VP Beast Butler?

[Don1946]

To take us back to the original question about Butler as Lincoln's VP in 1864: I was reviewing what Michael Burlingame (Abraham Lincoln: A Life) had to say about this and learned that Butler was actually very highly regarded among antislavery Republicans, both for his confiscation order and his recruitment of blacks in La. Butler's name was frequently raised as an alternative to Lincoln as the republican nominee for president in 1864. One Republican admirer said of Butler “he seems to have exhibited from the start more proper sense of the crisis, more genius, more energetic ability, and more determination than any one.”
Lincoln was genuinely worried about the movement to dump him for Butler (or others, such as Grant, Sherman, Fremont), and he had someone sound out Butler in the spring of 1864. Once he learned that Butler was not inclined to challenge the president, there was no need to offer him a place on the ticket, but that was the context of the rumors that an offer was being considered or even extended. (2:632).