Benjamin Franklin Butler ( November 5 , 1818 – January 11 , 1893 ) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as its governor . During the American Civil War , his administration of occupied New Orleans , his policies regarding slaves as " contrabands ", his ineffectual leadership in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign , and the fiasco of Fort Fisher rank him as one of the most controversial " political generals " of the war. He was widely reviled for years after the war by Southern whites, who gave him the nickname "Beast Butler". He was a p olitical general he was a general during the US Civil War who was given a high position in command due to political connections or to appease certain political blocks. .
Item number: CS146