Learning that the Secretary
left Washington yesterday, I telegraph you asking that prompt
action be taken in this matter."
That was practically the end of Butler's military service.
He never received another command.
There is no country in the world, other than ours, where
an officer guilty of such conduct, whether it came from incapacity
or cowardice, would not have been promptly cashiered and probably
shot. This would have been true, as in the case of Admiral
Keppel, if his fault had been merely a failure to attack.
But Butler's fault was an express disobedience of orders.
The order which he disobeyed was unknown to the subordinate
on whose advice he claimed to have relied. General Grant
expressly ordered him that in case of failure to attack the
fort by assault, he should remain and entrench his troops
on the peninsula, and cooperate with the fleet for the reduction
of the place. When Grant learned the circumstances he declared
that, in leaving after he had landed, Butler had violated
his express orders.
It is a source of just pride that a New England commander,
and one of Massachusetts descent, General Terry, was successful
in the new attempt.
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