Sarah Hildreth Butler (born Sarah Jones Hildreth, August 17, 1816 – April 8, 1876) was an American stage actress. She was the wife of

Benjamin Butler Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general (United States), major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, ...

, a Massachusetts lawyer, controversial Union general in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, and a United States

Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

representing Massachusetts from 1867 to 1875 and again from 1877 to 1879.

Life

Sarah Hildreth was born in

Dracut, Massachusetts Dracut is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the town's population was 32,617, making it the second most populous town in Massachusetts with an open town meeting system of governance. The town cove ...

, the daughter of Dr. Israel Hildreth, a physician in the Lowell area, and Dolly Jones. At sixteen, she went to Boston for formal training in dramatics and later performed all around the country. On May 16, 1844, she married Benjamin Butler, then a rising lawyer, at Saint Anne's Episcopal Church in Lowell; she was 27, he 25. The Butlers had four children, three surviving to adulthood: Blanche (1847–1939), who would marry

Adelbert Ames Adelbert Ames (October 31, 1835 – April 13, 1933) was an American sailor, soldier, businessman and politician who served with distinction as a Union Army general during the American Civil War. A Radical Republican, he was military governor ...

; Paul (1852–1918; their first son, also named Paul, had died in 1850 at the age of five); and Ben-Israel (1855–1881). She retired from stage performance after her marriage. Benjamin Butler served as a Union general during the

and then, at Sarah's urging, pursued his political ambitions. In March 1866, Butler argued in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the United States in ''

Ex parte Milligan ''Ex parte Milligan'', 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 2 (1866), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that ruled that the use of military tribunals to try civilians when civil courts are operating is unconstitutional. In this particular case, the ...

'', in which the Court held, against the United States, that military commission trials could not replace civilian trials when civilian courts were operating. Butler then turned his eyes to Congress and was elected in 1866 on a platform of civil rights and opposition to President Andrew Johnson's weak

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

policies. Sarah encouraged Benjamin's support for social reform, including women's suffrage and the eight-hour workday for federal employees.West, Richard S. (1965). ''Lincoln's Scapegoat General: A Life of Benjamin F. Butler, 1818–1893''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Death

Sarah Hildreth Butler died on April 8, 1876, at the age of 59, and is buried at her family's private cemetery in Lowell.

References

External links

Sarah Jones Hildreth Butler , Civil War Women Blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Sarah Hildreth 1816 births 1876 deaths

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch, prophet, and major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pious woma ...

19th-century American actresses American stage actresses Actresses from Lowell, Massachusetts Butler–Ames family Spouses of Massachusetts politicians