General Daniel Butterfield, of Metropolitan Lodge No. 273, New York. He was a Medal of Honor recipient and composer of the bugal song taps.
After the war, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Butterfield Assistant Treasurer of the United States, based on a recommendation by Abel Corbin, Grant's brother-in-law. Butterfield agreed to tell Corbin and speculators Jay Gould and James Fisk when the government was planning to sell gold, a market that Fisk and Gould wanted to corner. Butterfield accepted a $10,000 payment from Gould, which Gould said was "to cover expenses". Butterfield later testified to Congress that it was an unsecured real estate loan. If Butterfield tipped them off, Fisk and Gould would sell their gold before the price dropped. The scheme was uncovered by Grant, who sold $4,000,000 of government gold without telling Butterfield. This resulted in the panic of collapsing gold prices known as Black Friday, on September 24, 1869.
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