George F. Hoar

Can there be found in the history of Massachusetts such a record of shameless dishonor and such a terrible indictment and conviction?

That they are neither gold nor good paper, but are a kind of fiat currency, having no intrinsic character, being cheap, delusive, irredeemable and worthless.

Resolved, That we warn the people of the Commonwealth, whose votes General Butler is now soliciting by promises to serve them faithfully, that his professions when seeking office have been found in our experience to be easily made and as…

This scheme was to pay off the national debt and all other debts public and private, including all widows' and soldiers' pensions, in irredeemable paper money.

General Butler's chief title to distinction in political life was a scheme which Massachusetts has pronounced a scheme of dishonesty and infamy in every method by which her sentiment can be made known.

So, much to the shame of our public authorities, the investigation was not pressed.

He had a powerful political influence which made him an object of terror to timid and ambitious men.

He mingled the money of that institution with his own, got the use of it, got interest upon it, for which he never accounted.

The people would think I was a fool for not having taken twice as much.

You said the people of Lowell would not think very highly of me when they saw me riding through the streets in my carriage and knew it was paid for by the money of this bank.

Is there another Union General, at least was there ever another Massachusetts General to whose integrity such suspicion attached?

Jobs, fraudulent contracts, trading through the lines, relatives enriched by public plunder, corrupt understanding with the enemy.

Massachusetts soldiers from those of the humblest origin to those who came from the most cultivated circles have always had the reputation of gentlemen.

So ended the military career of incompetence, boasting and failure.

I advised Admiral Porter to hold on, and that I would send a force and make another attempt to take the place.

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.

In my absence General Butler necessarily commands, and there is a lack of confidence felt in his military ability, making him an unsafe commander for a large army.

I do this with reluctance, but the good of the service requires it.

There never was a fort that invited soldiers to walk in and take possession more plainly than Fort Fisher . . . .

Had the army made a show of surrounding it, it would have been ours; but nothing of the kind was done.

This timidity is not infrequently, as it was in this case, characteristic of men who thrust themselves into places for which they are not fit.

But I mean the fear of the ordinary risks which accompany every bold and successful operation in war.

It is a doubtful and debated question whether General Butler was personally to blame for this terrible and disgraceful repulse.

The scandal became so great that Governor Andrew--than whom there was never a truer, nobler, braver or more upright man in the executive chair of any State in this country--was compelled to put on public record his indignant denunciation.

As well refer twenty-seven babies to their twenty-seven mothers to decide which is the prettiest," exclaimed Butler.