Charles A. Boutelle

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Charles A. Boutelle (February 9, 1839–21 May 1901) was an American seaman, shipmaster, naval officer and Civil War veteran, newspaper editor and publisher, conservative republican politico and nine term representative to Congress from the 4th Congressional District of Maine.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Charles Addison Boutelle was born February 9, 1839 to Charles and Lucy A. (Curtis) Boutelle in Damariscotta, Lincoln County, Maine.[1] In 1848 his family moved from Damariscotta to Brunswick, Maine. He attended the public schools of Brunswick[2] and later attended the Yarmouth Academy 1850-51.[3]

[edit] Naval career

His father was a shipmaster and Charles himself went to sea at the age of 15. He spent the next eleven years as a sailor, becoming a shipmaster in his own right in 1860.[4] Returning from a two year voyage in 1862 to find the country at war, he volunteered his services to the Union Navy and was commissioned an Acting Master on 5 April 1862.[5]

He saw service on the U.S. Gunboat Paul Jones, a double-ended, sidewheel, steam gunboat assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. During this assignment, the shallow draft vessel was engaged in intelligence gathering and patrolling the river outlets, guarding the coastline against confederate river traffic attempting to run the blockades. In that capacity, Boutelle participated in patrolling the outlets and estuaries of the Georgia coastline.[6]

His next assignment was aboard U.S.S. Sassacus, another double-ender, steam gunboat engaged in the blockades of Charleston and Wilmington. On 5 May 1864 while assigned to that vessel, he saw action against the Confederate ironclad, C.S.S. Albermarle, along with other union vessels.[4]

During that engagement, Sassacus rammed the ironclad as Albermarle attempted to escape. Sassacus took a direct hit to the starboard boiler and sustained significant damage when the boiler exploded. It was during that battle that Boutelle was cited, “for gallant conduct,” resulting in his promotion to the rank of Volunteer Lieutenant, the highest rank granted volunteer officers not of the regular navy.[4][7]

Lieutenant Boutelle was subsequently given command of the U.S.S. Nyanza, another of the shallow-draft and lightly-armored steam vessels known as “tinclads'.[4][8] During his command, Nyanza participated under Admiral David Farragut in the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864, where Lieutenant Boutelle was credited with receiving the surrender of the confederate fleet. Following surrender of the Confederate forces at Mobile, Boutelle was placed in command of Union naval forces in the Mississippi Sound.[4]

Lieutenant Boutelle continued in naval service until after the conclusion of the war when he voluntarily separated from service. He was granted an honorable discharge on 14 January 1866.[2]

Soon after his departure from naval service, he married Elizabeth (“Lizzie”) Hodsdon, daughter of attorney and Maine Adjutant General, John L. Hodsdon, on 16 May 1866 in Augusta, the bride’s home town.[9] Together they had three daughters, Grace Hodsdon, Elizabeth and Anne (Annie) Curtis.

[edit] Newspaper editor and publisher

Following the war, Boutelle was master of a steamer running between New York and Wilmington. He was associated briefly with a New York commission house, but in 1870 he was recommended for the position of Editor in Chief of the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, a republican newspaper. He took that position and moved his young family back to their home state of Maine. He was a dynamic editor and under his leadership the paper became one of the most influential in the northeastern United States. Upon the death of the owner, J.H. Lynde, Boutelle, along with a partner, B. A. Burr, purchased the Daily Whig and Courier on 15 May 1874. He continued active editorial control until failing health and growing competition finally forced him to sell the paper in March of 1900.[10][11]

[edit] Republican politician

Boutelle’s robustly conservative republican editorial positions drew him further into both state and national politics. He was selected as a district delegate to the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati in 1876, and served as the president of the Maine (James G.) Blaine Club at the national convention of 1880. Gaining further prominence in the state republican party, he was selected as the representative from Maine on the republican national committee at the national convention of 1884 that nominated James G. Blaine. He was both delegate at large and chairman of the Maine delegation at the Republican National Convention of 1888 during which he read to the convention the cablegram from Blaine refusing candidacy. He was a member of the Maine Republican State Committee from 1875 to 1882.[4]

[edit] Congressional career

An obvious choice for congress, he first stood as the Republican candidate for the 4th Maine Congressional District (comprising Aroostook, Penobscot, Piscataquis and Washington counties) on 24 June 1880, but was narrowly defeated (by 855 votes) by his opponent, Dr. George W. Ladd the incumbent. He was elected representative at large to the 48th Congress by a substantial majority in the following election of 1882 and was subsequently elected 4th District Representative in every election after that until his resignation in 1901.[12]

Congressman Boutelle drew on his maritime background serving as the Chairman of the House Naval Affairs committee in the 51st and 54th – 56th Congresses. During his tenure in that position he provided powerful leadership in modernizing the navy and was instrumental in the development of the first steel battleships, along with the industries that supported their construction and outfitting.

No less charismatic a speaker than he was a writer, Congressman Boutelle was relentless in his support of Republican positions in the great debates of his time. He is especially remembered for speeches on the questions of Hawaiian annexation (53rd Congress) and the border dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela (54th Congress); the two great foreign policy issues of the second Democratic administration of President Grover Cleveland (1892 – 1896).

[edit] Later life

Boutelle was at the peak of his political popularity when, on 21 December 1899, he suffered an apparent seizure during a stay in a Boston Hotel, that left him unconscious. He was treated briefly at his home in Bangor, but was soon moved to the McLean Asylum in Waverly, Massachusetts. Under the care of the superintendent, Dr. Edward Cowles, he was diagnosed with “brain trouble” arising from the seizure, as well as underlying renal and cardiac disease.[13]

Although he made a slow progress toward recovery, he never again fully regained his faculties and remained hospitalized for the rest of his life. Despite this however, such was the loyalty he commanded from the voters of his district as well as the state party chiefs, that he was again nominated, and elected, to the 57th Congress.

In addition to his poor health, his last years were plagued with financial troubles. In response to his situation as well as in tribute to his long service to the nation, the Maine Republican delegation led a joint resolution of Congress 16 January 1901 naming him to the Naval Retired List with the rank of Captain, entitling him to half-pay at that rank for life. He resigned from Congress on 3 March 1901 prior to the commencement of the 57th Congress.[14]

Suffering from a sudden case of pneumonia while hospitalized in Massachusetts, Charles Addison Boutelle died on 21 May 1901 and was interred in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Bangor, Maine.[15]

"Boutelle Road", a street in the Fairmount Park neighborhood of Bangor, Maine, memorializes the Congressman.

[edit] References

  1. ^ A National Register of the Society, Sons of the American Revolution. Compiled by Louis Henry Cornish. New York: Press of A. H. Kellogg, 1902.
  2. ^ a b Appleton’s Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events for the Year 1901. D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1902.
  3. ^ New Yarmouth Academy Alumni News Archive for 2005. Entry by Andy Savage, Class of 1988, Summer, 2005. (See External Links, 1, below)
  4. ^ a b c d e f Representative Men of Maine: A Collection of Biographical Sketches. Ed. Henry Chase. Portland, ME: The Lakeside Press, 1893. (See External links, 3, below)
  5. ^ List of Officers of the Navy of the United States and the Marine Corps from 1775 to 1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generation Netw Inc., 2007.
  6. ^ Dictionary of American Fighting Ships. Department of the Navy, Navy Historical Center. Washington, D.C. (See External Links, 2, below)
  7. ^ A Salute to the Navy and All the Ships at Sea. Maine State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State of Maine. (See External Links, 4, below)
  8. ^ Ironclads and Blockade Runners of the Civil War. Mark F. Jenkins. See External Links, 5, below)
  9. ^ Maine Bride and Groom Card Indices, Maine State Archives.
  10. ^ The Press of Penobscot County, Maine. Hon. John E. Godfrey. Bangor, ME., 1872. The New England Old Newspaper Index Project of Maine. (See External Links, 6, below) and Androscoggin Historical Society. Danville, ME. (See External Links, 7, below)
  11. ^ Breaking into a two-paper town. Richard R. Shaw. The Bangor Daily News. 17-18 June 1989.
  12. ^ Congressional Directory of the 54th Congress (Second Session). Ed: Pitman Pulsifer. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896.
  13. ^ New York Times, Sunday, 15 December 1900.
  14. ^ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress 1774-Present. (See External Links, 8, below)
  15. ^ Boston Globe, Tuesday, 21 May 1901.

[edit] External links