William Bruce Mumford was a North Carolina native and resident of New Orleans, who tore down the U.S. flag raised over Confederate New Orleans after the city was captured by Union troops during the American Civil War. In response, Union Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, the commander of the Union ground forces, had Mumford court-martialed and executed for treason.
William Bruce Mumford
Port of New Orleans and Mississippi delta circa 1862
A Confederate Monument in which William Mumford is buried at Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans
Benjamin Franklin Butler was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler was a political major general of the Union Army during the American Civil War and had a leadership role in the impeachment of U.S. President Andrew Johnson. He was a colorful and often controversial figure on the national stage and on the Massachusetts political scene, serving five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and running several campaigns for governor before his election to that office in 1882.
Butler c. 1870–80
Engraving depicting the Baltimore riot of 1861
Portrait of Butler in his Union Army uniform, Brady-Handy 1862–1865
General Butler after the battle of September 29, 1864, sketched by William Waud (Harper's Weekly, October 22, 1864)