benjamin butler being the lawyer that he was in his former life, said this. ah, so, you're quoting united states law. my understanding is that the state of virginia has left the union. the united states law no longer applies to you. now, if you want to swear allegiance to the united states, you can have your slaves back, but if not, i'm going to seize them as contraband of war, because you are using them against my soldiers in the united states army. i will seize them and keep them and you no longer can have your slaves. this would create a mass of folks coming to fort monroe to seek their freedom. what started out with three men became 10,000 by the end of the american civil war in four short years. jefferson davis, the man, is a contradiction. jefferson davis, in his early life, was a graduate of the united states military academy. he served in the frontier with the united states army. he was secretary of war under president pierce. he served in the united states congress, and he also served in the united states senate. and he and his wife were the hosts du

grant and benjamin butler. this took place online and the new-york historical society binded the video. >> good evening, and welcome. tonight's topic is modern major generals. first i want to remind everyone tonight's program, which is being recorded, will last approximately 45 minutes. this will include 15 minutes for questions and answers. please submit your question by the q&a on your zoom screen during the time. we will respond to as many possible during the final part of the program. now, modern major generals. some have commented about our use of the civil war and using 50 objects while the emotional history seen through objects takes in the totality of the context of the war, it doesn't really consider the military history or sequence of battle. harold, what do you think about that? >> well, it's a fair enough comment mtd ogs k comment. of course, the objects we're discussing are all somewhat related to new york's history. so it's related to the soldiers who served, the leaders who helped or hindered the

grant and benjamin butler. this took place online and the new-york historical society binded the video. >> good evening, and welcome. tonight's topic is modern major generals. first i want to remind everyone tonight's program, which is being recorded, will last approximately 45 minutes. this will include 15 minutes for questions and answers. please submit your question by the q&a on your zoom screen during the time. we will respond to as many possible during the final part of the

benjamin butler thinks about it. he is a lawyer. skilled lawyer. he says you are the contraband of war. i take you. i accept you. then more african americans enslaved people liberated themselves, and that is where the term contraband comes from. that is the term for people who escaped slavery on their own but were not -- their freedom was not guaranteed by executive order or legislation. butler becomes a hero in the early movement for freedom and recognition of the earning of enslaved people for their own liberation. he is transferred to new orleans where he makes his greatest mark, i suppose, in a negative way. he takes his army all the way to new orleans. you orleans -- butler marches in, declares himself the concord of new orleans anyway. he establishes a command there, which is more controversial in terms of anything he has done in his career. one thing, when his soldiers are bat upon by the enraged pro southern or southern women of new orleans, the fancy ladies, he issues an infamous order. i think we have it on the screen. he says if any wome

james reed lamdon's portrait and a coin by benjamin butler. so first up is the lamden portrait of grant. grant arrives in washington to receive his promotion to lieutenant general and this interestingly enough is the first -- he is the first since george washington to achieve that rank. >> right. >> but he -- which is interesting in and of itself, he raises eyebrows when he tries to register at the willard hotel. why? >> he gets to the willard, having been to washington quite seldom and he asks for a room. he's with his little boy, by the way. and the desk clerk gives them a desk clerk kind of work. and says we have no room. he implores them and they say, well, we have a room up in the attic and so he says he'll take it. and he takes the ledger and he wrote, u.s. grant and son and twilled it around. and the desk clerk looked at it. if he had a monocle it would have popped out of his eye. oh, my gosh, general grant. we have a wonderful suite for you. and i believe they gave him the suite that lincoln stayed in on the second floor. suddenly he w

it is a coin, designed by benjamin butler. so who was he? >> you know it's not bad, the fortification on the right is a little off the mark, but he is a complicated bizarre controversial figure. he was a democrat in politics in massachusetts. he was a businessman. he owned a bail. very successful. he was a white supremacist, it is late as 1860. he supported jefferson david, davis sorry in 1860, and then he didn't even support stephen douglas. he supported john breckenridge, a southern democrat at southern democrat. and then when the war breaks out, he's such a staunch unionist, but he races a militia brigade, in massachusetts, and immediately touches on controversy, because he has the army by his unit uniforms from his own mill. not a cool move. so a little bit of corruption in his story as well. can >> but why does lincoln appoint a major general in the union army. >> because lincoln did not want the war, to just be a war web west point trained soldiers, and he did it not wanted to be one of only republican generals. he made a point of recr

lincoln and benjamin butler -- lincoln sneaking into baltimore -- >> but it's interesting. he should mention lincoln and bulk, because apparently volker had a change of heart after lincoln's assassination. >> so he said, right? he said he always regretted that he was ever mean to that lovely man, but he painted, he went on to paint, but his paintings were of robert lee, and lee morning stonewall jackson. he never didn't lincoln painting that showed any kind of sense of having regretted what he did. >> let's move on to our next image. this is also a large painting. this is called an episode of war. the cavalry charge. i know the name of eternal leg. >> we called it a hidden treasure. i know it's kind of upon. i have to apologize. >> that's cute. (laughs) it is a dramatic scene. we do not want to minimize it. he was a useful, well connected new yorker. tell us about him and this particular episode of war. >> he was a 23 year old. a young man. when he joined company h. at the first new york capillary. hence the word cavalry units from new york. he was a brave young guy and i s

designed by major general benjamin franklin butler. was he a coin designer or a major general? the verification is a little off the mark. complicated, bizarre, controversial figure. democrat and politics in massachusetts. he was a businessman. he owned a mill. he was a white supremacist in as late as 1860. he supported jefferson davis for president of united states as -- at the democratic convention of 1860. then, he didn't support stephen douglas. he supported breckenridge. he ran for governor on the breckenridge ticket and lost. when the war broke out, he was such a staunch unionist that he raised a militia brigade in massachusetts and immediately touches on controversy because you have the army purchase his units uniforms from his own mill. not a cool move. there's a little bit of corruption and his story. valerie: why does lincoln appoint him major general of the union army? harold: lincoln did not want the war to just be a war of professional west point trained soldiers. he did not want to be a war of only republican generals. he made a big effort to recruit democratic gen

butler, the chairman of the judiciary committee in the house, but a lot of these men gave very moving testimonials about that legislation. ms. elliott: i have a question about another object we have in the collection. revels and rainey as the first often are the ones i think about. but there are these other 19 folks and one of them is robert brown elliott, right here. this is from frank leslie's illustrated newspaper where a lot of the 19th century stuff we have in the house collection that tells us about what is going on in the house and what the public is reading about it, what they are seeing, this is one of the rare ones in which there is an african-american member given a sort of little portrait right there on the pages next to any number of other things going on. this is the news of the day. tell me about robert elliott. mr. wasniewski: elliott is one of the interesting members. he is from south carolina. the majority of african-american members in the 19th century come from south carolina, largely because it was a majority african-american population, and their districts are ma

butler, the chairman of the judiciary committee of the house. a lot of these men gave very moving testimony on the house floor but legislation. >> i have a question about and another object we have in the collection because rebels are skis me rebels and rainy are the first of, the ones i think about, although there are these other 19 folks. one of them is robert browne ali right here. this is from frank leslie's illustrating newspaper were a lot of the 19th century stuff that we have in the house collection that tells us about what's going on in the house and what the public is reading what they're seeing, this is one of the rare ones in which is a african american member who's given a little portrait right there on the pages, right next to any number of other things that are going on this is a news of the. day so tell me little bit about robert elliott. >> elliott is one of the interesting members. he's from south carolina and the majority of african american members in the nineties such a come from south carolina. there are seven members large

this was a bill that had been championed by charles sumner and supported by benjamin butler, the chairman of the judiciary committee in the house. but a lot of these men gave very moving testimonials on the house floor about that legislation. >> well, you know, i have a question about another object we have in the collection because revels and rainy, as the firsts, often are the ones that i think about most. but there are these other 19 folks. and one of them is robert brown elliot. right here. this is from frank leslie's illustrated newspaper where a lot of it have 19th century stuff that we have in the house collection that tells us about what's going on in the house and what the public is reading about it, what they're seeing, this is one -- one of the rare ones in which there's an african-american member who is given sort of a little portrait right there on the pages, right next to any number of other different things that are going on. this is news of the day. tell me a little bit about robert elliot. >> elliot is one of the interesting members. he's from south carolina and the major

lincoln and general benjamin butler as donkey hotel and sonne show penza. >> it's interesting. they should mention lincoln and volker because volker apparently had a change of heart after lincoln's assassination or did he? >> so he said, right. he said he always regretted that he was ever mean to that lovely man. but he painted -- he went on to paint, but his paintings were of robert e. lee. stonewall jackson. he did confederate inspired paintings. he never did a lincoln painting that showed any kind of, you know, sense of having regretted what he did. >> yes. >> let's move on to our next image. this is also a large painting, not quite as large as return of the 69. this is called an episode of war, the cavalry charge of lieutenant by an artist named victor melody. we called it a hidden treasure in the book i know that is something i have to keep apologizing for. >> that's cute. >> it is a dramatic scene so we don't want to minimize it. so this was a youthful well connected new yorker, and tell us a bit about him and this particular episode of war. >> harold: he was a very young

butler. in 45 minutes, representatives from several institutions including the national park service, national archives and library of congress talk about their plans for commemorating the 19th amendment centennial and teaching the public about the legacy of women's suffrage. at 8:00 p.m. in lectures in history, alcohol use in the early american republic. good evening, and welcome. tonight topic is modern major general's. first i want to remind everyone that tonight's program, which is being recorded, will last approximately 45 minutes. this includes 15 minutes for questions and answers. please submit your questions using the q&a function. we will respond to as many as possible in the final part of the program. generals. major some of you have commented on our approach to the civil war that while the