The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-02-07
HE SAVED LEATENWORTH.
The Perilous Adventure of a Union Scout
 in 1864

in 1864.
 (From the New York Mail and Express)
 The man who saved Fort Leaven- worth in 1864, receiving physical in- juries which have incapacitated him for the support of his family, is now a suitor to the United States government, He desires reasonable compensa tion for the privaltions, perils and Injuries which he suffered in his country's, cause, He was not an enlisted man at the time he performed this patriotic and extraordi- iary service, having served three years in the army and been honorably dis charged. He was then acting as a vol uniteer scout, and his services can only be requited by the bill for his relief now pending in congress.
 It was 1864, when Price, the rebel general, was threatening Fort Leaven- worth and all of Eastern Kansas. That state and Missouri were both under martial law. Governor Carney and General Deitzler. at the head of the Kansas state militia had their forces in the field on the Missiuri border under General Curtis. General Pleasanton, the Federal commander, was near Inde- pendence, Mo, separated from Curtis by Price and doing nothing. If Carney could not communicate with Pleasanton and get him to cooperate with Curtis, Kansas was at Prices mercy.
 At this juncture the governor sent for D. W. Boutwell,, an honorably dis charged Union soldier, who had ire quently done scout duty and knew the country thoroughly. A concise state ment of the situation, giving the posi- tion and strength of Curtis command in detail, was written out by Governor Carney and committed to memory by Boutwell,, as it would not do to trust such dangerous information to paper. The rest of the story is best told i'm MT. Boutwell's own words:
 q went to Kansas City and took a skiff about o'clock in the evening. This was the 22d day of October, 1864. When I arrived at the mouth of the Little Blue my skiff got behind a sandbar, and I had to abandon it and swim ashore When I went up the bank of the river the pickets of General Price shot at me, but it was so dark that they could not follow me. I went up the Blue until I came to a narrow place, where, by throwing rails and poles, I effected a passage, but in doing so slipped from the rails and went into the mud up to my waist.
 Being somewhat acquainted with the country I avoided the roads and went through the woods, and when daylight came I could see right into the rear of Prices command. In a few minutes I had passed it, and soon arrived at the crossing of the Big Blue, where found General Pleasanton's command. He questioned and cross questioned me until he was satisfied of the correctness of the statement.
 While being questioned by General Pleasanton, General McNeal was pres sent and said that he (meaning mel ought to be tried and executed for being a spy After dialogue between the two it was decided in my favor, and in less time than it takes to tell it Pleasan- toms troops were in motion and action, and the battle ragged all day and nearly all night. That night I passed to the rear of General Prices command, cap- tured a prisoner, arrived at Kansas City and turned my prisoner over to Colonel D. Broadway, who was provost marshal at Kansas City"
 MT. Boutwell, suffered severely from hunger and exposure during his peril ous adventure. Beyond a compliment tary joint resolution of the Kansas leg gislature he has received no official recognition of his patriotic service.