Charles Addison Boutelle (February 9, 1839 – May 21, 1901) was an American seaman, shipmaster, naval officer, Civil War veteran, newspaper editor, publisher, conservative Republican politician, and nine-term Representative to the U.S. Congress from the 4th Congressional District of Maine. He remains the second longest-serving U.S. Representative from Maine, the first being his colleague Thomas Brackett Reed. Early life Boutelle was born to Charles and Lucy A. (Curtis) Boutelle in Damariscotta, Lincoln County, Maine. In 1848 his family moved from Damariscotta to Brunswick, Maine. He attended the public schools of Brunswick and later attended the Yarmouth Academy in 1850 and 1851. Naval career His father was a shipmaster, and Charles himself went to sea at the age of fifteen. He spent the next eleven years as a sailor, becoming a shipmaster in his own right in 1860. 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 April 5, 1862. He saw service on the , a double-ended, sidewheeling, steam gunboat assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. During this assignment, the shallow-draft vessel was engaged in intelligence-gathering, patrolling the river outlets, and guarding against Confederate river traffic attempting to run the blockade of the Georgia coastline. His next assignment was aboard , another double-ended, steam gunboat engaged in the blockades of Charleston and Wilmington. On May 5, 1864, while assigned to that vessel, his ship, along with other Union vessels, saw action against the Confederate ironclad . During that engagement, Sassacus rammed the Albemarle as it 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. Lieutenant Boutelle was subsequently given command of the , another of the shallow-draft and lightly armored steam vessels known as 'tinclads'. During his command, Nyanza participated, under Admiral David Farragut, in the Battle of Mobile Bay, on August 5, 1864, where Lieutenant Boutelle was credited with receiving the surrender of the Confederate fleet. Following the victory at Mobile, Boutelle was placed in command of Union naval forces in the Mississippi Sound. Lieutenant Boutelle continued in naval service until the conclusion of the