Description:

Benjamin F. Butler TLS Re: The Washington Monument Struck by Lightning

2pp, measuring 7.75" x 9.875", Boston, dated May 25, 1886. A typed letter on stationery from the Law Officers of Butler, Washburn, and Webster. Signed "Benj F. Butler" and addressed to Gen. J.B. Kinsman in Alexandria, Egypt. With flattened mail folds, light edge toning, and spots of staining and soiling throughout. Boldly signed. The former Union major general discusses the Washington Monument in relation to the Egyptian pyramids and shares other news and happenings back home. Reading in part:

"…The Washington Monument had got a crack of a thunderbolt which knocked the top of it somewhat, and as the pyramids are the next highest things, and had stood so many years, I wondered whether there were any thunder claps there, and whether the lightening [sic] had ever troubled them --whether there was any such thing in Egypt, and I did not know where to turn to the authorities. Because if the pyramids have been open to thunder claps during the ages they have stood there must have been a good deal of demolishment, apparently, as in the year the Washington Monument was finished the top of that got badly knocked, although great pains had been taken to draw off the lightening [sic] by conductors, and I did not suppose they had lightening [sic] rods on the pyramids…I suppose that somebody has told you by this time that we have a new office, No. 6 Ashburton Place. Our old office is being pulled down to clear the site for the New Court House. If you see something quite rare and not too expensive that would adorn the mantlepiece in my new office, which is a very fine room, and will send it to me, I should be very glad of it for I know you have taste in bric-a-brac. You are now Judge in Egypt. I think the administration is inclined to let you alone. Batchelder has tried to make mischief but I don’t think he has succeeded…"

Construction on the Washington Monument began in 1848 but was paused from 1854-1877 due to lack of funding and the outbreak of the American Civil War. The stone structure was finally completed in 1884, but the internal ironwork and other stone installations were not finalized until 1888. The monument's aluminum apex lightning rod was installed in late 1884. Between 1885 and 1934, the apex lost 1 cm of height due to lightning strikes.

Benjamin Franklin Butler (1818-1893) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives, the Senate and later served as its governor. He is a highly noted controversial figure of the American Civil War. He was given jurisdiction over the Northern occupied city of New Orleans. He refused to return fugitive slaves to the Confederacy, using the logic that they constituted “contraband of war”—an interpretation later upheld by his government.  He was widely reviled for years after the war by Southerners, who gave him the nickname "Beast Butler." After the war, Butler returned to politics. He attempted to run for president in 1884 but lost the nomination to Grover Cleveland. He later retired to his personal endeavors in law and writing his memoirs until his death in 1893. On the one side, he did not hesitate to use his office to line his own pocket. On the other, he promoted women's suffrage, took a strong stand against the Ku Klux Klan and tried to assist the economically poor through various pieces of legislation. 

Josiah B. Kinsman (1824-1912) had worked at Butler's law office and served with him during the Civil War. He served on Butler's staff as an aide-de-camp and was later appointed by Butler as chief of a Department of Negro Affairs. Kinsman stressed the importance of vocational and literacy training, and as a result, by 1864, North Carolina had more than 60 educators and 3000 students enrolled in Kinsman's program. After the war, Kinsman moved abroad to Egypt and became a judge.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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