Corbett was known as the “Lincoln Avenger.” Against orders from the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, Thomas P. Corbett executed John Wilkes Booth, the identical way John Wilkes[i] had killed Abraham Lincoln. The outline of his life below tracts an ignoble story that implies the reason he disobeyed orders. To others, the inconclusive end of his life led to alternate theories of his motives.
  • Thomas Corbett was born in London England in 1832
  • His family arrived in New York City in 1839 and settled in Troy, NY
  • He was devastated as his wife and daughter died in childbirth
  • He moved to Boston in 1857
  • He began drinking heavily
  • He became homeless
  • A Methodist Episcopal preacher confronted him in the streets and ended his binging
  • He changed his name to Boston in honor of his rebirth
  • Boston’s first job in Boston was as an apprentice: making felt hats
  • Hat felt making released mercury nitrate fumes, well known as a compound that led to hallucinations, psychosis and twitching called the “hatter’s shakes"[ii]
  • He regularly attended the Bromfield Street Church in downtown Boston[iii]
  • He was often seen distributing religious literature in the North End
  • He let his hair grow long to look like Jesus[iv]
  • One night prostitutes confronted him. His arousal surprised and scared him
  •  He retired to his room and used a knife to remove his genitals
  • He attended church, returned to his place for dinner prior to seeking medical help at Mass. Gen. Hosp
  • As soon as the Civil War began he enlisted in the New York Militia
  • His disruptive religious proselytization led to insubordination charges and a court-martial
  • Execution was the sentence soon reduced to a general discharge
  • In 1864, he re-enlisted in the 16th New York regiment.
  • He was captured in Virginia by the famous Mosby’s Raiders after discharging all of his ammunition
  • Mosby admired his courage sparing his life, but sent him to the infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia
  • Thirteen-thousand Union soldiers died in Andersonville
  • His life was saved in an exchange of prisoners in November of 1864
  • He was cured of scurvy and malnutrition and returned to his regiment as a sergeant
  • Scurvy often led to or worsened mental health conditions, particularly psychosis
  • Corbett testified against Henry Wirz, commandant of Andersonville, subsequently leading to the Captain’s hanging in November 1865
  • Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth April 14, 1865
  • Twelve days later Corbett’s platoon was sent to surround John Wilkes Booth at the Garrett Farm, Port Royal, Virginia
  • Booth’s accomplice, David Herold, surrendered. Booth refused
  • The Union soldiers set the barn on fire to literally, “smoke him out”
  • Corbett shot Booth in the back of the head penetrating the left eyeball
  • Corbett, upon questioning by his officer, admitted to killing Booth
  • He was arrested for disobeying orders to take Booth alive
  • Boston Corbett was removed to Washington D.C., to be court-martialed 
  • He met with Secretary of War Stanton and Corbett claimed Booth would have killed him if he did not defend himself.
  • Stanton suggested that Corbett had done the nation a favor. “"The rebel is dead. The patriot lives. . . "[v]
  • Eyewitnesses, including Richard Garrett the owner of the farm, did contradict Boston Corbett’s specific claim of self-defense
  • Corbett received a portion of the reward money equal to $26,000 in today’s currency
  • Corbett was honorably discharged from the army and returned to work in Boston as a hatter
  • Business slowed, and he moves to Danbury, CT
  • His next move five years later was to Camden, NJ, as a lay preacher
  • He lectured about the assassination, but his erratic behavior diminished his celebrity status
  • Due to his insubordinate nature, he repeatedly lost lay religious jobs
  • Paranoia seeped into every occurrence as he claimed to have received hate mail about killing Booth
  •  In 1875 at a soldiers reunion he threatened Blue and Gray veterans with a gun
  • He moved to Kansas in 1878 and acquired land through homesteading
  • He built a dugout, possibly reflecting back on conditions at Andersonville
  • He was appointed a ceremonial doorkeeper of the Kansas House of Representatives
  • Psychosis returned to him at the state house, and he pulled his revolver and threatened the representatives
  • He  was committed to the Topeka Asylum for the insane
  • He escaped from the asylum on horseback
  • Corbett next settled in Hinckley, Minnesota
  • The Town of Hinckley lost 200,000 acres to a firestorm in 1894
  • Of those that outran the fire, some claim Boston Corbett was just a little too slow
  • Dozens of unknown victims are buried in a mass grave
  • Boston Corbett was never heard from again
 
To top off the historical insanity of Corbett’s life, an imposter in Oklahoma attempted to gain Corbett’s military pension but was arrested and sent to prison.  Years later, in 1905, another impersonator in Dallas claimed to be Corbett, also applying for his pension.  He was detained, sent to jail and then to the hospital for the insane.
 
Thomas Boston Corbett died without, a penny, family, the pistol used to kill John Wilkes Booth or a monument to his passing.  
 
A link of interest  https://www.walkbostonhistory.com/john-wilkes-booth.html​
  
                                                                                           Bibliography

  1. https://theamericanscholar.org/the-man-who-shot-the-man-who-shot-lincoln/#
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Corbett
  3. Goodrich, Thomas 2005, The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth and the Great American Tragedy. Indiana University Press
  4. Kauffman, Michael W. American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln conspiracies. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2005.
 

[i] John Wilkes Booth’s family often referred to him as John Wilkes reflecting on the irascible Irish member of the British Parliament
[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Corbett
[iii] Across from the Granary Burial Ground.
[iv] Per Michael Kauffman, American Brutus and the Lincoln Conspiracies, Random House p. 310=311, 385
[v] Goodrich, Thomas 2005, The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth and the Great American Tragedy. Indiana University Press P. 228