Virtual Lecture: Union General Daniel Butterfield

Learn about this Civil War general that called Cold Spring home for many years!

Writing in a special issue of New York State and the Civil War, the editor asserted that Daniel Butterfield “was beyond argument the ‘fightingest’ general this state had given to the Civil War,” yet marveled that “the name of Butterfield is not conspicuous in the Civil War literature.” More than a half century later, this dearth of attention remains despite his prominence in that conflict. This presentation will remedy the serious deficiency in coverage by examining his roles as a combat commander in the Peninsula Campaign in Virginia, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and the Atlanta Campaign, how he earned the Medal of Honor, and his crucial role of chief of staff of the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. It will also cover the lasting contributions he  made to American military tradition by authoring “Taps,” an important instructional manual adopted by the Union armies and designing the first set of badges to identify the units to which soldiers belonged. The presentation will be accompanied by an abundantly illustrated PowerPoint.

James S. Pula is a retired Professor Emeritus from Purdue University. His research has centered on two fields of study, the American Civil War and Immigration Studies. His most reccent book, Union General Daniel Butterfield: A Civil War Biography (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie Publishing, 2024) came out last June and was a project to highlight the work of the titular overlooked general. Other books by Pula include The Civil War from Its Origins to Reconstruction (Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publications, 2019) and Under the Crescent Moon with the Eleventh Corps in the Civil War (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie Publishing, 2017-2018), the latter of which received the U. S. Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award in 2019.

Special thanks to our patrons; Preston Pittman, Timothy Wallach & Fleur Fairman, and George Whipple III, for their support of the 2024 Lecture Series!