Benjamin Butler during the Civil War

In May 1862, Union general Benjamin Butler was appointed military commander of New Orleans. The city’s citizens resented the Yankee occupation and began acting out against the Northern soldiers. Even the women joined in; they “cursed the soldiers, spat on their uniforms, turned their backs when the men walked by, and emptied chamber pots on their heads from upstairs windows.” No soldier, no matter his rank, was exempt from the harassment, and Admiral David Farragut himself had a chamber pot emptied on his head.

To stop the women’s insults, General Butler issued his infamous General Order Number 28, which read as follows:

As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall by word, gesture, or movement insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation.

In essence, Butler’s order said that any woman insulting a soldier would be treated as a prostitute. He didn’t mean this in the sexual sense—it meant that if a woman disrespected a soldier, he wouldn’t have to treat her as a lady and she could be arrested under the same terms as a prostitute.

A Harper’s Weekly cartoon showing New Orleans women’s behavior before and after Order 28

Despite the widespread outrage at the order, it did have the desired effect. Since a woman’s reputation as a lady was one of her most valuable assets, the women of New Orleans stopped their harassment of the soldiers to preserve their reputations.

Read more about the order here or here. Or find more stories from the war in Fold3’s Civil War collection.

A Lady's Reputation