Booknotes: Union General Daniel Butterfield

New Arrival:

• Union General Daniel Butterfield: A Civil War Biography by James S. Pula (Savas Beatie, 2024).

I didn't look very deeply, but it appears that no modern, full-length biography of Major General Daniel Butterfield has been published before now. He certainly deserves one. His second wife, Julia Lorrilard Butterfield, did edit the 1904 volume A Biographical Memorial of General Daniel Butterfield, Including Many Addresses and Military Writings. Released this month, James Pula's Union General Daniel Butterfield finally addresses the general's Civil War contributions using an up to date perspective.

During the early-war period of the fighting in the East, Butterfield showed promise in the field. From the description: "Butterfield was born into a wealthy New York family whose father co-founded American Express. He was one of the war’s early volunteers and made an important contribution with his manual Camp and Outpost Duty for Infantry (1862). He gained praise leading a brigade on the Virginia Peninsula and was wounded at Gaines’ Mill, where his heroism would earn him the Medal of Honor in 1892." After the Seven Days, the general continued to move up the ranks of the army high command. "When its commander went missing, Butterfield took command of a division at Second Bull Run and did so with steadiness and intelligence. His abilities bumped him up to lead the Fifth Corps during the bloodbath at Fredericksburg, where he was charged with managing the dangerous withdrawal across the Rappahannock River."

Despite that record, Butterfield is most remembered for two off-the-battlefield contributions. "It was in the solemnity of camp following the Seven Days’ Battles that he gained lasting fame for composing “Taps.”" Though he did not invent the concept of using uniform symbology as a unit/formation identifier, Butterfield was responsible for making it an army-wide innovation and allegedly personally designed the corps insignia himself.

Butterfield is most closely associated with Joseph Hooker, and indeed it was Fighting Joe who sustained Butterfield's career after the latter lost his corps command in the wake of the Fredericksburg disaster. More from the description: "Shocked and hurt when he was supplanted as the head of the Fifth Corps, he received another chance to shine when General Hooker named him chief-of-staff of the Army of the Potomac." In addition to designing and distributing the aforementioned corps badges, Butterfield "streamlined the supply system" and "improved communications between commands." An able administrator, the general "played a pivotal role during the Chancellorsville and Gettysburg campaigns in managing logistics, communications, and movements, only to be discarded while home recuperating from a Gettysburg wound."

We all know that political shenanigans propped up many a Civil War officer career and derailed others. According to Pula, "(p)olitics and his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War tainted (Butterfield's) rising star." However, Joe Hooker once again came to the rescue.

"When Hooker was sent west, Butterfield went along as chief-of-staff and earned positive comments from Hooker and Gens. George Thomas, William T. Sherman, and U.S. Grant. Butterfield led a division in the XX Corps during the Atlanta Campaign with conspicuous ability at Resaca before a recurring illness forced him from the field." If I recall correctly, recent publications seem to agree with Pula that Butterfield performed well during that campaign.

James Pula's Union General Daniel Butterfield: A Civil War Biography "unspools fact from fiction to offer the first detailed and long overdue treatment of the man and the officer."