Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1818-1893 to G. C. Gardner re: defense of his "woman order"

Order a pdf of this item here.

A high-resolution version of this object is available for registered users. LOG IN

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC07053 Author/Creator: Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1818-1893 Place Written: New Orleans, Louisiana Type: Letter signed Date: 1862/06/10 Pagination: 4 p. : Height: 24.8 cm, Width: 19.9 cm Order a Copy

"The women more bitter in their secession than the men, were everywhere insulting my soldiers...tending to provoke retort recrimination and return of insult, which would have ended in disgraceful and murderous riot... how do you 'regard and treat' a lewd woman and her remarks?... After that order every man of my command was bound in honor not to notice any of these acts of these women."

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources