(Hermit Note: This is an excellent example of how the Yankees Plundered Southern Warehouses and Plantations for their own personal gain, something you WILL NOT read about in your Normie Marxist History Books.)
In the first six months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine War, the Russian army stole stored grain from individual farms and grain silos. They even stole some 27 tractors and combines from a Deere dealership. That was reprehensible conduct. It amounted to war crimes. But, was that conduct new? No, not at all. During the Federal occupation of New Orleans, Benjamin Butler and his brother, Andrew, profited mightily. Even before the occupation, Gen. Butler somehow came to own stores of cotton and turpentine. While still biding his time at Ship Island, he shipped the cotton and turpentine on a Union ship to his agent in Boston as “ballast” with instructions to sell the commodities. But, the Federal Quartermaster in Boston could not understand how this cargo could constitute private property of Gen. Butler if it was shipped on a government-owned ship.
Before Butler’s Boston agent could straighten this out with the U.S. government, a second shipment of cotton and sugar arrived, also from Gen. Butler. The Assistant Quartermaster, Capt. William W. McKim, resolved the issue by selling the two shipments and depositing the money in favor of the U.S. government. The Quartermaster and Secretary of Treasury Chase both then censured Gen. Butler while also noting he must be protected.
Having learned his lesson, from then on, Gen. Butler would confiscate cotton and other crops under the Confiscation Act and skim from the profits, with the aid of his staff. He avoided direct shipments in his own name.
