On May 15, 1862, Major General Benjamin Butler, commander of the Union forces in New Orleans, issued General Order Number 28, which read as follows: "As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall, by word, gesture or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the Unites States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her vacation."