Can You Spot the Historical Inaccuracies?

[L Verge]

Steve Miller tracked this young man down years ago and found that he was the brother of one of the soldiers at the post. He did an article for the Surratt Courier on the subject. When I find time, I'll try to find it.

[BettyO]

Thanks, Laurie! I knew that he was kin to someone on post -

[Linda Anderson]

(07-06-2014 11:01 PM)historybuff22 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 04:48 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Same here, Linda. I blew up that silly thing and I don't think either of those guards is Barry - JMO -

I do wish both would post more - but they're busy with their jobs....

Unfortunately, I'm getting to be the same way -

Great about the drums - and yes, I saw the young kid with the drum; but he sure wasn't playing it!

Actually, the boy shown in the movie was John Collins and he wasn't a drummer boy. Rather, he was a 13-year-old that had snuck (or is it sneaked) into the hanging not realizing what he would actually see. He confessed that seeing the hanging made him very ill and gave him nightmares for years.

Rick Brown
HistoryBuff.com
A Nonprofit Organization

Thanks, Rick. I remember seeing a photo of the execution with the 13 year old in it.

The reason I thought the boy in the film was a drummer boy (:48) is that he has a black strap across his chest. It looks like a drum strap or sling to me.

[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.

[BettyO]

Thanks ever so much, Laurie!

I was able to find a copy of that article online -

CLICK HERE

[MaddieM]

(07-06-2014 07:05 AM)BettyO Wrote:  Bill -

Don't remember hearing that one - what was the story?

From the photographs, it appears that Mary Surratt and Powell were the only ones who had umbrellas; due to age and gender perhaps? The oldest of the condemned, also because she was a woman, and the youngest? Don't understand the reasoning behind that otherwise. The other two boys were in the hot, glaring sun....

Perhaps they just got lucky with more caring people their end.

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(07-07-2014 09:09 AM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  [quote='historybuff22' pid='35391' dateline='1404705701']
[quote='BettyO' pid='35331' dateline='1404596937']
The reason I thought the boy in the film was a drummer boy (:48) is that he has a black strap across his chest. It looks like a drum strap or sling to me.

[Linda Anderson]

Thanks, Maddie! That's a great close-up of John Collins.

[BettyO]

Agreed, Linda - very well done, Maddie!