This unusual match safe, made to promote one of Representative Benjamin Butler’s campaigns, packs a surprising amount of information about the Radical Republican from Massachusetts into its design. A United States Army cap surmounts the safe’s lid, recalling Butler’s time as a Union officer. The slogan engraved around the cap refers to “contraband of war,” referencing his refusal to return enslaved people who had escaped. Combining that slogan, a soldier’s cap, and Butler’s likeness—impossible to miss in high relief on all four sides—this matchbox alludes to his commitment to African-Americans’ rights. As a Representative, Butler championed the bill that became the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
