Butler Benjamin Franklin

Butler, Benjamin Franklin, American lawyer and politician, was born in 1818 at Deerfield, New Hampshire. He became noted as a criminal lawyer after being admitted to the bar in 1840, and in 1853 took a prominent part in politics on the side of the democrats. On the breaking out of the war in 1861 he was made a major-general of volunteers, and in 1862 led an expedition against New Orleans, of which city he became governor. The harshness of his rule called forth much indignant comment, and earned for him the title of "Butler the Beast." In 1866 he represented Massachusetts in Congress, and in 1882 was elected governor of that state.