Wednesday, February 10, 2010  It's a Small World After All
Major Archibald Butt  Despite his unfortunate name, Archibald
Butt lived a distinguished life. Born in war-torn Georgia just a
few months after the end of the Civil War in 1865, Archie’s
uncle was General William Boggs, a Confederate general noted for
his defense of Savannah, Georgia, where a fort was named after
him.  The Butts were a prominent family in Augusta, Georgia, in
the antebellum days preceding the Civil War, but the war cost
the family its place in society and by the time young Archie was
fourteen, his father died and he was forced to take odd jobs
around town to support his mother and siblings.  Heading off to
college at age eighteen, he graduated in 1888 and began work as
a journalist. He first worked for the Courier-Journal in
Louisville, Kentucky, before transitioning to Washington, D.C.,
where he worked as a congressional reporter for several southern
newspapers. By the late 1890’s, his connections in Washington
allowed him to become