OBITUARY NOTICES. 
469 
On February 16, 1884, soon after taking up his residence 
in this city, he was elected a member of the Philosophical 
Society of Washington. 
No notice of .Mr. Boutelle’s life would be complete that 
should omit reference to the important services which he 
rendered to his country at a critical period of its history. In 
common with the great majority of his brother officers as¬ 
signed to duty with the military and naval forces, he parti¬ 
cipated in the hardships and dangers of the civil war. Soon 
after the outbreak of hostilities he was assigned to the com¬ 
mand of the steamer Vixen and schooner Arago, as hydro- 
graphic officer of the South Atlantic squadron, serving under 
Admirals Dupont and Dahlgren, and Commodore Lanman, 
U. S. N. This duty lasted throughout the war, and it de¬ 
volved upon him the responsibility for the safety of naviga¬ 
tion of the squadron along its entire cruising ground. 
With what patriotic devotion and professional ability this 
service was rendered, the records of the civil war amply 
attest. 
Admiral Dupont, in his report to the Navy Department of 
the capture of Port Royal, refers to the fact that all aids to 
navigation had been removed by order of the Confederate 
authorities and acknowledges the able assistance of Captain 
Boutelle in sounding out and buoying the channel, and 
thus enabling the squadron to advance to the attack. 
General W. T. Sherman, U. S. Army, commanding the 
land expeditionary force, concludes a report, dated Novem¬ 
ber 8, 1861, as follows: 
“It is my duty to report the valuable services of Mr. 
Boutelle, assistant in the Coast Survey. * * * His 
services are invaluable to the army as well as to the navy, 
and I earnestly recommend that important notice be taken 
of this very able and scientific officer by the War Depart¬ 
ment.” 
Personally, Captain Boutelle (as he was known to his 
friends after the civil war) was a man of varied reading and 
a most retentive memory, genial and witty in conversation, 
