Boston Corbett

Uncommon card · No. 77326

Thomas H. "Boston" Corbett (January 29, 1832 – disappeared c. May 26, 1888) was an American soldier and milliner who, on April 26, 1865, killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. Known for his devout religious beliefs and eccentric behavior, Corbett was reportedly a good soldier and had been a prisoner of war at Andersonville Prison. Corbett shot and mortally wounded Booth when his regiment surrounded the barn that Booth was hiding in on the Garrett Farm in Port Royal, Virginia. The American media and public largely considered Corbett a hero for his actions. After the Civil War, Corbett drifted around the United States before he was committed to Topeka Asylum for the Insane after being declared insane in 1887. In 1888, he escaped and subsequently disappeared, never to be seen again.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain