Benjamnin F. Butler, Butler's Book: Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major-General Benjamin Butler

From the 20th of September to the 7th of October the navy gathered a fleet at Hampton Roads, and was practising there. The vessels lay there from that time till the middle of December.

In that time, after hearing of the great destruction for many miles around made by an explosion of gunpowder at Erith, England, I made an examination into the various instances of the explosive effect of large quantities of powder; and I believed that possibly, by bringing within four or five hundred yards of Fort Fisher a large mass of explosives, and firing the whole in every part at the same moment — for it was the essence of the experiment to have the powder all exploded at the same instant — the garrison would at least be so far paralyzed as to enable, by a prompt landing of men, a seizure of the fort.

I went to Fortress Monroe to examine the details of that question among others. While there I received on November 1 a telegram to report at once to Washington, and on reaching there found that I was to be sent to New York to take charge of the city during the election. While at Washington I suggested the powder experiment to the President, to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and I think to General Halleck. It was readily embraced by the Secretary of the Navy and with more caution by the President. Further investigation was suggested, and I left the matter in the hands of the navy, and on November 2 went to New York.

When I returned on the 16th of November I found that the idea had received so much favor at Washington that it was determined it should be tried. One consideration which determined the making of the attempt was that if it should prove a success the whole system of offensive warfare by naval procedure would be changed, for no forts near harbors would be safe if a small vessel loaded with gunpowder and run ashore under a fort and exploded would destroy the people in it, and no garrison would ever remain in a fort when such a vessel was seen approaching.

The experiment was well worth trying on another account. The navy had storehouses for more than five thousand barrels of powder in a place, near many of our large cities. Of course, as at Erith, which was one of the English government storehouses, it would only be a question of time when some of those deposits of powder would be exploded either by design, carelessness, or accident. What the