t to General Butler and
General Williams and his staff, and marched through several streets to
the Custom House, their band playing the 'Star-Spangled Banner.' They
had been given strict directions not to resent any insults that might be
offered by the vast crowd gathered in the streets, unless ordered so to
do; if a shot should be fired from any house, they were to halt, arrest
the inmates, and destroy the building.

"Their patience was greatly tried during that short march, the crowd
constantly growing greater and more boisterous and pouring out upon them
volleys of abusive epithets, both vulgar and profane, applying them to
the general as well as his troops."

"I think anybody but an American would have ordered his soldiers to fire
upon them for that," remarked Walter. "Did they do no fighting at all at
the time, sir?"

"No," replied the captain; "they were obedient to the orders of their
superior officers and brave enough to endure the undeserved abuse in
silence.

"At length their destination was reached, Captain Everett posted his
cannon around the Custom House, quarters there were given to the
Massachusetts regiment, and the city was comparatively quiet through the
night.

"General Butler passed the night on board the _Mississippi_, and at an
early hour in the evening sent out a proclamation to the citizens of New
Orleans. It was first sent to the office of the _True Delta_ to be
printed; but the proprietor flatly refused to use his types in such an
act of submission to Federal rule."

"I hope he wasn't allowed to do as he pleased about it?" growled Walter.

"I think hardly," returned the captain with an amused smile. "Some two
hours later a file of soldiers were in his office, half a dozen of whom
were printers, and in a very short time the proclamation was sent out in
printed form.

"Meanwhile the Federal officers had taken possession of their city
quarters. General Butler was at the St. Charles Hotel, and invited the
city authorities to a conference with him there. That very foolish
mayor, Monroe, told the messenger sent to him that his place of business
was at the City Hall. He was answered by a suggestion that such a reply
was not likely to prove satisfying to the commanding general, and then
prudently decided to go and wait on General Butler at the St. Charles.

"Some of his friends accompanied him; among them Pierre Soule, who had
been a representative to Congress before the war.

"General But