Grant would have taken Petersburg without a siege if Ben Butler had occupied the city when ordered to do so.

Ben Butler came last, the uniform of a Union major general still stretched over his short, corpulent frame.

"I also find myself surprised," Ben Butler said.

Stephens sent a suspicious look toward Ben Butler.

They say he is a great actor, Ben Butler.

Rhode Island won't like it if I'm offered less than Ben Butler.

"Now we have a new war with the radicals-and Ben Butler."

But even Hay thought it unlikely that Ben Butler would go so far as to attempt a military coup.

"Even if they'd both gone Confederate, it wouldn't have been enough to turn the election, worse luck," Ben Butler said after a quick calculation.

Ben Butler threw back his head and laughed raucously.