Thomas P. "Boston" Corbett (1832 – presumed
dead 1894) was the Union Army soldier
who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John
Wilkes Booth. He disappeared after 1888 and is
believed to have died in Minnesota in 1894, but this is
unproven.
Early life
Corbett was born in London, England. His family
emigrated to New York City in 1839. He eventually took on
the trade of a hatter in Troy, New York. There has been
speculation that the use of mercury as part of the hatter's trade was the cause of
Corbett's later mental problems.
Corbett married, but his wife died in childbirth. Following her death, he moved to Boston, and continued working as a hatter. He became a born again evangelical Christian and changed his name to Boston. Trying to imitate Jesus, he began to
wear his hair very long. On July 16, 1858, in order to avoid the
temptation of prostitutes, Corbett castrated himself with a pair of scissors. Afterward, he
ate a meal and went to a prayer meeting, before going for medical treatment.
Enlisted in the Union army
Corbett joined the Union army at the outbreak of the American Civil War. He
re-enlisted three times and eventually obtained the rank of Sergeant in the 16th New York Cavalry. He was captured by the Confederate Army on June 24, 1864, and was held captive at Andersonville prison.
He was eventually exchanged and returned to his unit. He later testified for the prosecution in the trial of the commandant of
Andersonville, Captain Henry Wirz.
Assigned to pursue John Wilkes Booth
On April 24, 1865, Corbett was one of the cavalrymen sent to
pursue John Wilkes Booth, who had assassinated Abraham Lincoln and was still at large.
On April 26, they surrounded Booth and his accomplice, David
Herold, in a tobacco barn on the Virginia farm of Richard Garrett. The barn was set on fire to try to force them out. Herold surrendered, but Booth
remained inside. Corbett was positioned by a large crack in the barn wall. He saw Booth moving about inside and shot him with his
Colt revolver despite Secretary of War Stanton's desire that Booth be taken
alive. Booth was struck in the neck, the bullet injuring his spinal cord, and he died a few
hours later.
Corbett was immediately arrested for disobeying orders, but the charges were later dropped by the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. Later,
Stanton said, "The rebel is dead. The patriot lives." Corbett received his share of the reward money, amounting to $1,653.84.
In his official statement, Corbett claimed he shot Booth because he thought Lincoln's assassin was getting ready to use his
weapons. This was denied by other witnesses. When asked later why he did it, he said that "God Almighty directed me."
Civilian life after the Union army
Return to hatter trade
Shortly thereafter, after being discharged from the army, Corbett returned to his trade of being a hatter, first in Boston,
and later in Connecticut and New Jersey.
Disappearance, rumors, and theories
His later life was not well-documented, but there are a number of stories regarding his increasingly erratic behavior, and his
eventual disappearance:
- In 1875, he threatened several men with a pistol at a soldier's reunion in Caldwell, Ohio.
- In 1878, he moved to Concordia, Kansas, where he
lived in a hole dug into a hillside.
- In 1887, he was appointed assistant doorkeeper of the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka,
Kansas. Overhearing a conversation in which the legislature's opening prayer was mocked, he jumped to his feet, pulled out
his revolver, and waved his gun. No one was hurt. Corbett was arrested, declared insane, and sent to the Topeka Asylum for the
Insane.
- On May 26, 1888, Corbett escaped from the asylum. He went to
Neodesha, Kansas, and stayed briefly with Richard Thatcher, a man he had met during his
imprisonment at Andersonville in the Civil War. When he left, he said he was heading for Mexico.
- It was rumored that Corbett settled in the forests near Hinckley,
Minnesota, and died in the Great Fire that took
place there on September 1, 1894. There is no definitive proof
of his demise, but the name "Thomas Corbett" did in fact appear on the list of the dead and missing.
There is a Boston Corbett roadside monument just outside of Concordia, Kansas.
See also
External links
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