Time for a memorial honoring Boston Corbett?

[RJNorton]

Time to honor Boston Corbett with a memorial?

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"The federal government is releasing 30,000 records pertaining to the Kennedy assassination as the 54th anniversary of JFK’s death occurs Wednesday. What these documents may say about Jack Ruby, who shot and killed the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, brings to mind the case of another slain president, Abraham Lincoln. A once well-known Kansas resident you’ve probably never heard of shot and killed assassin John Wilkes Booth. Nearly forgotten in history, Union Cavalryman Boston Corbett lived for 10 years near Concordia and made business trips to Blue Rapids, Junction City, Topeka and possibly Manhattan. Sergeant Corbett moved to Kansas from the East in 1878 to claim a homestead in Cloud County. Possibly somewhat mentally unstable and clearly suffering paranoia, he lived there keeping mostly to himself in a dugout home and raising sheep. He kept several weapons and always carried a pistol. He had served off and on in the Union Army from the outset of the Civil War. He was captured by the Confederate Army in 1864 and spent five months in their notorious Andersonville prison, which affected his health the rest of his life. By the time of Lincoln’s assassination he had been released and was serving in a regiment sent in the massive manhunt to capture John Wilkes Booth. After 12 days his regiment found the assassin holed up in a barn and surrounded it. They set it on fire, but Booth refused to surrender. Peering through a large crack in the barn, Sgt. Corbett apparently determined Booth intended to shoot his way out. He shot Booth in the head with his Colt revolver. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had ordered Booth be taken alive. Sgt. Corbett was initially arrested for disobeying the order and sent to Washington for court martial. When questioned by Stanton, Sgt. Corbett stated, “Booth would have killed me if I had not shot first. I think I did right.” Stanton paused and then said, “The rebel is dead. The patriot lives; he has spared the country expense, continued excitement and trouble. Discharge the patriot.” Even before the war Sgt. Corbett was known for his devout religious beliefs and eccentric behavior. He had castrated himself sometime after his wife died in childbirth. He had for years made his living as a hat maker using mercury nitrate to produce felt, excessive exposure to which may have caused his mental issues. After nine years in Kansas and due to his fame as “Lincoln’s Avenger,” he was appointed in January 1887 assistant door keeper of the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka. In mid-February he overheard a comment he considered blasphemous, brandished his weapon and cleared the chamber. He was disarmed after such eccentric behavior by local police. No one was hurt, but he was declared insane and committed to the State Insane Asylum in Topeka. Fifteen months later he escaped the asylum on horseback and rode to Neodesha, where a friend from the Andersonville prison helped him. He told the friend he was going to Mexico. There is no confirmed evidence of his whereabouts thereafter. In 1958 a Boy Scout troop built a rough monument in a pasture on the site of Sgt. Corbett’s dugout and the Cloud County Historical Society has a minor display about him, described as “not elaborate.” It and the Kansas State Historical Society have material on him in their archives. That’s it for permanent formal recognition. Jack Ruby did not fare well after killing Oswald. His conviction of murder was overturned on appeal. He died before a new trial date was set. Boston Corbett, too, has not been treated well in history. Is it time, despite his flaws, for more significant recognition of the role in history of a fellow Kansan called a “patriot” by the Secretary of War for killing John Wilkes Booth?

The federal government is releasing 30,000 records pertaining to the Kennedy assassination as the 54th anniversary of JFK’s death occurs Wednesday. What these documents may say about Jack Ruby, who shot and killed the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, brings to mind the case of another slain president, Abraham Lincoln.

A once well-known Kansas resident you’ve probably never heard of shot and killed assassin John Wilkes Booth. Nearly forgotten in history, Union Cavalryman Boston Corbett lived for 10 years near Concordia and made business trips to Blue Rapids, Junction City, Topeka and possibly Manhattan.

Sergeant Corbett moved to Kansas from the East in 1878 to claim a homestead in Cloud County. Possibly somewhat mentally unstable and clearly suffering paranoia, he lived there keeping mostly to himself in a dugout home and raising sheep. He kept several weapons and always carried a pistol.

He had served off and on in the Union Army from the outset of the Civil War. He was captured by the Confederate Army in 1864 and spent five months in their notorious Andersonville prison, which affected his health the rest of his life.

By the time of Lincoln’s assassination he had been released and was serving in a regiment sent in the massive manhunt to capture John Wilkes Booth. After 12 days his regiment found the assassin holed up in a barn and surrounded it.

They set it on fire, but Booth refused to surrender. Peering through a large crack in the barn, Sgt. Corbett apparently determined Booth intended to shoot his way out. He shot Booth in the head with his Colt revolver.

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had ordered Booth be taken alive. Sgt. Corbett was initially arrested for disobeying the order and sent to Washington for court martial. When questioned by Stanton, Sgt. Corbett stated, “Booth would have killed me if I had not shot first. I think I did right.”

Stanton paused and then said, “The rebel is dead. The patriot lives; he has spared the country expense, continued excitement and trouble. Discharge the patriot.”

Even before the war Sgt. Corbett was known for his devout religious beliefs and eccentric behavior. He had castrated himself sometime after his wife died in childbirth. He had for years made his living as a hat maker using mercury nitrate to produce felt, excessive exposure to which may have caused his mental issues.

After nine years in Kansas and due to his fame as “Lincoln’s Avenger,” he was appointed in January 1887 assistant door keeper of the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka. In mid-February he overheard a comment he considered blasphemous, brandished his weapon and cleared the chamber. He was disarmed after such eccentric behavior by local police. No one was hurt, but he was declared insane and committed to the State Insane Asylum in Topeka.

Fifteen months later he escaped the asylum on horseback and rode to Neodesha, where a friend from the Andersonville prison helped him. He told the friend he was going to Mexico. There is no confirmed evidence of his whereabouts thereafter.

In 1958 a Boy Scout troop built a rough monument in a pasture on the site of Sgt. Corbett’s dugout and the Cloud County Historical Society has a minor display about him, described as “not elaborate.” It and the Kansas State Historical Society have material on him in their archives. That’s it for permanent formal recognition.

Jack Ruby did not fare well after killing Oswald. His conviction of murder was overturned on appeal. He died before a new trial date was set.

Boston Corbett, too, has not been treated well in history. Is it time, despite his flaws, for more significant recognition of the role in history of a fellow Kansan called a “patriot” by the Secretary of War for killing John Wilkes Booth?"

http://themercury.com/opinion/editorials...1631e.html
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