Biography
William Bruce Mumford was a New Orleans resident who joined the crowd that tore down a United States flag raised over the U.S. Mint as Union naval forces demanded the city’s surrender in April 1862. After Union troops occupied New Orleans, Major General Benjamin Butler had Mumford arrested and tried by a military commission. The commission convicted him of treason, and Butler’s Special Order No. 70 directed that he be hanged. Mumford was executed outside the Mint on June 7, 1862. The legality of imposing treason jurisdiction for an act committed before the occupation was established was disputed at the time, and the execution made Mumford a Confederate martyr.
