John W. Boutwell

He Crossed Heavy Fire to Save a Wounded Comrade

John W. Boutwell was born on August 3, 1845, in Hanover, New Hampshire. He grew up during a period of mounting national division that ultimately erupted into the American Civil War. By the time he entered military service, the conflict had already consumed more than three years and Union forces were closing in on the Confederate stronghold at Petersburg, Virginia.

Boutwell enlisted in the United States Army on September 13, 1864. He joined Company B of the 18th New Hampshire Infantry as a private. The regiment was one of the later New Hampshire organizations raised for Union service, arriving at the front during the final phase of the long campaign against Petersburg and Richmond.

By early 1865, the military situation around Petersburg had become increasingly desperate for the Confederacy. General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had spent months defending an extended network of trenches, forts, and fortified positions protecting Petersburg and the approaches to Richmond. Union forces under Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant steadily expanded their lines and threatened the remaining roads and railways supplying Lee's army.

The 18th New Hampshire Infantry became part of this massive Union effort. For Boutwell, the war was no longer a distant national struggle. He was serving directly on a battlefield where artillery, rifle fire, trenches, picket lines, and sudden assaults shaped daily military life.

On April 2, 1865, Union forces launched the general assault that finally broke the Confederate defenses at Petersburg. Fighting erupted along the fortified lines as Federal troops pressed forward against positions that had resisted repeated attacks during the previous months.

During the battle, one of Boutwell's comrades, Private Clarendon H. Cochran, was struck by enemy fire and shot through both legs while exposed near the picket line. Cochran was unable to remove himself from the dangerous position. The area remained under heavy Confederate fire, making any attempt to reach him an immediate risk.

Boutwell and fellow Private Carlton N. Camp went after him.

They moved onto the exposed picket line while enemy fire continued around them, reached the badly wounded soldier, and carried him away from the danger. Boutwell's official Medal of Honor citation later summarized the act in direct terms: he helped bring a comrade off the picket line under heavy fire after the man had been shot through both legs.

The rescue was an act of battlefield courage centered not on capturing a position or taking an enemy flag, but on refusing to leave a wounded fellow soldier exposed. Boutwell knowingly entered an area still swept by hostile fire in order to help a man who could no longer escape on his own.

The timing made the action especially significant. April 2, 1865, was the day the long Confederate defense of Petersburg finally collapsed. Union troops broke through Lee's lines, making continued occupation of both Petersburg and Richmond impossible.

That night, Confederate forces began abandoning Petersburg, while the Confederate government evacuated Richmond. Lee's army moved west in an attempt to escape the advancing Union forces and secure supplies. The retreat lasted only another week.

Union armies pursued Lee across Virginia, fighting additional engagements as Confederate formations became increasingly fragmented. On April 9, 1865, just seven days after Boutwell's rescue at Petersburg, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox Court House.

Boutwell remained in military service through the closing period of the war. He was discharged on June 10, 1865, after approximately nine months in uniform. His service had been relatively short compared with that of soldiers who enlisted during the opening years of the conflict, but it had placed him directly in the final campaign that brought an end to the principal Confederate army in Virginia.

For his courage at Petersburg, John W. Boutwell received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration. The surviving official Medal of Honor record does not preserve a confirmed issue or presentation date, so the recognition cannot safely be assigned a specific presentation year beyond the documented wartime action itself.

The award honored a precise and deeply personal act: under heavy fire, Boutwell went onto an exposed picket line and helped remove a comrade who had been shot through both legs. His Medal of Honor therefore stands as recognition of battlefield rescue performed in the face of immediate danger.

Boutwell survived the war and lived for more than half a century afterward. He died on December 11, 1920, in Newark, New Jersey, at the age of seventy-five.

His burial history continued long after his death. Boutwell was originally interred in Vermont. In 1956, decades after his death, his remains were reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery, where he now rests in Section 33, Grave 2937.

John W. Boutwell's military legacy rests on a single moment during the final breakthrough at Petersburg. As the Confederate defensive system collapsed under Union assault, a wounded soldier lay helpless on an exposed picket line. Boutwell did not leave him there. With enemy fire still sweeping the position, he went forward with Carlton N. Camp, reached Clarendon H. Cochran, and helped carry him to safety. For that act of courage and loyalty to a fellow soldier, John W. Boutwell received the Medal of Honor.