Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - Grant ya sanar da Butler game da tunaninta a ranar 8 ga Janairu, 1865, kuma ya nada Major General Edward OC Ord don maye gurbinsa a matsayin kwamandan sojojin James. Maimakon bayar da rahoto ga Lowell, Butler ya tafi Washington, inda ya yi amfani da haɗin gwiwar siyasa mai yawa don samun sauraro a gaban Kwamitin Majalisar Dattijai a kan Gudanar da War a tsakiyar watan Janairu. A lokacin sauraronsa Butler ya mayar da hankali ga kare shi a kan ayyukansa a Fort Fisher. Ya gabatar da taswirar da kuma takardun rahotanni na ma'aikatansa don tabbatar da cewa ya yi daidai ya janye harin da ya kai a Fort Fisher, duk da umarnin Janar Grant da akasin haka. Butler ya yi iƙirarin cewa sansanin ba za a iya shiga ba. Don jin kunya, wani mai bin bin jagorancin Maj. Janar Alfred H. Terry da Brig. Janar Adelbert Ames (ɗan surukin Butler na gaba) ya kama sansanin
a ranar 15 ga watan Janairu, kuma labarin wannan nasara ya zo a lokacin sauraron kwamiti; Butler aikin soja ya ƙare. An riƙe shi a hukumance har zuwa Nuwamba 1865 tare da ra'ayin cewa zai iya aiki a matsayin mai gabatar da kara na soja na shugaban kasa Jefferson Davis.