GDG- Daniel Butterfield

[Tom Ryan]

Having read through the sources that I have available that Longacre cited in
his bio of Dan Butterfield (Phanz, Coddington, Patrick, Cleaves and Hebert),
I get the impression that the real Dan Butterfield has yet to be described
in the history books.  A more objective, comprehensive study of this man is
needed to confirm or dispell some of the negative characterizations that
appear in these sources.

Perhaps some of the other sources that Longacre cited provide a clearer
picture of Butterfield, but I do not have any of them readily available.

Marsena Patrick has nothing good to say about Butterfield in his diary, but
this seems to be based on the fact that Butterfield as COS kept the
perpetually grumpy Patrick busy taking care of actions for headquarters.
However, almost everyone got onto Patrick's "s" list for one reason or
another.

Coddington's description of the orders Butterfield drew up for a potential
retreat from Gettysburg seems to have caused most people to get on
Butterfield's case because it ended up making Meade look bad.  It is not
clear whether Butterfield is the problem in this situation, or at least part
of it may relate to Meade's faulty memory of the event.

Butterfield's appearance at the JCCW on Gettysburg is another black mark
usually applied to B's record, yet he obviously was there to aid his friend
Joe Hooker more than he attempted to smear Meade, I believe.

Beyond this there is not enough substance about Butterfield to permit a
valid judgment regarding his capability and performance as a Union officer.
The Historical Times Encyclopedia states that "Through excessive
officiousness and a bad temper, Butterfield gained many enemies and the
nickname 'Little Napoleon.'"  This sounds like it came straight out of
Patrick's diary, since he referred to Butterfield as "Napoleon."

Butterfield seems to have had a pretty decent record as a line officer with
the exception of at Fredericksburg.  He was awarded the MOH for Gaines'
Mills 30 years after the war, but that could have been because of good
political connections.

Anyone else have an opinion about Dan the Man that adds something to the
story?

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com
[mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]On Behalf Of Fred Johanson
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 2:41 PM
To: GDG
Subject: RE: GDG- Daniel Butterfield


Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:



Here's the bibliography:



Bibliography
Some of Butterfield's wartime and postwar correspondence can be found in
the Lucia Chauncey Porter Papers in the U.S. Military Academy Library.
His campaign reports form part of The War of the Rebellion: A
Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
(128 vols., 1880-1901). The most comprehensive source of biographical
information is Julia Lorrilard Butterfield, ed., A Biographical Memorial
of General Daniel Butterfield (1904). His role as chief of staff to
Generals Hooker and Meade is covered in Joseph Hebert, "Fighting Joe"
Hooker (1944), and Freeman Cleaves, Meade of Gettysburg (1960). The
Meade-Butterfield controversy is examined in Edwin B. Coddington, The
Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command (1968), and Harry W. Pfanz,
Gettysburg: The Second Day (1987). Contemporary assessments of
Butterfield appear in Allan Nevins, ed., A Diary of Battle: The Personal
Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, 1861-1865 (1962), and David
S. Sparks, ed., Inside Lincoln's Army: The Diary of Marsena Rudolph
Patrick, Provost Marshal General, Army of the Potomac (1964). A more
sympathetic portrait emerges in the wartime correspondence of
Butterfield's brigade bugler, Oliver Willcox Norton, War Letters,
1861-1865 (1903). A good account of what occurred at Berkeley Hundred in
the summer of 1862 is Russell Booth, "Butterfield and 'Taps'," Civil War
Times Illustrated 16 (Dec. 1977): 35-39. An obituary is in the New York
Times, 18 July 1901.




Edward G. Longacre