Time for a memorial honoring Boston Corbett?

[RJNorton]

Time to honor Boston Corbett with a memorial?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"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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[Steve]

How much of Sgt. Corbett's backstory before enlisting in the Army in 1861 can actually be verified by documents?

[SSlater]

I, FOR ONE, CANNOT SUPPORT A MEMORIAL FOR BOSTON CORBETT. I DO NOT CONDEM THE MAN AND ADVOCATE PUNISHMENT, BUT AN HONORING FOR A MENTALLY DEFICIENT MAN, WHO DISOBEYED ORDERS, WHO SHOT A MAN FROM AMBUSH, WHO I BELIEVE WAS SEEKING REWARD MONEY, THAT HE WOULD NOT NEED TO SHARE WITH THE OTHERS, DOES NOT MERRIT ADULATION.

THE WHOLE INTENT, DURING THE CHASE, WAS TO "GIVE BOOTH A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE" - SHOOT THE GUY.

I COULD GO ON, BUT THAT IN TURN - IS A MEMORIAL I SAY BACK-OFF AND LET IT GO WITH "THE MAN WHO SHOT BOOTH, AND SHARED THE REWARD." NO MORE, NO LESS.

[RJNorton]

(11-21-2017 08:28 PM)SSlater Wrote:  I, FOR ONE, CANNOT SUPPORT A MEMORIAL FOR BOSTON CORBETT. I DO NOT CONDEM THE MAN AND ADVOCATE PUNISHMENT, BUT AN HONORING FOR A MENTALLY DEFICIENT MAN, WHO DISOBEYED ORDERS, WHO SHOT A MAN FROM AMBUSH, WHO I BELIEVE WAS SEEKING REWARD MONEY, THAT HE WOULD NOT NEED TO SHARE WITH THE OTHERS, DOES NOT MERRIT ADULATION.

THE WHOLE INTENT, DURING THE CHASE, WAS TO "GIVE BOOTH A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE" - SHOOT THE GUY.

I COULD GO ON, BUT THAT IN TURN - IS A MEMORIAL I SAY BACK-OFF AND LET IT GO WITH "THE MAN WHO SHOT BOOTH, AND SHARED THE REWARD." NO MORE, NO LESS.

I tend to agree with John. However, my reason is different. Although I personally believe the traditional version that Boston Corbett shot John Wilkes Booth, it is also not impossible that Booth committed suicide. So I have some concern with building a large monument to a person who probably did what history says but not 100% for certain.

Several years ago Rick Smith and Bill Richter co-authored an article entitled COULD JOHN WILKES BOOTH HAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE AT GARRETT’S FARM? Back in 2014 Joe Beckert sent me the text of the article.

To read Bill and Rick's article click here and here.

[L Verge]

Frankly, I think the idea of a memorial to Corbett is ridiculous (especially in this day when we are wiping out memorials to people with far more exemplary careers pre- and post-Civil War). At that stage of the pursuit, Booth was a goner anyhow. He could surrender, or he could stay in the barn and literally become toast.

I am one of those who is 99.9% certain that Corbett did shoot Booth, that he did not commit suicide. Rick's and Bill's title is COULD Booth have committed suicide - not DID Booth commit suicide - and if you read their article, they clearly state that they are only theorizing. I was friends with Dr. John K. Lattimer, who did extensive research on the possibilities of this, for far too long to reject his conclusions. The thought of someone shooting himself in the back of the neck instead of in the mouth or at the temple just doesn't cut it with me.

As for Corbett's mental problems before the Civil War, there is also extensive research in that field with much of it done by Steve Miller, an expert on Corbett and the 16th NY Cavalry. His problems appear to stem from his losing his wife and child in childbirth and his almost fanatical conversion to evangelical religion. His most famous escapade of self-castration is well covered in medical records from Massachusetts General Hospital, as quoted in Dr. Lattimer's book.

I will quibble also with John Stanton (aka SSlater) regarding Corbett disobeying orders to take Booth alive. I well remember James O. Hall telling us that he never found an order from Stanton, Baker, Doherty, or anyone else directing that Booth be taken alive. Has anyone else found something that Mr. Hall missed? It would seem to me that such an order would have been given on the night of April 14-15 and would have come directly from the Secretary of War.

[J. Beckert]

I think the important thing about the Richter/Smith article is that for the first time, it was shown how easy it could have been for Booth to have shot himself. No one had yet thought of the very simple way Booth could have easily inverted the pistol and done this without being a contortionist as most, if not all folks had speculated he had to be. The photo in the article clearly shows this.

Not to be disparaging towards the excellent work of Dr. Lattimer, but I remember seeing him in a video holding a gun in the traditional manner and insisting Booth couldn't have shot himself. Had Booth been holding the pistol in that manner, Dr. Lattimer may have been right. Booth however, was very familiar with firearms and by witness accounts, was an excellent shot. Shooting at a gallery in Washington (or Boston?), it was said he could shoot behind his back almost as good as he could shoot facing the target. No mention was made of how he was holding the gun, but it could have very well been in the manner stated.

Marry that to the fact he told a party on his escape that he would kill himself before they took him, the fact he was recently disgusted by witnessing Confederate Troops being paraded through Washington and was looking at the same ride himself, the autopsy report itself that supports that his injury was "downward and to the rear" - as it would be if he inverted the gun and I think he did kill himself.

Corbett's shot would have been hard to make and I think looking at only the circumstantial evidence, it tips towards Booth rather than a mentally impaired zealot.

[Steve]

Well, there sort of already is a monument to Corbett:


I'm not sure why a specific memorial to Corbett is warranted beyond the above (except perhaps a cenotaph erected in a Kansas cemetery, if one isn't already because his burial place is unknown). He either purposely killed Booth which is murder or he shot Booth in the line of duty something that in and of itself doesn't warrant a memorial.


Also in regards to my earlier question I found Corbett living in Troy, New York in the 1855 New York state census with his wife Susan:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K63H-249

[RJNorton]

(11-22-2017 02:35 PM)J. Beckert Wrote:  I think the important thing about the Richter/Smith article is that for the first time, it was shown how easy it could have been for Booth to have shot himself. No one had yet thought of the very simple way Booth could have easily inverted the pistol and done this without being a contortionist as most, if not all folks had speculated he had to be. The photo in the article clearly shows this.

Right, Joe. I am including a photo from Dr. Lattimer's book that shows the way Dr. Lattimer thought Booth would have to hold it. Bill and Rick showed Dr. Lattimer was wrong. Dr. Lattimer wrote:

"In order to make the bullet go slightly downhill, as did the wound through Booth's vertebrae, it would have been necessary for Booth to reverse the pistol in his small hand and to press the trigger with his thumb."

Despite this error, Dr. Lattimer's book remains a fascinating read.

[L Verge]

I still question why Booth, caught literally between fire and the brimstone of being taken back to D.C., would take the time to think of and carry out this complicated way of committing suicide when natural instinct would be mouth or temple -- or suicide by cop... And don't tell me that a shot through the mouth or to the temple would mess up Booth's good looks!

[J. Beckert]

It's not complicated at all. It's actually easier than a head shot, but obviously not as assuring that immediate death would be the result. I'll give you that it's very uncommon, but it does happen.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8198431

Not to get off the topic of the thread, I don't think Corbett should have a monument - he didn't shoot anybody........

[Dennis Urban]

A self-inflicted shot as pictured would not necessarily been fatal. Any slight movement and a miss or flesh wound would result.
As for a monument; just a plain, firm NO! Why did I even take the time...

[John Fazio]

Friends:

I agree with Laurie, et al: He did nothing meriting a monument and it is a near certainty that Booth did not commit suicide. In the circumstances in which he found himself, it is beyond belief that he would have put a gun to his neck, irrespective of how he held it, and sent a bullet on a downward path through that part of his anatomy. There is entirely too much uncertainty about inflicting a fatal wound in that manner, which, if we assume an intent to self-destruct, he would not risk, but would, rather, put the issue beyond chance by putting the bullet through his temple or into his mouth, more likely the former, because that is the way almost all suicides do it when they use a gun. I grant that he had said he would "bullet himself first" before he would surrender, doubtless because he would not wish information that would implicate others squeezed out of him, especially superiors who met with him, encouraged him, counseled him, directed him and financed him. So said the Confederate agent "Johnston" in the letter quoted by the Union agent in Paris who wrote the May 10, 1865, letter to a fellow agent in the States (see The Lincoln Assassination, p. 727). But when push came to shove, either his courage left him or Corbett beat him to it.

John

[SSlater]

I doubt that Booth tried to shoot himself, with a very awkward shot with the gun upside down, etc. I think the downward track of the bullet (FROM CORBETT) caught him crouching,( to make a smaller target. )
Booth could not see his opponents, but they had good shots at him - he was lit up by the fire.
I'll bet that when Corbett shot him, ha danced around yelling "I got him. I got him", thinking he would get the reward.

This is all guessing, but I believe it explains the results, and sticks to logic.

[L Verge]

(11-23-2017 01:07 AM)SSlater Wrote:  I doubt that Booth tried to shoot himself, with a very awkward shot with the gun upside down, etc. I think the downward track of the bullet (FROM CORBETT) caught him crouching,( to make a smaller target. )
Booth could not see his opponents, but they had good shots at him - he was lit up by the fire.
I'll bet that when Corbett shot him, ha danced around yelling "I got him. I got him", thinking he would get the reward.

This is all guessing, but I believe it explains the results, and sticks to logic.

Amen, to both Johns here. I believe there is a statement from Corbett somewhere that Mike Kauffman used to quote when he narrated the Surratt Society's Booth Tours. The gist was that Booth started towards the door with gun drawn and Corbett took aim for his shoulder to get him to drop the gun. However, Booth's leg caused him to limp and go down slightly on that side. That made the bullet go through his neck instead of his shoulder. Now, that's logic to me.

As far as Corbett being excited to get the reward, I don't think that was upper-most in his mind. I think his religious fervor kicked in and he thanked God for being allowed to avenge Lincoln's death.

[Steve]

I read the article Roger linked to and just wanted to add a few extra thoughts on this topic... although I wanted to wait until after the holiday weekend was over (especially with a topic that describes bullet wounds and tracks).

I was impressed with the article and it showed a realistic scenario of how Booth could've easily self-inflicted his wound even if he was intending a quick suicide but his injuries slightly changed the trajectory of how the gun was pointed. The way Booth was acting at Garrett's Farm leads me to believe he intended to kill himself/not be captured alive, so now that possibility can't be dismissed based on the forensic evidence. That doesn't necessarily mean that Booth fired the shot, though.

There is one problem with the paper that I have to point out. At the time of the confrontation with Booth, Corbett was a sergeant in a cavalry regiment which, unlike infantry units, did issue pistols to enlisted personnel. Although the extent to which cavalry regiments issued pistols to enlisted soldiers during the Civil War is sometimes exaggerated, the fact remains Corbett was an NCO and in the investigation afterwards, as far as I know, nobody questioned the caliber of the bullet of Booth's wound in regards to whether Corbett was the shooter. So I think it's a reasonable supposition that Corbett was indeed issued a pistol.

I also have to agree with Laurie that Corbett wasn't in it for the money. But one also must ask if Corbett would actually lie about shooting Booth? Would the "witness for the gospel" be worth the lie? I can't imagine a sane, honest, devout, and religious person would think that, but then again Corbett wasn't sane.