The Selective Service Act of May 18, 1917 required men between the ages of 21 and 31 to register for the draft by June 5, 1917. Being 24 at that time, Leon Boutwell registered on June 5, 1917. On August 2, 1917, The Tomahawk, a newspaper owned and operated by Gus Beaulieu primarily for residents of the White Earth Reservation, published a list of young Chippewa men selected for service in the military during the first WWI draft. Leon Boutwell was just one of many Chippewas selected. These men would have had to be citizens in order to be eligible for the draft. Non-citizens could enlist and many Indians did just that. In fact, A larger percentage of Indians than whites enlisted voluntarily.
An article on a different page of the August 2, 1917 edition of The Tomahawk reported that Leon Boutwell had enlisted in the army aviation corps, apparently to get an assignment more to his liking. In October, he was stationed at St. Louis, Missouri. The next March he was at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, apparently bored because the only excitement was an occasional airplane crash. At that time, he was assigned to the 14th Field Artillery Band. He and it remained at Fort Sill the duration of the war.
Leon Boutwell was far from the only Chippewa to be drafted for WWI as the list that follows illustrates and it is just the list for the first draft. Two other drafts followed, broadening the age range eligible to be conscripted from 21 to 30 to 18 to 45.
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