Boston Corbett | |
|---|---|
 Corbett c. 1864–1865 | |
| Birth name | Thomas H. Corbett |
| Nickname(s) | The Glory to God man Lincoln's Avenger |
| Born | January 29, 1832 London, England |
| Disappeared | c. May 26, 1888 (aged 56) Neodesha, Kansas |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service/ | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1861–1865 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Unit | 12th New York State Militia 16th New York Cavalry Regiment |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
| Signature |  |
Sergeant Thomas H. "Boston" Corbett (born January 29, 1832 – disappeared c. May 26, 1888) was an English-born American soldier and milliner who shot and mortally wounded John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. Corbett was initially arrested for disobeying orders but was later released and was largely considered a hero by the American media and public.
Known for his devout religious beliefs and eccentric behavior, Corbett drifted around the United States before disappearing in 1888.
Corbett was born in London, England on January 29, 1832, and immigrated with his family to New York City in 1840. The Corbetts moved frequently before eventually settling in Troy, New York. As a young man, Corbett began apprenticing as a milliner, a profession that he would hold intermittently throughout his life. As a milliner, Corbett was regularly exposed to the fumes of mercury(II) nitrate, then used in the treatment of fur to produce felt used on hats. Excessive exposure to the compound can lead to hallucinations, psychosis and erethism.[1] Historians have theorized that the mental issues Corbett exhibited before and after the Civil War were caused by this exposure.[2]
After working as a milliner in Troy, Corbett returned to New York City.[3] He later married, but his wife and child died in childbirth. Following their deaths, he moved to Boston. Corbett became despondent over the loss of his wife and began drinking heavily. He was unable to hold a job and eventually became homeless.[1][4] After a night of heavy drinking, he was confronted by a street preacher whose message persuaded him to join the Methodist Episcopal Church. Corbett immediately stopped drinking and became devoutly religious. After being baptized, he subsequently changed his name to Boston, the name of the city where he was converted.[5] He regularly attended meetings at the Fulton and Bromfield Street churches where his enthusiastic behavior earned him the nickname "The Glory to God man".[3] In an attempt to imitate Jesus, Corbett began to wear his hair very long (he was forced to cut it upon enlisting in the Union Army).[6][7]
In 1857, Corbett began working at a hat manufacturer's shop on Washington Street in downtown Boston. He was reported to be a proficient milliner, but was known to proselytize frequently and stop work to pray and sing for co-workers who used profanity in his presence. He also began working as a street preacher and would sermonize and distribute religious literature in North Square.[8] Corbett soon earned a reputation around Boston for being a "local eccentric" and religious fanatic.[1][2] On July 16, 1858, Corbett was propositioned by two prostitutes while walking home from a church meeting. He was deeply disturbed by the encounter. Upon returning to his room at a boardinghouse, Corbett began reading chapters 18 and 19 in the Gospel of Matthew ("And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee....and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake"). In order to avoid sexual temptation and remain holy, he castrated himself with a pair of scissors.[2] He then ate a meal and went to a prayer meeting before seeking medical treatment.[9]
.jpg)
In April 1861, early in the American Civil War, Corbett, who was antislavery,[10] enlisted as a private in Company I of the Union Army's 12th New York State Militia. Corbett's eccentric behavior quickly got him into trouble. He carried a Bible with him at all times and read passages aloud from it regularly, held unauthorized prayer meetings and argued with his superior officers.[11] Corbett also condemned officers and superiors for what he perceived as violations of God's word. In one instance, he verbally reprimanded Colonel Daniel Butterfield for using profanity and taking the Lord's name in vain. He was sent to the guardhouse for several days but refused to apologize for his insubordination.[12] Due to his continued disruptive behavior and refusal to take orders, Corbett was court-martialed and sentenced to be shot. His sentence was eventually reduced and he was discharged in August 1863.[13]
Corbett re-enlisted later that month as a private in Company L, 16th New York Cavalry Regiment. On February 26, 1864, he was demoted to private as punishment for an unknown incident.[14] On June 24, he was captured by Confederate States Army troops led by John S. Mosby in Culpeper, Virginia. After the Confederate had captured a good number of Corbett's comrades, Corbett continued to fire at the enemy from behind a persimmon tree and in a ditch with a seven-shooter repeating rifle. Three attempts were made to capture him before success was finally had. Once Corbett had been overtaken, one of the junior officers leapt from his saddle, clearly enraged for having to make three attempts to snatch his foe, knocked the Spencer rifle from Corbett and pointed a pistol at his head. Captain Chapman objected, "Don’t shoot that man! He has a right to defend himself to the last!" Corbett related later to friends that the man who saved his life was Mosby, though this is dubious.[15]
Corbett was a prisoner of war at Andersonville Prison for five months. While on the way to Andersonville, the following incident happened, told by a fellow prisoner of Corbett's named William Collins:
At Macon there were about a thousand prisoners who had arrived ahead of us. The train we were on unloaded our thousand making 2000 in all. We were taken to an old pasture or common near the railroad tracks where a furrow was ploughed around it for a deadline. There was a small stream of water close to the guard line and the prisoners made a rush for it, most of them had no water for many hours, but the guards kept them back. One of the more venturesome than the rest got through the line and attempted to fill his canteen. He was immediately shot in the arm with buckshot by one of the guards. He was pushed back among our men and laid under a tree. The wounded man was suffering greatly and called for water to ease his pain, but none had any in his canteen. Boston Corbett stepped out of the ranks, having been unable to stand silent any longer. He crossed the deadline, filled his canteen in the stream and gave the wounded man a drink. The guards continually threatened him with death, but Corbett ignored them and went about his business. Despite their threats he returned unharmed and rejoined the ranks of prisoners. The cheers of the soldiers at this brave deed could have been heard one mile away, but Corbett seemed to think it was not out of the ordinary. It was the bravest deed that I had seen during the war. We arrived at Andersonville prison the next day.[citation needed]
Corbett met Richard Thatcher, a fellow prisoner of war, who described Corbett as having "qualities that challenged my admiration, even more than the heroism he was capable of displaying in the battlefield. He read passages from the Scriptures to me, and spoke words of sound and wholesome advice, from which I began to learn that he was one who had the courage of his convictions."[16]
Corbett was released in a prisoner exchange in November 1864 and was admitted to a military hospital in Annapolis, Maryland where he was treated for scurvy, malnutrition and exposure.[12] Upon Corbett's return to his company, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. Corbett later testified for the prosecution in the trial of the commandant of Andersonville Prison, Captain Henry Wirz.[17][18]
On April 24, 1865, Corbett's regiment was sent to apprehend John Wilkes Booth, who had assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, on April 14, 1865. On April 26, the regiment surrounded Booth and one of his accomplices, David Herold, in a tobacco barn on the Virginia farm of Richard Garrett. Herold surrendered, but Booth refused and cried out, "I will not be taken alive!". The barn was set on fire in an attempt to force him out into the open, but Booth remained inside.[19] Corbett was positioned near a large crack in the barn wall.
"Finding the fire gaining upon him (Booth), he turned to the other side of the barn, and got toward where the door was, and as he got there I saw him make a movement toward the door. I supposed he was going to fight his way out. One of the men, who was watching him, told me that he aimed the carbine at me. He was taking aim with the carbine, but at whom I could not say. My mind was upon him attentively to see that he did no harm, and when I became impressed that it was time I shot him. I took steady aim on my arm, and shot him through a large crack in the barn."
Corbett's testimony, May 17, 1865.[20]
Corbett claimed that he saw Booth aim his carbine, prompting him to shoot at Booth with his Colt revolver despite Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's orders that Booth be captured alive. The bullet struck Booth in the back of the head behind his left ear, passed through his neck, and out into the barn.[21][22] Booth screamed in pain and fell to the ground.[23] Corbett and the other soldiers would note a sense of cosmic, justice in that Lincoln and Booth were each shot around the same spot of the head.[24][25] The bullet had pierced three of Booth's vertebrae and partially severed his spinal cord, paralyzing him.[26][27] Mary Clemmer Ames noted, "The balls entered the skull of each at nearly the same spot, but the trifling difference made an immeasurable difference...Mr. Lincoln was unconscious... Booth suffered as exquisite agony as if he had been broken on a wheel."[28]
After he was carried out of the burning barn, Booth asked for water and Lt. Colonel Everton Conger and Colonel Lafayette C. Baker gave it to him.[29] They poured water into his mouth, which he immediately spat out, unable to swallow; his wounds prevented him from swallowing. Booth asked them to roll him over and turn him facedown; Conger thought it a bad idea. "Then at least turn me on my side," Booth pleaded. They did, but Conger saw that the move did not relieve Booth's suffering. Baker noticed it, too: "He seemed to suffer extreme pain whenever he was moved...and would several times repeat, 'Kill me.'"[30] At sunrise, Booth remained in agonizing pain; his pulse weakened as his breathing became more labored and irregular. In agony, unable to move his limbs, he asked a soldier to lift his hands before his face and whispered as he gazed at them, "Useless ... Useless." These were his last words. Then, Booth began gasping for air as his throat continued to swell, and there was a shiver and a gurgle and his body shuddered, before he died from asphyxia. Booth died three hours after Corbett shot him.
Conger initially thought Booth had shot himself. After realizing Booth had been shot by someone else, Conger and Lt. Doherty asked which officer had shot Booth. Corbett stepped forward and admitted he was the shooter.[31] According to legend, when asked why he had violated orders, Corbett replied, "Providence directed me."[32] Scott Martelle disputes this, noting "his initial statement, and those by Baker, Conger, those details came long after the shooting itself, amid the swirl of rumor and conjecture and considerable lobbying over the reward money."
He was immediately arrested and was accompanied by Lt. Doherty to the War Department in Washington, D.C. to be court-martialed. When questioned by Secretary Edwin Stanton about Booth's capture and shooting, both Doherty and Corbett himself agreed that Corbett had, in fact, disobeyed orders not to shoot. However, Corbett maintained that he believed Booth had intended to shoot his way out of the barn and that he acted in self-defense. He told Stanton, "...Booth would have killed me if I had not shot first. I think I did right."[33] Corbett maintained that he did not intend to kill Booth, but merely wanted to inflict a disabling wound, but either his aim slipped or Booth moved at the moment Corbett pulled the trigger.[29] Stanton paused and then stated, "The rebel is dead. The patriot lives; he has spared the country expense, continued excitement and trouble. Discharge the patriot."[33] Upon leaving the War Department, Corbett was greeted by a cheering crowd. As he made his way to Mathew Brady's studio to have his official portrait taken, the crowd followed him asking for autographs and requesting that he tell them about shooting Booth. Corbett told the crowd:
I aimed at his body. I did not want to kill him....I think he stooped to pick up something just as I fired. That may probably account for his receiving the ball in the head. [W]hen the assassin lay at my feet, a wounded man, and I saw the bullet had taken effect about an inch back of the ear, and I remembered that Mr. Lincoln was wounded about the same part of the head, I said: "What a God we have...God avenged Abraham Lincoln."[24]
Corbett testified in the conspiracy trial that took place after Lincoln's assassination. He testified on May 17, 1865.[34]
Eyewitnesses to Booth's shooting contradicted Corbett's version of events and expressed doubts that Corbett was responsible for shooting Booth. Officers who were near Corbett at the time claimed that they never saw him fire his gun (Corbett's gun was never inspected and was eventually lost). They claimed that Corbett came forward only after Lt. Colonel Conger asked who had shot Booth. Richard Garrett, the owner of the farm on which Booth was found, and his 12-year-old son Robert also contradicted Corbett's testimony that he acted in self-defense. Both maintained that Booth had never reached for his gun.[35]
While there was some criticism of Corbett's actions, he was largely considered a hero by the public and press. One newspaper editor declared that Corbett would, "live as one of the World's great avengers."[36] For his part in Booth's capture, Corbett received a portion of the $100,000 reward money, amounting to $1,653.84 (equivalent to $32,000 in 2022).[37][38] His annual salary as a U.S. sergeant was $204 (equivalent to $4,000 in 2022). Corbett received offers to purchase the gun he used to shoot Booth. He refused stating, "That is not mine—it belongs to the Government, and I would not sell it for any price."[39] Corbett also declined an offer for one of Booth's pistols as he did not want a reminder of shooting Booth.[39]
After his discharge from the army in August 1865, Corbett went back to work as a milliner in Boston and frequently attended the Bromfield Street Church. When the hatting business in Boston slowed, Corbett moved to Danbury, Connecticut, to continue his work and also "preached in the country round about." By 1870, he had relocated once again to Camden, New Jersey, where he was known as a "Methodist lay preacher", while also continuing to be a milliner.[40] Corbett's inability to hold a job was attributed to his fanatical behavior; he was routinely fired after continuing his habit of stopping work to pray for his co-workers.[41] In an effort to earn money, Corbett capitalized on his role as "Lincoln's Avenger".[12] He gave lectures about the shooting of Booth accompanied by illustrated lantern slides at Sunday schools, women's groups and tent meetings. Corbett was never asked back due to his increasingly erratic behavior and incoherent speeches.[41]
R. B. Hoover, a man who later befriended Corbett, recalled that Corbett believed "men who were high in authority at Washington at the time of the assassination" were hounding him. Corbett said the men were angry because he had deprived them of prosecuting and executing John Wilkes Booth themselves. He also believed the same men had gotten him fired from various jobs.[42] Corbett's paranoia was furthered by hate mail he received for killing Booth. He became fearful that "Booth's Avengers" or organizations like the "Secret Order" were planning to seek revenge upon him and took to carrying a pistol with him at all times. As his paranoia increased, Corbett began brandishing his pistol at friends or strangers he deemed suspicious.[37]
While attending the Soldiers' Reunion of the Blue and Gray in Caldwell, Ohio, in 1875, Corbett got into an argument with several men over the death of John Wilkes Booth. The men questioned if Booth had really been killed at all which enraged Corbett. He then drew his pistol on the men but was removed from the reunion before he could fire it.[42] In 1878, Corbett moved to Concordia, Kansas, where he acquired a plot of land through homesteading upon which he constructed a dugout home. He continued working as a preacher and attended revival meetings frequently.[43] Throughout the rest of his life, he began to become paranoid that Booth family or friends would come and kill him, causing him to go insane.
Due to his fame as "Lincoln's Avenger", Corbett was appointed assistant doorkeeper of the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka in January 1887. On February 15, he became convinced that officers of the House were discriminating against him. He jumped to his feet, brandished a revolver and began chasing the officers out of the building. No one was hurt and Corbett was arrested. The following day, a judge declared Corbett insane and sent him to the Topeka Asylum for the Insane. On May 26, 1888, he escaped from the asylum on horseback.[44] He then rode to Neodesha, Kansas, where he briefly stayed with Richard Thatcher. When Corbett left, he told Thatcher he was going to Mexico.[43]
Conjecture arose that rather than going to Mexico, Corbett may have have settled in a cabin he built in the forests near Hinckley, in Pine County in eastern Minnesota and that he died in the Great Hinckley Fire on September 1, 1894. This conjecture was based on speculation about the name "Thomas Corbett" appearing on the list of dead, and a secondhand account by someone who said the fire victim had claimed to be Boston Corbett.[45][46] Scott Martelle cited it as "too tenuous a connection to credit."[47] [a]
In the years following Corbett's disappearance, several men came forward claiming to be him. A few years after Corbett was last seen in Neodesha, Kansas, a patent medicine salesman in Enid, Oklahoma, filed an application using Corbett's name to receive pension benefits. After an investigation proved that the man was not Boston Corbett, he was sent to prison. In September 1905, a man arrested in Dallas also claimed to be Corbett. He too was proven to be an imposter and was sent to prison for perjury, and then to the Government Hospital for the Insane.[49]
In 1958, Boy Scout Troop 31, of Concordia, Kansas, built a roadside monument to Corbett located on Key Road. A small sign was also placed to mark the dugout where Corbett had lived for a time.[50]
Dabbs Greer played an entirely fictitious portrayal of Corbett in the Lawman episode "The Unmasked". He will be portrayed by William Mark McCullough in Manhunt.
