Thomas H. (Boston) Corbett was born in London, England, in 1832. Along with his family, he came to New York in 1839. He eventually became a hatter in Troy, New York. He married but his wife died in childbirth. Later he moved to Boston and continued working as a hatter there. Some have speculated that the use of mercury in the hatters' trade was a factor in Corbett's later mental problems. He became a reborn evangelical Christian while in Boston from which he took a new name, Boston. Reform became his purpose in life. Trying to imitate Jesus, he wore his hair very long. One vivid example of Corbett's eccentricity took place on July 16, 1858. Perhaps as a tribute to the loss of his late wife, Corbett took a pair of scissors and castrated himself. He then went to a prayer meeting, ate a full dinner, then took a walk. However, he eventually had to see a doctor and ended up at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he was treated by Dr. R.N. Hodges. The actual hospital record of Corbett's self-castration and treatment still exists. Corbett eagerly joined the Union army at the outbreak of the Civil War. He re-enlisted three times, finally becoming a sergeant in the 16th New York Cavalry. On April 24,1865, he was selected as one of the 26 cavalrymen from New York's 16th to pursue John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On April 26 Corbett and the others cornered Booth and his companion David Herold in a tobacco barn on the Virginia farm of Richard Garrett. Herold surrendered and detective Everton J. Conger set the barn on fire. Booth remained inside. As Booth moved about inside the burning barn, Corbett shot him with a Colt revolver from a distance of no more than 12 feet. He did this through a large crack in the barn. Corbett, a religious fanatic, explained his actions by saying, "God Almighty directed me." Booth's body was dragged from the barn and he died a few hours later. His spinal cord had been punctured by Corbett's bullet. Corbett was placed under technical arrest but the charges were dropped by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Corbett received his share of the reward money which amounted to $1,653.85. In his official statement of May 1, 1865, Corbett claimed he shot Booth because he thought Lincoln's assassin was getting ready to use his weapons. Corbett returned to being a hatter, first in Boston at Samuel Mason's shop and later in Connecticut and New Jersey. Feeling threatened at a soldiers' reunion in Caldwell, Ohio, in 1875, he flashed his revolver in the faces of several men who had alleged Booth was not really killed by Corbett. In 1878 Corbett moved to Concordia, Kansas, and lived in a dugout a few miles outside town. His home was nothing more than a hole in a steep hill with a brown stone front and a roof made of brush, clay, and clapboards. In Concordia, Corbett slept on a homemade bed and kept a variety of firearms. He purchased a flock of sheep. He won local respect for his ability to bring down crows and hawks. Sometimes he gave religious lectures which often turned into wild incoherencies. In 1887 Corbett was appointed assistant doorkeeper of the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka. In the state house, on February 15, 1887, feeling paranoid after being threatened by several men in Topeka, Corbett pulled out his revolver, made some threats, and waved his weapon in the air. No one was hurt. Corbett was arrested, declared insane, and sent to the Topeka Asylum for the Insane.
On May 26, 1888, Corbett jumped on a horse that had been left at the entrance to the asylum’s grounds and escaped. He went to Neodesha, Kansas, and stayed briefly with Richard Thatcher, a man he had met during his imprisonment at Andersonville during the Civil War. He told Thatcher he was heading for Mexico. Rather than going to Mexico, Corbett is believed to have settled in a cabin he built in the forest near Hinckley, Minnesota. He is thought to have died in the Great Hinckley Fire of September 1, 1894, although there is no proof. The name Thomas Corbett does appear on the list of dead and missing.
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