You know the story of John Wilkes Booth, the man who killed Abraham Lincoln, but do you know the story of the man who killed John Wilkes Booth?
Thomas "Boston" Corbett, although beginning life ordinarily enough, would end his life a key, but often overlooked, character in American history. The man history books would come to know as Boston Corbett was born Thomas Corbett, and would make a living as a hat maker. However, his life would begin to shift towards the infamous after experiencing the death of his wife and baby daughter, during the girl's birth. Devastated, Thomas would find solace in the bottle and begin acting erratically. In 1850, staggering around Boston drunk, he would come across a street evangelist and become transfixed by the preachers message of God. Thomas quickly became a fixture at these type of street churches around the city, loudly saying "Glory to God" and "Come to Christ". In what I imagine as a scene of "thanks buddy but I work alone" the street ministers encouraged Thomas to stake out his own street corner, keeping him and his loud refrains far from their own gatherings. Jumping on this idea, Corbett would swear off the bottle, grow his beard and hair to imitate Jesus, and surrender himself to a Methodist minister to be born again as Boston Corbett, after the city that had saved him from the bottle.
However, finding his faith did nothing to calm his erratic behavior. Perhaps the most infamous incident of erratic behavior in Boston Corbett's life is his story of self castration. After being ogled by some prostitutes and his body reacting in a "welcoming manner", he went home and using a pair of scissors, self castrated himself before heading to a prayer meeting. If that was not strange enough, he would attend the prayer meeting, eat dinner, and then walk around town for a while before finally checking himself into a hospital.
Shortly after recovering from this bizarre incident, Corbett would move to New York City, where he would continue his religious street gatherings. After hearing of the firing on Fort Sumter, Corbett would enlist in the Union Army. He insisted that if he ever faced Confederate soldiers in battle, he would look them in the eye, say "May God have mercy on your souls" and then shoot them. Although he would cut his hair to conform to military dress code, he still held onto his religious zealousness, even when it got him in trouble with his military superiors.
In 1864 he would come face to face with the men riding with the "Gray Ghost" (aka General Mosby) in Virginia. Despite his comrades surrendering immediately, Corbett would stand and first fire his pistol and 12 shots from his breech loading rifle before surrendering. Out of respect for this act of bravery, Mosby told his men not to shoot Corbett, instead sending him to the notorious Andersonville prison. When he was paroled later in 1864, Corbett would be one of 2 men from his unit to survive their stay at Andersonville. However, Corbett would leave the prison suffering from scurvy, fever, rheumatism and dysentery. After recuperating at a hospital, Corbett would rejoin his unit just in time to join in the manhunt for Lincoln's killer.
On April 24th, the unit set out via steamer from Washington DC. Arriving in Virginia, and following tips from locals, the Calvary Unit arrived at the Garrett farm on April 26th. After forcing the location of the 2 conspirators out of Garrett, the unit surrounded the tobacco barn where the 2 fugitives were spending the night. Garrett had become suspicious of the men so he would not let them sleep in the house, instead forcing them to sleep in the barn. However, not trusting them to not steal his horses in the middle of the night, he had ordered his son to lock the barn from the outside after the 2 men had retired for the night, trapping Booth and Herold in the barn and essentially sealing their fate.
Booth would quickly begin trying to talk himself out of the situation by asking for the soldiers to back up 50 yards, but the Union commanding officer Doherty, refused. Corbett claimed to be able to see Booth through the holes in the barn, and asked for permission to rush the barn to flush Booth out by himself. His commanding officer denied permission, and continued negotiating with Booth for over an hour. Finally, Herold surrendered and came out of the barn, leaving Booth alone. Tiring of negotiations, a federal investigator started a fire in the barn, hoping to flush Booth out. As the fire grew, Corbett would step closer for a better view, before pulling the trigger and shooting Booth.
As men rushed into the barn to pull the injured Booth from the burning barn, Corbett would be questioned as to why he shot Booth. The soldiers had been given strict orders to bring Booth in alive, as much about his plot was still unknown to authorities. In response to the question of why he pulled his trigger, Corbett would simply respond "Because God told me to." Booth would die a few hours later of his wound, and Corbett was sent to Washington DC for questioning.
Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, would save Corbett from a court martial, instead saying he was a patriot, and setting him free. Corbett would collect a small portion of the $50,000 reward for Booth's capture, and state at the trial of the conspirators that he shot Booth because he thought [Booth] was going to try and fight his way out of the barn, so Corbett was simply protecting his men. At first Corbett was the toast of the town, being photographed by the famous Matthew Brady, and going on a speaking tour about his experience. But as the country began to move on from the pain and suffering of the war, Corbett's popularity diminished. Eventually he would go back to being a hat maker, and also be a lay preacher, being paid $250 per year. By 1874, his finances were diminishing and he was tormented by conspiracy rumors that Booth was not really dead and that Southern sympathizers wanted to kill him [Corbett].
In 1878, he had had enough and decided to move west, finally settling in Cloud County Kansas. However, his religious zealous and paranoia did not relent. He would shoot at anyone who came to close to his hovel, including children, fearing that they were someone coming to avenge Booth's death. The only time he would leave was when he would ride his pony into town to attend church meetings. In 1886, a veteran's organization took pity on him and offered him a job as an assistant doorman at the Kansas State Legislature. However, after an incident of him brandishing a weapon, he was admitted to a mental asylum in Topeka. A couple years later, while out for exercise, Boston Corbett would escape by stealing a horse and riding to Kansas to the home of fellow Andersonville inmate Richard Thatcher. After setting the horse free, a relative of Thatchers took Corbett to a train station where he said he was heading for Mexico, never to be seen or heard from again.
In the years that followed, there were rumors of sightings of Corbett, with one person even claiming to be him to try and receive his military pension, however there would be no more confirmed sightings of him. A man who began life in obscurity only to became famous for killing the man who killed a President, would end his life back in obscurity. Much like a similar killer of an assassin almost 100 years later, Corbett would be vilified and suspected for eliminating the only chance a country had to answers as to why their beloved President lay dead from an assassins bullet.
Today all that is left to mark the life of Thomas "Boston" Corbett is small marker a few miles from the hovel where he lived some of his final days. Perhaps not as well known as Jack Ruby is today, Corbett certainly carried the same mistrust of a nation, almost a century earlier. Why did this seasoned soldier disobey direct orders to not kill Booth? Was it really religious fervor or was he part of an elaborate plan by the Confederate Government to conceal their role in Lincoln's assassination? Corbett would go to his grave paying for his actions that night, his name forever linked with Lincoln and Booth and those events of that fateful April, so many years ago.
If you want to learn more about Thomas "Boston" Corbett, the book "the Madman and the Assassin" by Scott Martelle dives into the strange life of Booth's killer.
*Note: I have not read this book, but it is on my to read list. If you have read it, I would love your feedback/thoughts on it!
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