Benjamin Franklin Butler

Benjamin Franklin Butler was one of the most important and controversial military and political leaders of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Remembered most often for hisuncompromising administration of the Federal occupation of New Orleans during the war, Butler reemerges in this lively narrative as a man whose journey took him from childhood destitution to wealth and profound influence in state and national halls of power.Prize-winning biographerElizabeth D. Leonard chronicles Butlers successful career in the law defending the rights of the Lowell Mill girls and other workers, his achievements as one of Abraham Lincolns premier civilian generals, and his role in developing wartime policy in support of slaverys fugitives as the nation advanced toward emancipation. Leonard also highlights Butlers personal and political evolution, revealing how his limited understanding of racism and the horrors of slavery transformed over time, leading him into a postwar role as one of the nations foremost advocates for Black freedom and civil rights, and one of its notable opponents of white supremacy and neo-Confederate resurgence.Butlerhimselfclaimedhe wasalways with the underdog in the fight.Leonardsnuanced portrait willhelpreaders assess such claims, peeling away generations of previous assumptions and characterizations to provide a definitive life of a consequential man.