Concerned that Lee might detach troops to counter Sherman in Georgia, Grant made contingency plans to have the Army of the Potomac chase after him should that happen, while leaving Butler and the Army of the James to watch Richmond. Further, the Confederate garrison at Wilmington, North Carolina might also dispatch part of its force to meet Sherman, and Fort Fisher might be weakly held. The delay here was surprising since Butler, if nothing else, was a good organizer. It seems that he was beset by a curious scientific experiment to see what happened when a boat full of gunpowder exploded. The plan detailed a powerful Navy squadron bombarding the fort while infantry under Brig. Gen Godfrey Weitzel, who had served under Butler in New Orleans and whom he highly trusted, would land ashore. That done, Ft. Fisher would receive no more blockade runners and the fort could be taken if the Confederates weaked its garrison to go after Sherman.Grant found no particular fault in the powder ship project; there were plenty of surplus boats that could be sacrificed and plenty of powder that failed to meet munitions standards but was suitable for a floating bomb, and if Butler's scheme worked, it would be very cheap and allow easy capture of the fort. Also the expedition would be handled by Grant's old friend Admiral David Dixon Porter, who was as intrigued by the powder ship idea as Butler. A small steam ship, the Louisiana, was modified; its masts and guns removed, repainted to look like a blockade runner, and its lower decks filled with 215 pounds of powder in wooden barrels and burlap sacks, an intricate network of fuses set up to ignite the whole thing.
The engineers didn't think this harebrained scheme would work. Butler had apparently been intrigued by reading about the explosion of a powder barge on the Thames River in England a few months earlier and the flattening effect it had on the immediate landscape. The engineers pointed out that the effect of the blast was minimal at a distance and this powder ship was not likely going to do anything to the massive walls of Fort Fisher, but Butler was the boss and orders were orders, so the Louisiana was turned into a kamikaze ship. There may have been other reasons for the delay; Butler complained the Navy was taking forever to be ready, but Grant didn't believe him. In any case the expedition took two additional weeks to set off.On November 30, Grant learned from Southern newspapers that General Bragg was taking the Wilmington garrison south to Georgia and warned Weitzel to get moving ASAP. He repeated this warning on December 4, saying Sherman was almost to the coast and that Bragg would be returning to Wilmington shortly; Bragg's mission, to safeguard Augusta, would end as soon as Sherman reached Savannah and Butler had better go whether his powder ship was ready or not. Grant issued three more warnings over the next week; by December 11, he informed Butler that Sherman was said to be within 25 miles of Savannah. On the 14th he remarked that the expedition should have started more than a week earlier. That evening Weitzel and his two divisions set sail from Hampton Roads, reaching the point of rendezvous with the Navy at New Inlet, close to Ft. Fisher, twenty-four hours later.
Even after that more delays occurred; stormy weather for the next week put everything on standby mode and for another, the presence of Ben Butler in command essentially guaranteed failure. It had been assumed that Butler would organize the whole expedition but Weitzel would have operational command, but Butler was the department commander and fully within his right to accompany the expedition if he so chose. Grant learned that Butler had decided to come along at the last minute, but never dreamed he would actually exercise command and just thought he was coming along as a passenger, especially because his orders expressly put Weitzel in charge. "I rather formed the idea that Butler was acutated by the desire to witness the effects of the powder ship," Grant wrote.Meanwhile, George Thomas had broken John Hood and the Army of Tennessee forever at Nashville on December 14-15 and although Hood got his army away and withdrew into Alabama, it was wrecked and would never again be a functional fighting force. On December 17, Sherman occupied Savannah and sent Lincoln a cocky congratulatory telegram. The victory was not entirely complete because Savannah's 10,000 man Confederate garrison got away, but it was good enough and all that remained of the Confederacy now was the area between South Carolina and Richmond.
Butler, consistent to the end, failed to take Fort Fisher. He got there, waited for the weather to clear up, and his powder ship was launched near the fort and exploded with so little effect that a Confederate sentry on duty heard the blast and just thought a Yankee boiler burst somewhere. The Navy bombarded the fort, Butler got his troops ashore on Christmas Day, and realized that neither the powder boat nor the naval bombardment had so much as put a dent in the place. Weitzel reported that he didn't think Fisher could be carried by storm, he ignored Grant's orders to dig in and wait, and Butler finally put the troops back on ship and sailed back to Hampton Roads as he comforted himself with the fact that he'd gotten out of there without significant casualties (the tally: one man drowned, two killed, one officer captured, and ten wounded).At last Butler had tried his luck too far. The Fisher expedition was an embarrassing failure and there was no possible way he could pass the buck onto anyone else. Grant sent Col. Comstock along as an observer and he reported back that the same sized force could have easily taken Fisher if anyone competent had led them. Admiral Porter said essentially the same thing and when Lincoln asked just what went wrong, Grant sent him an indignant reply: "The Wilmington expedition has proven a gross and culpable failure. Many of the troops are now back here. Delays and free talk of the object of the expedition enabled the enemy to move troops to Wilmington to defeat it. After the expedition sailed from Fort Monroe three days of fine weather was squandered, during which time the enemy was without a force to protect himself. Who is to be blamed I hope will be known."
Grant had no difficulty satisfying himself on the last point. Right after sending that message to Lincoln, he met with Butler and Col. Porter said it was a heated exchange. Grant found that Weitzel, who was supposed to command the operation, never received his orders and Butler was outright disobedient by withdrawing his troops without a fight. Navy Secretary Wells told Grant that Admiral Porter would keep the fleet together in case Grant wanted to try it again and Grant sent Porter a note reading "Please hold on where you are for a few more days and I will endeavor to be back again with an increased force and without the former commander."On January 4, 1865, Grant settled the matter once and for all by writing Secretary Stanton to say "I am constrained to request the removal of Maj. Gen B.F. Butler from command of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. I do this with reluctance, but the good of the service requires it. In my absence General Butler necessarily commands and there is a lack of confidence felt in his military ability, making him an unsafe commander for a large army. His administration of the affairs of his department is also questionable."As things had it, Stanton was not then in Washington and when Grant found out, he sent a letter to President Lincoln reading "I wrote a letter to the Secretary of War, which was mailed yesterday, asking to have General Butler removed from command. Learning that the Secretary left Washington the other day, I telegraph you urging that prompt action be taken in the matter."
Lincoln and Stanton moved quickly, both realizing that they no longer had to worry about a presidential election, and on January 8 Butler was formally sacked from command. General Ord took over his department and General Alfred Terry given Weitzel's command with orders to return to Ft. Fisher ASAP. The only thing out of the ordinary about Grant's request was that for the first time he hinted at Butler's faults as an administrator. Shady things were happening in his department; contraband goods were moving through it in considerable quantities, some going to provision Lee's army as Grant was trying to choke it to death, and Butler had arrested people who seemed to know too much. After the Ft. Fisher expedition sailed, Grant sent Halleck a cryptic note: "I wish you would order one of the inspectors-general to report to me for special duty. I want to get in an official form some facts that I have learned in regard to arbitrary arrests and punishment by the commander of the Department of North Carolina and Virginia."It didn't go anywhere and nobody ever satisfactorily figured out just what Butler was up to; it may be noted that he was then the favorite son of the principal investigating agency of the day, the Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War. All that is known is that Grant had gotten Butler removed from command and a few weeks later, he wrote his old friend Dan Ammen of the Navy to say "You have no doubt seen by the papers the very thing you had hoped would take place. I mean, General Butler was removed at my request. The failure at Fort Fisher was not without important and valuable results."
>>18255103>>18255099god Butler was retarded
>>18255097after Weitzel's troops got ashore, Confederate prisoners told them General Robert Hoke was coming with 6,000 troops so Butler panicked and pulled everyone out
>>18255091BTW most photos of Butler are postwar ones when he was older. This is from his tenure as a Congressman during the Hayes Administration and he didn't look like that during the war.
>Butler testifies before Congress about the Ft. Fisher disaster and whines that it wasn't his fault, he was given impossible orders that could never work>of course as an astute politician he knew exactly how to work Congress>sounds of cheering and bells being run could be heard outside>a member of Congress throws open a window to ask what all the commotion is>someone replies that Ft. Fisher has fallen>everyone immediately starts laughing at Butler>as a last save face he calls for everyone to thank the Almighty for the victory
>>18255209Grant was in a sticky situation with BB.>he outranked almost everyone and was second in command to Grant himself in Virginia>this meant if Grant ever had to leave the front for some reason, Butler was in command there>Grant proposed putting him in Missouri or Kentucky but Halleck was like are "you Squidding me? that would probably cause an armed insurrection in those states">no way to get rid of him either because he was totally unscrupulous and absolutely loved by Radical Republicans and might run for president>Grant then thought of confining Butler to administrative duties in his department while the professional soldiers handled the actual fighting but he was too smart to fall for that trick>in the end he couldn't do anything but just leave Butler where he was>after the presidential election it was safe to fire Butler but Lincoln decided he needed to make one more mistake so there was a good excuse for it
