8. In 1862 a dispute over a flag led to an execution for treason
During the American Civil War, a naval squadron commanded by Commodore David Farragut approached the city of New Orleans, and Farragut ordered the Confederate flags being flown above the mint, city hall, and the customs house be removed. When the Mayor refused, a detail of Marines were sent to remove the offending Confederate flags and replace them with United States flags. The locals were warned that anyone attempting to harm the American flags would be fired upon by the ships. William Mumford and a group of half a dozen others ignored the warning, removed the flag from the mint, and were fired upon, with Mumford receiving mild injuries from flying debris. When General Benjamin Butler, commanding Union ground forces in the area, was informed of the incident he issued orders for the arrest of those involved.
Mumford was arrested on May 1, 1862, and charged with “high crimes and misdemeanors” against the United States. A military tribunal convicted him, and Butler ordered that he “having been convicted before a military commission of treason and an overt act of…” was to be executed by hanging. Mumford, a veteran of the Seminole War in Florida and the Mexican War, was hanged on June 7, 1862, for the treasonous act of removing the United States Flag from the mint building before the city was occupied by federal troops. Jefferson Davis proclaimed General Butler a criminal for his actions. In an ironic twist, the site selected for Mumford’s hanging was in a courtyard of the mint, a location which Butler personally selected for the event, in the shadow of the scene of Mumford’s treason.