Editor’s Note: This article was transcribed by Ole, a moderator at the Civil War Interactive discussion forums.
GEN. BUTLER’S BOTTLE – Beauregard is said, by Richmond papers, to have said that he had got Butler in a bottle of which he held the cork. We have heard the joke repeated in loyal circles here.
When Gen. Butler heard it, he is said to have said, “It is a bottle with four necks.” In fact he had his pontoon train floating James river with bridge-heads ready built, by which he could build three bridges across James river when he chose, — for he and not Beauregard held its northern bank. He has other bridge-heads and pontoons by which he crosses the Appomattox when his cavalry ride into Petersburg, — for he and not Beauregard holds its southern shore. At Bermuda Hundred, five miles behind him, he has a landing place arranged for an army, with some prescience, apparently, on somebody’s part, that by this route Grant might wish to enter Richmond.
Grant is now entering the bottle by two of its necks. What will become of Beauregard’s cork will soon be seen.1
Source:
- “Gen. Butler’s Bottle,” Boston Advertiser, June 18, 1864, p. ? col. ? ↩