Butler, Benjamin Franklin (1818-1893)

US soldier and politician. In the Civil War he was a volunteer officer in the Union forces. He was a member of Congress in the 1860s and 1870s, and was elected governor of Massachusetts 1882.

Butler was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire. He qualified as a lawyer 1840 and became noted as a criminal lawyer. He served in the lower house of the state legislature 1853, and in the state senate 1859, as a Democrat. During the Civil War he led an expedition 1862 against New Orleans, which he captured on 1 May. His military career ended when he was dismissed for neglecting orders by General Ulysses S Grant in the attack on Fort Fisher, Wilmington.

After the Civil War he returned to Massachusetts, and was sent to Congress as a Republican 1867-79, except in 1875-77. He rejoined the Democrats 1879. In 1884 Butler was the presidential nominee of the Anti-Monopoly and Greenback parties.