Butler's infamous order.
--The order of
Gen. Butler concerning the ladies of New Orleans was read in the camp of the 11th North Carolina regiment, near
Wilmington, on the 31st ult., with the following address from
Col. Leaventhorpe, of that regiment:
Follow Soldiers: The infamous order which you have just heard read proceeds from the
General whom the fortune of war has placed in possession of one of the noblest cities of the
South.
The base enemy whom we oppose, not content with the crimes of invasion, with insurrectionary attempts among our domestic population, and with pillaging the fairest regions of our country, has openly dared to threaten our most sacred relations, and to place our wives and our daughters upon the footing of common prostitutes of the town.
Gentlemen of
North Carolina, the debased passions of his soldiery needed no such incentive.
The records of crime written in the and annuals of
Maryland, and in there other unfortunate portions of our country which have been polluted by the enemy's feet, prove but too well the fate, worse than death, which awaits these most dear to us on the event of his conquest and our humiliation.
But, follow soldiers, with the blessing of God, we need fear no such dusting for our country.
Relying, then, on that blessing, let us resolve as one man that
Wilmington shall not be reached by the invader, and, in the hour of trial, recalling these scandalous threats against the wives and daughters of New Orleans, let us meet him sternly and hurt him back upon his boats at the point of the bayonet.