Can You Spot the Historical Inaccuracies?

[L Verge]

The young boy was John Collins, as Rick stated. The Washington Star of April 12, 1914, carried an article entitled "Recollections of Boston Corbett," and this is where Steve Miller found the answer to his search. Briefly, young John spent the last two years of the war as "the company boy," a sort of regimental mascot for the 16th New York Cavalry. Steve wrote an article on it that was carried in the Surratt Courier in March of 1993.

He had accompanied his brother William back to camp after a brief furlough, expecting to have only a few days of camp life and then be returned home. However, William was wounded in a skirmish with Mosby's men before John could go back home. After a brief stay in the hospital, William returned to his regiment only to be captured on June 24, 1864, in the same battle where Boston Corbett was taken prisoner. William, Boston, and some others headed to Andersonville Prison, and John was stuck with the 16th New York.

He was given a pony, a soldier who had been a tailor made him a uniform, and he shared company duties except for picket duty and chasing after Mosby. He was able to sneak through the tight security in order to get within thirty feet of the scaffold on the day of the execution. He thinks that the uniform made it possible for him to be overlooked. The feelings he had after viewing the execution made him regret that he had snuck in.

John was supposedly a favorite of Capt. Doherty of the Garrett Farm Patrol as well as of Col. Nelson Sweitzer, who commanded the 16th New York Cavalry. Sweitzer wanted to have him educated and sent to West Point, but John just wanted to go home.