Luther Baker - Boston Corbett - Abe Lincoln

[historybuff22]

I have a photocopy of the text that Luther Baker used when he was on his lecture tour. It was produced in 1886. Luther claims in it that at one point near the end of the Civil War Boston Corbett was court martialed for deserting his post. His commander petitioned Abraham Lincoln to give Corbett a pardon and Lincoln did. I've never heard this claim before. Have any of you?

Rick Brown
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[RJNorton]

I think this story is apocryphal. If it were true I think the story would be in books such as William C. Davis' Lincoln's Men. Davis has an entire chapter titled "The Quality of Mercy." There is absolutely no mention of Boston Corbett. I would also think there might be evidence of this petition and Lincoln's reply in the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. But Boston Corbett is not mentioned a single time in The Collected Works. I think this is the type of story that Lincoln authors would jump at if there were evidence of truthfulness, but that's just not the case.

[LincolnMan]

Rick: thanks for bring the story to our attention- if nothing else we will keep it in our "mental files" as something that is out there but remains unproven. I wonder if Boston Corbett's military file contains anything about it? I would think that if true it would.

[L Verge]

As many times as I have heard several experts talk about Boston Corbett, I have never heard this particular story. Like others, I would not give it credence. We know that Lafayette Baker's book was ghost written and highly exaggerated; I suspect that the lying streak may have run in the family?

[J. Beckert]

A story was posted here awhile back about Corbett supposedly meeting Lincoln. I wonder if that has something to do with it.

[Craig Hipkins]

I have a copy of Corbett's military record and there is no mention of him deserting his post. In fact, Corbett spent much of the time before the assassination recuperating from his ordeal at Andersonville where he almost died. His military record does list him as "missing on scout" June, 18 1864 but this was the day that he had been captured by Mosby's men.
There is, however, an interesting note in his military record that is worth noting. He was promoted to Corporal on Sept 06, 1863 but was "reduced to the Rks (ranks)" on February 26, 1864. He is listed as a Private. I do not know the reason for his reduction in rank.

As far as Corbett meeting Lincoln, there might be some truth to this. Before Corbett served in the 16th NY Cavalry he had served a few stints with the 12th Regiment of the New York state militia. One of his former comrades and friends was Edward Kirk who later wrote:

On Monday, (April 29, 1861) while in the church quarters, Abraham Lincoln and W.H. Seward, called to welcome the boys, and while W.H. Seward, got the pulpit and spoke encouraging words to us, the dear old Hero, our President Lincoln, (with tears in his eyes) took each one of us personaly by that hand and greeted us with thanks and blessing for our response to his call for help And there in the presence he grasped the hand (Corbett's) which four years later was destined to take the life of his assassin.


Joe, like your avatar!

Craig

[LincolnMan]

Craig- great post! When you mentioned Lincoln meeting the soldiers and thanking them- I was reminded of that scene in the movie Lincoln where he sits down and talks to the troops. About Boston Corbett, he must have committed some infraction to be reduced in rank. I don't think it would have been a court martial- does anyone else? When I was in the army there were common infractions that resulted in getting an Article 15. This usually resulted in a downgrade in rank. I had an army buddy that kept uniforms in his locker with the various ranks he held because he was always getting busted. That way he didn't have to keep taking his uniforms to the tailor to change his stripes. Usually his offense was getting drunk on duty. Court martials seem to be more serious in nature. Thoughts?

[Craig Hipkins]

Bill, I agree with you. I spent some years in the Marine Corps and knew people that were busted in rank for minor offenses but were not court martialed. There might be a way of finding out why Corbett was demoted and that would be by perusing the 12th N.Y. State Militia log books. I assume that they are held in the National Archives in Washington. A few years ago I was gathering material for a history of the 6th New Hampshire Regiment (I need to get back on it!) I talked to a person at the archives and she told me that there were boxes of material that they would make available to me, some of it looked like it had not been unsealed in years! Who knows what kind of gems you might find hidden within the archives walls.

Craig

[HerbS]

I did find that Boston Corbett-enlisted and re-enlisted a few times.He was court-martialed for desertion and was to be shot! He was sparred death by the Government! However,no mention of Lincoln's pardon.

[LincolnMan]

Herb: wow! Yup, deserting could get a soldier court martialed for sure. Still, that kind of surprises me. We hear so much of what an outstanding soldier he was. We all have our moments...

[HerbS]

He went off on an Officer for the Officer-Cursing.That's what caused his execution sentence,but he was saved by the government!

[LincolnMan]

Now that sounds more like the Boston Corbett we all know!

[L Verge]

I knew about the incident where he "chastised" a superior for that man's blaspheming God, but I never remember reading or being told that Corbett was ever court-martialed. Herb, do you remember your source for the execution story?

Either on this forum or in the Surratt Courier, there is a story of Corbett being in the ranks of the New York troops that were among the first to arrive in D.C. in April of 1861 to protect the city - which had been dangerously close to being cut-off from the nation that it governed. Corbett was in the group that had a visit from Mr. Lincoln and may have shaken the President's hand.

[HerbS]

I found the information in the NYState Military Museum web-site!

[L Verge]

Thanks for the clue. I wonder if others have overlooked this source?