MAJOR GENERAL BENJAMIN F. BUTLER - DOCUMENT SIGNED 12/01/1883 CO-SIGNED BY: HENRY B. PEIRCE - HFSID 177218

BENJAMIN F. BUTLER
As Governor of Massachusetts, he certifies Samuel B. Spooner's election as Register of Probate for Hampden County. Also signed by Henry B. Peirce as Secretary of State.
Document signed: "Benj Butler" as Governor, "Henry B. Peirce" as Secretary of State, 1 page, 9¼x14½. Boston, Massachusetts, 1883 December 1. Printed document with manuscript details, certifying that Samuel B. Spooner, meeting the requirements of the General Statutes, "has been duly chosen by the people of the County of Hampden" as Register of Probate and Insolency for a term of five years beginning the first Wednesday in January, 1884. Official paper seal affixed above Butler's signature. A well-known lawyer and political leader and a Brigadier General of the Massachusetts militia, BENJAMIN F. BUTLER (1818-1893) entered the Civil War in a dramatic way. Leading the 8th Massachusetts, he broke the blockade of Washington five days after the bombardment of Ft. Sumter. President Abraham Lincoln rewarded him with an appointment as the first volunteer Major General. Butler was appointed Military Governor of New Orleans in May of 1862, but he served only until December, earning the sobriquet "Beast Butler" from angry Southerners. He returned to combat duty with command of the Army of the James in 1863. He proved inept against General P.G.T. Beauregard at the Battle at Bermuda Hundred (May 16, 1864), and Grant sent him to New York. Butler resigned his commission in January of 1865. He was a member of the House of Representatives (1867-1875, 1877-1879), where he played a prominent part in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. He changed political parties several times, and was elected Massachusetts' Democratic Governor (1882-1884). In 1884, one year after he signed this document, Butler, advocate of an eight-hour workday, ran unsuccessfully for president as candidate of the Greenback and Anti-Monopoly Parties. HENRY B. PEIRCE, a Union army veteran and prominent wholesale grocer, was Secretary of State of Massachusetts for 15 years (1876-1891). He is easily confused with his contemporary, Henry L. Pierce, a US Representative and two-time Mayor of Boston, especially since some sources confuse the spelling of Peirce's last name. Three horizontal folds. Lightly creased. Lightly worn. Lightly toned at left edge. Otherwise, fine condition.