The Union flexes muscle at Fort Monroe Casemate Museum director
Paul Morando explores a mural-sized print of Fort Monroe as it
appeared during the Civil War. (May 13, 2011) In just four short
weeks of war, Benjamin F. Butler had seized command of the
Massachusetts militia from a senior officer, occupied the
rebellious capital of Maryland and outmaneuvered Southern
sympathizers blocking the railway lines needed to reach
Washington, D.C. Operating without orders, he then outwitted
Confederate spies by loading his troops aboard a night train
headed away from Baltimore, stopping just a few miles down the
line and reversing direction after cutting the telegraph lines.
So dazed were the Maryland Secessionists by his ruse that 1,000
troops took control of seething "Mobtown" without resistance.
Hailed by the North as the savior of both Maryland and
Washington, D.C., the new major general was less than pleased
when angry Union General-in-Chief Winfield Scott relieved him of
command and reassigned him to Fort Monroe. B