Accordingly, on May 15, Butler issued an order to the effect that any woman insulting or showing contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States should be "treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation," the solicitation of prostitution. The order had no sexual connotation, but it permitted soldiers not to treat women performing such acts as ladies. For example, if a woman punched a soldier, he could punch her back. Known as the Woman's Order, it was very controversial both at home and abroad, as women throughout New Orleans interpreted it as Butler legalizing rape. The general dislike over No. 28 even went so far as people printing his portrait on the bottom of chamber pots,Harper's Weekly Cartoon (July 12, 1862) and was a cause of Butler's removal from command of New Orleans on December 16, 1862.
