CDV backmark: D. Frederickson & Co. / New York. Subject appears bareheaded in seated studio pose, dressed in jacket & black cravat, holding hat. Exhibit clear image w/slight smudge upper right corner, & slight chip lower right margin. Else VG.

Autograph: “Benj. F. Butler / Mass” in ink, on single sheet of paper. Large signature, 3.5” by .75. Displays tiny dot to the right of “F.” Else clean and VG.

CDV and autograph date from Butler’s early phase as a Massachusetts politician on the edge of the civil war in which he was to earn a reputation as the Union’s most notorious political general---and worthless battlefield commander, albeit an efficient behind the lines administrator when not engaged in graft…most notably during his 1862 tenure as military governor of New Orleans where he earned the reputation as “Spoons” Butler for confiscatory theft of Confederate silverware.

Dismissed by U.S. Grant and sent home in disgrace after botching an operation against Ft. Fisher at Wilmington, NC., in late 1864, Butler reverted to politics, shifting party allegiance to the Radical Republicans, switching back to the Democrats in the 1870s. In 1882 he was elected Governor of New Jersey in 1882, after numerous failures, and attempted use the position as a springboard to becoming the 1884 Democratic presidential nominee, losing to Grover Cleveland. At his death in 1893, Butler left an estate of seven million dollars, mostly accruing from his Civil War graft, especially in Louisiana.

An entertaining multi-faceted rascal, Benjamin F. Butler. Solid collectible. Both pieces in plastic sheath, w/ white card backing. [jp][ph:L]

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