By NED HARRISON

Benjamin Franklin Butler

He was a Union politician who was an officer in the Massachusetts militia. When war came in 1861, Benjamin Franklin Butler promptly activated his command and led it to Washington, D.C. He became one of the most controversial military commanders in the Civil War.

It was a time in our military when a civic leader in a town could become a colonel if he could get 10 of his friends to get 100 of their friends to join a company. Ten companies made up a full regiment, and neither officers nor enlisted men had any military training.

Thus, Butler was a "political" general, who attained his command because of the political needs of the government, rather than from military skills.

The Civil War came upon the United States when the idea of nationhood was dim and thinly conceived. (One of the lasting benefits of the war was that we finally became a nation and the citizens thought of themselves as part of an entity, a country called the United States of America. The people finally accepted a shared sense of a common destiny, along with common laws.) It was all part of the "new-ness" of the United States. New immigrants were entering daily, still speaking their native languages and looking upon their new nation as a place of opportunity as opposed to a place of allegiance.

The South was composed mainly of those with ancestors from the British Isles. A smattering of people from France, Southern Europe and some with an Hispanic background in Texas were also part of the Confederate mix.

The North was much more diverse. Immigrants continued to arrive all during the war and some eagerly entered military service in order to be accepted as real citizens. They came from France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavian countries -- and they were Catholics, Protestants and Jews. Their allegiance was to their ethnic group and not to their new country.

President Abraham Lincoln understood this, as did Jefferson Davis, and Lincoln named his generals for their ethnic as well as their political differences.

Generally, political generals performed poorly in battle, but there were exceptions. Gen. Lew Wallace helped capture Fort Donelson in 1862 and later that year commanded a division at Shiloh. When Gen. Jubal Early led his 1864 raid on Washington, D.C., Gen. Wallace commanded the Union defense. Gen. Henry Wise was governor of Virginia from 1856-60 but accepted a Confederate commission as soon as the war started. He was part of the 1864-65 defense of Richmond and Petersburg and was at Appomattox when the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered.

But for military incompetency, Butler had few peers in either army. His leadership tended to be disorganized, often irrational; he gave little direction to his regimental commanders.

He was a brigadier general when his unit arrived in Washington via Annapolis after the regular route through Baltimore was closed by riots and the burning of railroad bridges. In one of his few successful actions in the war, he organized the repair of the bridges and reopened the route through Baltimore. Butler ruled Baltimore with the tight military control of civilians that became his hallmark. His martial law helped allow thousands of Union troops to pour into Washington.

It is also true that Butler captured New Orleans in April 1862, but the city was not defended and he took it by simply marching his soldiers in and raising the American flag.

However, he failed to take Petersburg in June 1864, when aggressive action could have ended the war. He so mismanaged the battle at Fort Fisher in January 1865, that Gen. Ulysses Grant, general-in-chief of all Union Armies, finally relieved Butler of further command. Virginia and the Civil War.

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In a recent column, I wrote briefly about partisan rangers. These units flourished under direct authorization of the Confederate Congress in 1862. Their purpose was to "make inroads into enemy territory" and they were to "be paid for arms and munitions of war they captured and turned over to the government."

The Congress was late: In May 1861, R.C.W. Radford of Bedford County had already offered his services and that of 1,000 men and their mounts if the state would provide arms.

However, the 1862 Congressional authorization was a strong endorsement of partisan groups and they sprang up quickly. Among the most famous were bands led by John S. Mosby, J.H. McNeil and Harry Gilmore. In all, Virginia fielded 21 partisan ranger units, more than any other state in the east.

Curt and Ruth Milton said in an e-mail, "My g-g-g-grandfather Giles Perdue served in the 37th Bat. Virginia Cavalry, known as 'Dunn's Partisan Rangers.' . . .The 37th later was integrated into other units serving in western Va., and was part of Early's campaign in Maryland and in the Valley."

The Miltons sent in three Web sites with information about partisan rangers: www.26nc.org/cav/37thvacav.html; www.geocities.com/pentagon/quarters/5109/biova_young.html; and hem.passagen.se/csa01.

Partisan units were resented by regular units because they received pay for captured goods. In addition, they were hard to control. The congress repealed the authorization act but allowed the secretary of war to retain such units as he chose; many units carried on until the end of the war.

The Harrison files

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Role of rail transport becomes critical

Railroads were a major part of military strategy

Lee proves himself with Seven Days' Battle

The end of 'Stonewall' Jackson