Benjamin Franklin Butler (1818–93)

American lawyer, soldier, and politician. Practised law in Massachusetts, 1840–93. Democratic member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1853; of the Senate, 1859. Commander of Union troops during the American Civil War. Major-general of volunteers, 1861; military governor of New Orleans, 1862. Congressman, 1866–75 and 1878. Governor of Massachusetts, 1882–3.