Video: Butler issues 'Woman's Order' (at 11:40)

(Thursday, May 15, 1862, during the American Civil War) — Gen. Benjamin Butler, military commander of New Orleans, today issued General Order No. 28 (also known as the “Woman’s Order”), declaring that any female who insulted a Union soldier by word or deed would be regarded and held liable as a prostitute (“a woman of the town plying her avocation”).

Horrified Southerners assumed the order encouraged the Federals to violate the city’s women as prostitutes.