaders of our homes and disturbers of our family ties.”

People: Beauregard, Pierre Gustave Toutant, 1818-1893., Butler, Benjamin Franklin, 1818-1893.

Historical Era: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877

Full Transcript: Head Quarters Western Department,, Corinth, Mississippi, May 19th, 1862., GENERAL ORDERS, }, No. 44. }, For the information of this army, the following General Orders, No. 23, of the Federal officer, Major General Butler, commanding at New Orleans, will be read on dress parade:, NOTICE., HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, }, NEW ORLEANS, May 15, 1862. }, General Orders, No. 28., As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall, by word, gesture or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the Untied States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation. , By command of , MAJOR GENERAL BUTLER , GEO. C. STRONG, A. A. G., Chief of Staff., Men of the South! shall our mothers, our wives, our daughters and our sisters, be thus outraged by the ruffianly soldiers of the North, to whom is given the right to treat, at their pleasure, the ladies of the South as common harlots? Arouse friends, and drive back from our soil, those infamous invaders of our homes and disturbers of our family ties., G.T. BEAUREGARD., General Commanding, - OFFICIAL - , Clifton H. Smith, Asst Adjt Genl.

Keywords/Subjects: Women’s History, Military History, Civil War, Confederate general or leader, Confederate States of America, Union forces, Union general

Sub Era: The American Civil War

Background: While Grant was driving toward the Mississippi from the north, northern naval forces under Captain David G. Farragut (1801-1870) attacked from the south. In April 1862, Farragut steamed past weak Confederate defenses and captured New Orleans. In New Orleans, Union forces met repeated insults from the city’s women. Major General Benjamin F. Butler ordered that any woman who behaved disrespectfully should be treated as a prostitute. Reaction in the North was mixed. Southern reaction to ”Beast” Butler was predictably harsh.

LOC Search Terms: United States. War Department--Records and correspondence., United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865., Generals--United States--History--19th century., Generals--Confederate States of America., Confederate States of America. Army--Officers.

Resource: Confederate reaction to “Beast” Butler’s orders, 1862