[2] Boughton was one of the first settlers in Deadwood, Dakota Territory after having lived in Denver, Colorado.

In 1900, he attempted to receive compensation for the loss cattle and horses, but the United States Court of Claims needed proof of whether or not the Sioux were at war with the United States at the time of the attacks.

In 1905, he filed another claim for $80,000 and although the Court of Claims ruled that the cattle killed in 1876 could not be compensated for as the United States was at war with the Sioux it also ruled that the 1877 killing could be compensated as there was no active war between the United States and Sioux and awarded him $12,000.

[16] During the summer of 1915, he worked at the Belle Fourche Experiment Farm and received injuries that he would not recover from after being kicked by a horse.

In the fall, he created a claim in Meade County, South Dakota and began living in it in December.