in Louisville for three years. Butt left the Courier-Journal and worked for the Macon Telegraph for a year before moving to Washington, D.C. He covered national affairs for several Southern newspapers, including the Atlanta Constitution, Augusta Chronicle, Nashville Banner, and Savannah Morning News. Butt was a popular figure in D.C. social circles, and made numerous important acquaintances during his time in the capital. When former Senator Matt Ransom was appointed United States Ambassador to Mexico in August 1895, he asked Butt to be the embassy's First Secretary. Butt wrote several articles for American magazines and published several novels while in Mexico. He returned to the United States in 1897 after Ransom's term as ambassador ended. Military service On January 2, 1900, Butt was commissioned as a captain in the United States Volunteers (an all-volunteer group which was not part of the regular United States Army but was under the regular Army's control). He had long admired the military, and no one in his immediate family was serving in the armed forces at the time the Spanish–American War broke out. Although Butt's literary career was taking off, his family's long involvement with the military and his desire to represent his family in the army led him to enlist. Adjutant General of the U.S. Army Henry Clarke Corbin was influential in encouraging him to enlist. Butt was assigned as an assistant quartermaster (i.e. a supply officer). He was ordered to take the transport ship Sumner through the Suez Canal and proceed to the Philippines. But he was eager to get into the war, and secured a change in orders that sent him from San Francisco, aboard the USAT Dix. Butt's new orders required him to stop in Hawaii with his cargo of 500 mules. But he found the price of feed and stables so high and the quarters for the animals so poor that he disobeyed orders and continued on to the Philippines. Although this risked the lives of his animals (and possible court-martial), none of the mules died en route and Butt was praised for his initiative. Butt remained in the Philippines until 1904, writing numerous treatises on the care of animals in the tropics and on military transportation and logistics. His reports won him significant praise by military officials. On June 30, 1901, Butt was discharged from the Volunteers and received a commission as a captain in the Regular Army