Matthew Butler
Matthew Calbraith Butler | |
---|---|
United States Senator from South Carolina | |
In office March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1895 | |
Preceded by | Thomas J. Robertson |
Succeeded by | Benjamin Tillman |
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Edgefield County | |
In office November 27, 1865 – December 21, 1866 | |
In office November 26, 1860 – December 21, 1861 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Greenville, South Carolina | March 8, 1836
Died | April 14, 1909 Washington, D.C. | (aged 73)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouses | Maria Calhoun Butler (Pickens)
(m. 1858; died 1900)Nancy DeSaussure "Nannie" Bostick Butler
(m. 1906) |
Signature | 2nd South Carolina Cavalry Butler's Cavalry Brigade Butler's Cavalry Division |
Battles/wars | American Civil War Spanish–American War |
Matthew Calbraith Butler (March 8, 1836 – April 14, 1909) was a Confederate soldier, an
Early life and career
Butler was born at Eagle's Crag near
His uncle Andrew Butler was a U.S. Senator from South Carolina and uncle Pierce Mason Butler was Governor of South Carolina.[2] One of Matthew Butler's first cousins was Congressman Preston Brooks, who assaulted Senator Charles Sumner in 1856 on the floor of the U.S. Senate with a cane. He said it was because Sumner had insulted Senator Andrew Butler, at whose home Matthew lived as a young man.[3] Two of Butler's first cousins twice removed were James Bonham (killed at the Battle of the Alamo) and Confederate General Milledge Luke Bonham.[4]
In 1848 Butler went with his father to Arkansas but returned in 1851 to live with his uncle, who resided in Edgefield, South Carolina. He received his initial education in the city's Edgefield Academy, and then attended the South Carolina College, where he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, graduating in 1856. He studied law, was admitted to the state's bar association in 1857, and began practicing as a lawyer in Edgefield.[5] He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1860, but resigned in 1861 when the American Civil War began.[6]
Marriage and family
On February 25, 1858, Butler married Maria Calhoun Pickens. She was the daughter of Francis Wilkinson Pickens, who was elected as governor of the state.[7]
Civil War years
During the Civil War, Butler served in the cavalry in the Confederate
Butler led a brigade in
Postwar
Financially ruined as a result of the war, Butler resumed his career as a lawyer in Edgefield. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives beginning in 1866.[5] He became a member of the Democratic Party and ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1870 during the Reconstruction era.[1] He was a member of the pro-black Union Reform party.[8]
In July 1876, Butler defended two white farmers in court in their complaint of being denied free passage on Main Street of
In 1877, after Federal troops had been withdrawn under a national Democratic compromise,
While in the Senate, Butler served on the Senate Foreign Relations, Territories, Military Affairs, Naval Affairs, Interstate Commerce, Civil Service and Retrenchment committees.[1]
Butler practiced law in Washington, D.C., until 1898, when he was appointed major general of U.S. Volunteers during the Spanish–American War. He was one of a handful of former Confederate officers (along with Fitzhugh Lee, Thomas L. Rosser, and Joseph Wheeler) to serve in the U.S. Army during that war.[11] After the American victory that year, he supervised the evacuation of Spanish troops from Cuba.[15] He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army on April 15, 1899.[16] In 1899 General Butler joined the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of Foreign Wars.
In 1903, Butler was elected vice president of the Southern Historical Society. In 1904 he relocated to Mexico, where he served as president of a mining company. Having been a widower for years since his wife Maria died, in 1906 he married Nannie Whitman.
They returned to Washington, DC. Butler died there in 1909 while semi-retired. His body was returned to Edgefield, South Carolina, where he was buried in the city's Willow Brook Cemetery.[5]
The Matthew C. Butler Camp #12 of the South Carolina Society of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars is named in his honor.[citation needed]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d Boyd, p. 67.
- ^ a b Hess, p. 649.
- ^ Martin, p. 8.
- ^ Burton, pp. 66–67.
- ^ a b c Wakelyn, p. 119.
- ^ Martin, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Wittenberg, p. 19.
- ^ Lamson, Peggy (1973). The Glorious Failure. New York: W. W. Norton.
- ^ Ehren K. Foley, "Sites of Violence: Hamburg Massacre" Archived 2014-10-16 at the Wayback Machine, South Carolina during Reconstruction website, 2010-2012, accessed 27 October 2014
- ^ Trefousse, p. 100.
- ^ a b Welsh, p. 32.
- ^ 1877 Congressional Record, Senate, page 759
- ^ United States Congress, p. 66.
- ^ "Butler, Matthew Calbraith".
- ^ Porter, p. 44.
- ^ Warner, p. 41.
References
- Boyd, James Penny; Vital Questions of the Day: Or Historic and Economic Reviews of the Issues of Labor ... Tariff Legislation ..., Publisher's union, (1894)
- Burton, Orville Vernon; My Father's House Are Many Mansions: Family and Community in Edgefield, South Carolina, UNC Press, (1987) ISBN 0-8078-4183-8.
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- Emerson, W. Eric; Sons of Privilege: The Charleston Light Dragoons in the Civil War, University of South Carolina Press, (2005) ISBN 1-57003-592-X.
- Hess, Stephen; America's Political Dynasties, Transaction Publishers, (1997) ISBN 1-56000-911-X.
- Madigan, Patrick F.; A Biographical Index of American Public Men, BiblioBazaar, (2008) ISBN 0-554-40642-X.
- Martin, Samuel J., Southern Hero, Matthew Calbraith Butler, Stackpole Books, (2001) ISBN 0-8117-0899-3.
- Porter, Robert Percival; Industrial Cuba: Being a Study of Present Commercial and Industrial Conditions, with Suggestions as to the Opportunities Presented in the Island for American Capital, Enterprise, and Labour, G. P. Putnam's Sons, (1899).
- Wakelyn, Jon L., Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy, Greenwood Press, 1977, ISBN 0-8371-6124-X.
- Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray: The Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5
- Welsh, Jack D.; Medical Histories of Confederate Generals, Kent State University Press, (1999) ISBN 0-87338-649-3.
- Wittenberg, Eric J., Rhea, Gordon C.; "Glory Enough for All:" Sheridan's Second Raid and the Battle of Trevilian Station, University of Nebraska Press, (2007) ISBN 0-8032-5967-0.
- United States Congress; Official Congressional Directory (1882).
Further reading
- Brooks, Ulysses Robert, Butler and His Cavalry in the War of Secession 1861–1865, original date of publication 1909, republished, 1991 J.J. Fox, Camden, South Carolina: South Carolina Regimentals Series, by Guild Bindery Press, Oxford Miss.
- Martin, Samuel J., Southern Hero: Matthew Calbraith Butler, Confederate General, Hampton Redshirt, and U.S. Senator. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2001. ISBN 0-8117-0899-3.
- Official Report of the "Battle of Hamburg" (a.k.a. "Hamburg Massacre")
External links
- United States Congress. "Matthew Butler (id: B001184)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.