Iron Fist of the Union (1860s)
Major General Benjamin Butler of the Union army had a particular contempt for the South and Confederate-sympathizers in New Orleans. He ordered martial law upon the city, and that was only the start. His General Order 28 ordered any woman insulting or showing contempt for a Union soldier would be regarded as and treated like a prostitute. He had Confederate sympathizer William Munford hung for tearing down the US flag over the New Orleans Mint.
But to add further insult, Butler commissioned an alteration to the statue of Andrew Jackson.This statue, with Jackson tipping his hat astride his leaping horse, honors his role for defending the city against British invasion. It is the focal point in the French Quarter’s Jackson Square. Butler ordered the statue to be inscribed with the motto, “The Union Must and Shall Be Preserved,” slamming the Confederate sympathies of New Orleans.
