Boston Corbett American soldier who killed John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln Country: USA

Biography of Boston Corbett

Thomas P. Corbett, better known as Boston Corbett, was an American soldier who killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln. He was born in 1832 in London, England, and his family moved to the United States in 1839. As an adult, Corbett worked as a hatter in Troy, New York. It was rumored that he went insane due to exposure to mercury fumes while making hats.

Corbett was married, but his wife passed away, and he relocated to Boston, where he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was during this time that he changed his name to Boston in honor of the city he lived in. He also began to believe he was Jesus Christ, wearing long hair and a small beard. Despite his religious beliefs, Boston struggled to overcome his desire for prostitutes. In an effort to resist temptation, he castrated himself with scissors on July 16, 1858. Afterward, he prayed and then sought medical assistance.

In April 1861, at the start of the Civil War, Boston Corbett enlisted as a private in a militia regiment in New York. In June 1864, he was captured by Confederate forces. After spending five months in a prisoner of war camp, Corbett was released as part of a prisoner exchange and promoted to sergeant. On April 24, 1865, Sergeant Boston Corbett joined his regiment to apprehend Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Despite orders to capture Booth alive, Corbett fatally wounded him and his accomplice as they emerged from a burning barn. Booth died two hours later.

Corbett faced accusations of disobeying orders, as the order had been to capture Booth alive. He was arrested but later had the charges dropped and was even recommended for a reward and monetary prize. Corbett justified his actions by claiming the apprehended criminal had intended to use a weapon. However, witnesses disputed this, and Corbett later claimed it was "divine providence" that guided him. Nevertheless, the criminal was dead, and the hero was exonerated.

In the summer of 1865, Corbett left the army and returned to hat-making. He moved several times over the years, and as time went on, people noticed more and more eccentricities in his behavior. He frequently displayed unprovoked aggression, threatened people with weapons, had difficulty understanding jokes, and overall exhibited unstable behavior. In May 1888, he was committed to a mental asylum, but he escaped shortly thereafter.

It was speculated that Corbett settled in the woods near Hinckley, Minnesota, where he built himself a cabin. According to assumptions, Boston Corbett perished during the Great Hinckley Fire on September 1, 1894. Some believed he was the inspiration for the Mad Hatter character in Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," but there is no definitive proof.