Ben Butler Takes on a Chaplain

Ben Butler Takes on a Chaplain Howard C. Westwood Prior to the Civil War, chaplains were relatively rare in American armies . But at that war's beginning President Abraham Lincoln provided for chaplains throughout the Union armies. Although a good many regimental officers did not welcome chaplains, and a number of the regiments never embraced them, their service was extensive. It went far beyond preaching; mainly chaplains were troops' caretakers in a variety of ways. By the war's end their service had proved of such value that chaplaincy had become an enduring institution in American arms. One chaplain, whose army career ended in a dramatic episode, was Henry Norman Hudson, of the 1st New York Engineers Volunteers; his service with the regiment began in early November 1 861 and ended in early February 1865. Involved in course of the episode ending his service were Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, commanding all the Union armies, Major General Benjamin F. Butler, commanding the Army ofthe James, and the Episcopal Bishop of New York and a considerable number of his clergy, as well as prominent laymen. The episode and its background merit telling in some detail.1 Hudson, born a Vermonter in 1814, had been graduated from Middlebury College in 1840. His college entrance had come onlyafterseveral years' apprenticeship to a coachmaker, it is apparent that, in college, he made up for lost time for upon graduation he manifested notable scholarship. He became a teacher; he also lectured on Shakespeare. Soon he gave up teaching to concentrate on Shakespeare, becoming, in time, also an Episcopal I am most grateful to Michael Musick ofthe National Archives for perceptive guidance to pertinent records in obscure corners. ' Nearest to real focus on the episode is a footnote in The Papers ofUlysses S. Grant, John Y. Simon, ed. (Carbondale, 111.: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1967-), 13(1985): 145-46. There are passing references in Robert S. Holzman, Stormy Ben Butler (New York: Macmillan Co., 1954), 130; Hans L. Trefousse, Ben Butler— The South Called Him Beast! (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1957), 169; Murray M. Horowitz, Ben Butler— The Making ofa Radical (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1955), 115, 147. Civil War History, Vol. XXXV, No. 3, ® 1989 by the Kent State University Press 226civil war history clergyman. Ultimately, in the 1850s, he became editor offirst one and then anotherchurch magazine, and shortly before the war, became an Episcopal rector. Along the way he edited Shakespeare's plays in eleven volumes; his was the first American edition of Shakespeare that has been preserved.2 With the war's outbreak, Hudson felt a stirring ofantislavery sentiment. At a public meeting in New York City early in the war he voiced that sentiment eloquently. Perhaps it was that voicing which, in October 1861, led the officers of the 1 st New York Engineers to invite him to become chaplain of their regiment. He accepted, beginning his service on November 6. Though he was no youngster—by then he was nearing fortyeight years ofage—he applied himselfdiligently in helping the regiment get under way, even incurring a substantial contingent personal indebtedness that he could ill afford in acquiring rubber blankets for some of the regiment . Mustering into Federal service of the entire regiment was not completed until February 1862; Hudson's mustering occurred on February 14. His mission with the regiment was service in the Union's foothold around Port Royal, South Carolina. Hudson served well not only as the regimental chaplain but fora long period as chaplain ofthe post. The army there had a busy time of it, for it was engaged both westerly along the Georgia coast, south into Florida, and easterly toward Charleston. The chaplain of the engineers and the post had plenty to do.3 Twice during Hudson's service in the Carolina region he had to be given short periods ofleave because ofsome health difficulty. But he kept going, and accompanied a principal portion of his regiment that, in the spring of 1864, was called to Virginia as a part of the Tenth Corps. That corps became one of the two corps of General Butler's Army of the James, which was being assembled around...