Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whakamohio a Grant ki a Butler mo tana hokinga mai i te Hanuere 8, 1865, a i whakaingoatia a Major General Edward OC Ord hei whakakapi i a ia hei rangatira mo te ope o James. Engari i te ripoata ki a Lowell, i haere a Butler ki Washington, i reira i whakamahia ai e ia ana hononga torangapu nui ki te whakarongo ki mua o te Komiti Joint Congress mo te Whakahaere i te Pakanga i waenganui o Hanuere. I tana whakarongo, i arotahi a Butler ki tana whakapae mo ana mahi i Fort Fisher. I whakaputahia e ia nga mahere me nga kape o nga purongo a nga kaitohutohu hei whakaatu i te tika o tana karanga i tana whakaeke ki Fort Fisher, ahakoa nga whakahau a General Grant. I kī a Butler kāore e taea te whakaeke i te pā. Ki tana whakama, he haerenga whai ake na Maj. Gen. Alfred H. Terry me Brig. Gen. Adelbert Ames (te hunaonga a Butler a muri ake nei)
I riro te pā i te 15 o Hānuere, ā, i tae mai te rongo o tēnei wikitōria i te wā o te whakarongo a te komiti; Kua mutu te mahi hōia a Butler. I mau tonu ia tae noa ki te Noema 1865 me te whakaaro ka mahi ia hei kaiwhakawhiwhi hoia mo te Perehitini Confederate a Jefferson Davis.