CLASSIC: The Man Who Assassinated Abe Lincoln's Assassin

Summary

Ridiculous History: CLASSIC - The Man Who Assassinated Abe Lincoln's Assassin
Host: Ben Bowlin & Noel Brown | Release Date: April 19, 2025

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Introduction

In this classic episode of Ridiculous History, hosts Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown delve deep into the extraordinary and often overlooked tale of Boston Corbett—the man who assassinated John Wilkes Booth, the infamous assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. Through engaging dialogue and insightful analysis, the hosts unravel the bizarre life of Corbett, painting a vivid picture of a man driven by faith, resilience, and perhaps, madness.

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Historical Context: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

The episode begins with a brief recounting of the pivotal moment in American history:

Ben [00:28]: "On April 14, 1865, an actor named John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., while watching a play with his wife."

Booth's immediate escape marked the beginning of a nationwide manhunt, setting the stage for the introduction of Boston Corbett.

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Introducing Boston Corbett: From Troubled Beginnings to Religious Zealot

Boston Corbett, originally named Thomas Corbett, had a tumultuous early life marked by personal tragedies and substance abuse:

Noel [05:47]: "Although he was born Thomas Corbett and was not a soldier out of the womb, as it turns out, his initial occupation was as an incorrigible drunk."

Corbett's life took a dramatic turn after the death of his wife and first child during childbirth, propelling him into a downward spiral of alcoholism. However, a chance encounter with a street evangelist rekindled his faith:

Ben [07:11]: "He meets one of these proselytizing preachers and becomes mesmerized by the word of God, transforming from a vagrant into a fervent street preacher."

Adopting the name Boston in honor of his hometown, Corbett's deepening religious convictions would play a significant role in his later actions.

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Civil War Service and Personal Struggles

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Corbett enlisted in the Union Army, where his devout nature both distinguished and isolated him:

Ben [12:39]: "He enlisted in the Union army and he had a quotation here that he allegedly told the women at his church: 'When I come eye to eye with my gray suited enemies, I will say to them, God have mercy on your souls. Then pop them off.'"

Despite his piety, Corbett's behavior was often at odds with military discipline. An infamous incident during training saw him confront his colonel:

Ben [17:03]: "When the Colonel's yelling at them and cursing, he yells back, 'Colonel, don't you know you're breaking God's law?'"

This defiance led to his temporary imprisonment, but the pressing needs of war saw him return to duty, where he served with distinction despite his unorthodox methods.

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The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth

After Booth's assassination of Lincoln, Corbett was among the elite cavalrymen dispatched to capture the fugitive. The relentless pursuit culminated in a dramatic confrontation:

Noel [23:10]: "Boston Corbett is one of the 26 elite cavalrymen sent from the unit to pursue John Wilkes Booth."

Tracked down to a tobacco farm in Port Royal, Virginia, Booth and his accomplice David Herold took refuge in a barn. The tense standoff escalated when Corbett and his men set the barn ablaze:

Ben [24:12]: "They light some straw and fire and poke it through a knothole in the barn, and, you know, like old dry wood tends to do it."

As the flames consumed the barn, Booth made a final, desperate move:

Noel [24:25]: "Booth, who has already made his peace with whatever powers he thinks exist, stays inside. As the barn disintegrates, the soldiers outside can see Booth's silhouette moving back and forth in the burning barn."

Tragically, Booth did not survive the inferno, marking the end of his tyrannical reign.

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Aftermath and Boston Corbett's Legacy

Following Booth's death, Corbett faced both acclaim and controversy. Initially hailed as a hero, his later life was marred by mental instability and societal rejection:

Noel [29:07]: "He gets a portion of it, though."

Despite receiving a reward, Corbett struggled to reintegrate into society. His obsessive faith and lingering trauma from the war led to erratic behavior, including:

• Hostage Incident (1887): Corbett held the Kansas House of Representatives hostage using weapons, a clear sign of his deteriorating mental state.
• Asylum Escape (1888): Escaping from a Kansas asylum, Corbett was reported as a fugitive but remained elusive, with multiple unverified accounts of his fate.

By the late 19th century, Boston Corbett had faded into obscurity, his life serving as a poignant reflection on the impacts of war, faith, and mental health.

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Conclusion: A Forgotten Figure with a Complex Legacy

The episode concludes by highlighting the enigmatic legacy of Boston Corbett—a man who played a pivotal role in American history yet remains largely forgotten. His story intertwines themes of redemption, madness, and the relentless pursuit of justice, making him a fascinating subject for both historians and storytellers alike.

Noel [36:20]: "Yeah, absolutely. Who left a pretty fascinating mark on history."

For those intrigued by Corbett's life, the hosts recommend further reading:

Ben [36:20]: "If you'd like to read more about Boston Corbett, you can check out the book The Madman and the Assassin, which has a pretty snappy chronicle of his time."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Ben [12:52]: "When I come eye to eye with my gray suited enemies, I will say to them, God have mercy on your souls. Then pop them off."
• Noel [17:03]: "Sir, I have no cause to apologize to you, for you are but immortal and you hath offended the delicate sensibilities of the Lord thy God."
• Ben [28:03]: "I didn't fire the ball from fear, I was under the impression that he, meaning Booth, had started to fight his way through."

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Final Thoughts

Ben and Noel wrap up the episode by reflecting on the rarity and significance of Boston Corbett's story, expressing surprise at how little is taught about him in conventional historical narratives. They also invite listeners to share their thoughts and suggest other obscure historical figures deserving of attention.

Ben [37:09]: "They don't really teach you about it in school, you know."

Noel [37:09]: "There's just so many interesting little twists in this story."

The episode serves as a compelling reminder of the intricate and often bizarre threads that weave the fabric of history, inviting listeners to explore beyond the well-trodden paths of historical fame.

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Credits:
Hosts: Ben Bowlin & Noel Brown
Producer: Casey Pegram
Researcher: Christopher Haciotes
Theme Composer: Alex Williams
Presented by: iHeartRadio

For more engaging historical tales, subscribe to Ridiculous History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

[Ben]

Fellow ridiculous historians, welcome to this week's classic episode. Back in 2018, we looked at each other, we had that Ghostbusters eye contact moment where they figure out the Statue of Liberty. And we said, how deeply have we really dove into the infamous tragic story of the Lincoln assassination?

[Noel]

Not nearly deeply enough, Ben, is what our longing gaze told each of us psychically.

[Ben]

Yes. Yeah. Now, we do know, Noel, that on April 14, 1865, an actor named John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln there in Ford's Theater watching a play with his wife. That story aside, we know that Booth escaped the scene of the crime and he went on the run. But it turns out there's some more to the story.

[Noel]

Yeah, more like on the limp, if I'm not mistaken. I think he's right.

[Ben]

That's right. He did have an injury from jumping. That's correct.

[Noel]

But boy, are we gonna dive into a bit of a an assassin meta episode. Today we're talking about everybody loves an assassin, but what about an assassin's assassin? Okay, maybe everyone doesn't love an assassin, but you get what I'm getting at.

[Ben]

Yes. So join us as we dive into the bizarre life and times of a man named Boston Corbett.

[Casey]

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[Ben]

Ridiculous history is a production of iHeartRadio. Today's story, kind of, but not really starts in 1865 on April 14th when Abraham Lincoln is assassinated By John Wilkes Booth while watching the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater in dc.

[Noel]

You think it was any good, Ben?

[Ben]

Our American Cousin. I remember, I think, hearing about it in school. But it wasn't my kind of play. And it does remind me of one of those very tasteless middle school jokes. Did you ever hear this one? Well, other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you find the play?

[Noel]

Oh, that's funny.

[Ben]

That's terrible.

[Noel]

Too soon? Surely not. Surely not. Ben, you called out the date and it sounded to me like it was long ago.

[Ben]

Long ago. Far away. Right.

[Noel]

And I'm Noel, by the way.

[Ben]

You're Noel.

[Noel]

This is ridiculous history.

[Ben]

I think this is ridiculous history. And there's our super producer, Casey Pegram, giving us his stamp of approval. Let me lean by the window and see if we get a thumbs up. Oh, we got a pretty good thumbs up.

[Noel]

Thumbs up indeed. As you would text me. Thumbs up emoji.

[Ben]

Thumbs up emoji.

[Noel]

I love when you do that.

[Ben]

Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, yeah. I want to be clear that it is an emoji because, you know, some people don't know this, but emojis translate differently across different phones, I think.

[Noel]

Oh, absolutely. We've talked about this. Thank you.

[Ben]

Have we talked about this on this.

[Noel]

Show or we just hung out and talked about. It's a bit of a blur. We do talk about all kinds of things. Today we're talking about Abraham Lincoln getting a bullet to the back of the dome by a crazed. I don't know, maybe it's not fair to call him crazed, but a zealous actor by the name of John Wilkes Booth during said play. That may or may not have been any good. And then he leapt from the balcony. It was a point blank shot to the back of the head.

[Ben]

Six Simper Tyrannus sick.

[Noel]

Semper Tyrannus onto the stage. Caught his pant on something on the way down and broke his leg and somehow managed to escape.

[Ben]

Yeah. Made it 73 miles to Port Royal, Virginia. While the feds were chasing him, his accomplices were dropping out one by one. He eventually was cornered in a barn surrounded by veterans from the Union Army.

[Noel]

But wait, we need to back up again.

[Ben]

Yes.

[Casey]

Beep, beep, beep.

[Ben]

That's the sound of the history truck moving back because we gave you a little bit of a, I guess, a cold open. We should start at the. As the Mad Hatter says at the beginning.

[Noel]

Ah, the Mad Hatter.

[Ben]

Yes. That's appropriate for this, isn't it?

[Noel]

It really is.

[Ben]

Our story starts with a soldier by the name of Boston Corbett.

[Noel]

Although he was born Thomas Corbett and was not a soldier out of the womb, as it turns out, his initial occupation was as an incorrigible drunk.

[Ben]

Yes, Thomas Corbett was a hatter, not yet mad. And this was a pretty solid job for an upstanding American in the mid 19th century. But his wife and his first child, a girl, died during childbirth, and this sent him on a downward spiral.

[Noel]

We got a lot of death and childbirth things happening in these last. This episode and then the last one about the Cock Lane ghost.

[Ben]

It's true. Check it out.

[Noel]

Yeah. If you haven't already, and if you haven't then shame on you. But, yeah, no, he did not do well after this blow from on high. And he, you know, became, like I said before, an incorrigible drunk. So that wasn't his first profession. His first profession was a hatter. And then he gave that up for the bottle. And he lived in New England, in Boston, and he would just haplessly stumble around drunk. He was. He kind of became.

[Ben]

He was a vagrant.

[Noel]

He was a vagrant. He became known as kind of like one of the town shiftless layabouts. Right. And it was one night, late in the 1850s, when he ran into someone that would change his life forever.

[Ben]

Yes. And there's a great recounting of this in the Washingtonian in an article by Bill Jensen. He meets one of these proselytizing preachers, a street evangelist, and it gets to him. Corbett is mesmerized by this word of God. He becomes a regular at the. What they call sidewalk church around the city, which was an interesting phrase I had not heard before. But it's like a regularly occurring church meetup that doesn't necessarily have its own physical building. And he became sort of a hype man at these street preaching get togethers. He stopped drinking, and he started being the guy who just yells amen along with, you know, sort of punctuating what the preachers are saying.

[Noel]

Yeah. Hype Manning is sort of like in the trap music of the day, where they just kind of go, yeah, that.

[Ben]

Was what he would do, except he was going, glory to God, Jesus. Yep.

[Noel]

Yeah, that kind of stuff. And speaking of Jesus, he also grew his hair, his mane long to appear to resemble Jesus Christ himself. He was baptized in the Methodist faith, and he changed his name to Boston from Thomas because Boston was the town where he credited this meeting with the street preacher that turned his life around.

[Ben]

Right. He was 26 at this time. And the Ministers eventually said, hey, you should get your own turf.

[Noel]

In other words, maybe it's sort of like back up off our turf with your hype, Manning. We don't need you anymore.

[Ben]

I feel like Jesus is leading you to preach elsewhere. Elsewhere, leading you to preach down on fourth or sixth.

[Noel]

I think that's right. I think we have to. Remember we haven't said this yet, but I'm sure a lot of people know this already, but Hatters used mercury to.

[Ben]

Treat the felt, to form the felt.

[Noel]

To form the felt, to make the hats. And as we know, long term exposure to mercury does have some debilitating effects on the brain.

[Ben]

Yeah, it has some debilitating cognitive effects. We do want to tell you that the next part of this story takes a brief and grisly turn.

[Noel]

Yes, we'll try to make it as brief as possible, but yeah, it's not a pleasant image that's coming up here.

[Ben]

So he's out ministering to the people in the summer of 1858 when he feels that a pair of sex workers are ogling him, are giving him the eye, and he is disgusted with himself. When he feels physically excited, he rises to the occasion. Right. So he proceeds directly home, takes a pair of scissors, and after making an incision in his scrotum, he removes his testicles and then goes directly to a prayer meeting.

[Noel]

Like you do.

[Ben]

It was a different time.

[Noel]

Yeah. Not only that, he went to his prayer meeting, did. Whatever that entails. And then. Oh, we should also mention that when he got home from this encounter with these ladies of the evening, he was in search of answers. And he opened the Bible to. It's unclear if he was looking for this passage because he was aware of it or if he just like, you know, did the old fliparoo. And this is what came up.

[Ben]

Tell me what to do, God.

[Noel]

Yeah, exactly. And the passage that he encountered was Matthew 19:12, which has a part that says, there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God. And that's what he went and did with the snip snip. So he goes on to the prayer meeting and then what? Oh, he goes to the hospital immediately, right?

[Ben]

No, he goes the next day after. After the prayer meeting, he grabs dinner and takes a walk through the city, thinking his thoughts.

[Noel]

Surely he's bleeding profusely from his genitals at this point.

[Ben]

One would think that he was able to staunch the wound because otherwise surely it would have been noticed during a prayer meeting if the guy's bleeding through his trousers. But either way, he did eventually check himself into a Massachusetts general and spent some time trying to heal. Eventually he says, okay, I'm better. A few weeks later and he moves to New York City to become a hat maker again. But he's still very religious.

[Noel]

Oh boy, is he ever. He's possibly the most religious person we've ever encountered in any story we've ever done for this show. Can you think of anyone more staunchly religious?

[Ben]

Staunchly religious? Probably not that guy who mooned all those people.

[Noel]

No, definitely not him.

[Ben]

Who is still unidentified.

[Noel]

That's right.

[Ben]

Yeah. This guy might take the cake so far. He would often use his lunch break to go to prayer meetings. So he still kept these very, I would say, dogmatic religious practices. And then in 1861, the Confederate army attacks Fort Sumter.

[Noel]

Which one was that? The Civil War. Nice.

[Ben]

Ironically named because it was very uncivil. Yes.

[Noel]

They were not nice to each other.

[Ben]

They were not. He enlisted in the Union army and he had a quotation here that he allegedly told the women at his church. Did you see this one?

[Noel]

No, I did not. Ben. Oh, give it to me.

[Ben]

When he told the people his church that he was going to join up with the Union army, he said, when I come eye to eye with my gray suited enemies, I will say to them, God have mercy on your souls. Then pop them off.

[Noel]

Yes, I do remember this one. The pop them off is what did it for me.

[Ben]

Very slang, right?

[Noel]

You know what it reminds me of Them. It reminds me of Samuel L. Jackson's character in Pulp Fiction. He does the whole. And I will smite thee with great anger and furious vengeance those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. You know the one? Yeah. It's good though. I wonder if he got that idea from old Corbett.

[Ben]

Perhaps. Perhaps he did. That would be interesting. We'd have to ask Quentin himself, right?

[Noel]

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[Ben]

There was a big bummer about him joining the army. He had to shave his Jesus. His. His Jesus jam his Jesus locks. Yeah. And by most of the accounts we've discovered, he was an okay soldier. He could run, he could fire a gun.

[Noel]

Pretty good shot.

[Ben]

Mm.

[Noel]

But wasn't the. Wasn't the best at. He answered to a very particular authority, didn't he, Ben?

[Ben]

Right. It was not earthly.

[Noel]

No, it was not earthly. Nor was it his. His commanders. And that's gonna come up time and again in this man's story. But one funny anecdote in this Washingtonian article is about the time where, when he was training in Franklin Square in New York, his colonel, a man by the name of Daniel Butterfield, who they point out, I did not know this composed Taps. I didn't think Taps was composed.

[Ben]

I didn't know.

[Noel]

It just was, you know. Yeah, but no, this guy Butterfield also Apparently had a bit of a potty mouth because he was just effing and jeffing and swearing all over town and Corbett was not having it, was he?

[Ben]

No, absolutely not. Corbett, who we should also mention is still very green at his training here. He, when the Colonel's yelling at them and cursing, he yells back, colonel, don't you know you're breaking God's law? Butterfield is aghast, like he's speechless for a second. This has probably never happened to him. So what, what does he do in response?

[Noel]

Yeah, he, he, he reads him the riot act, probably in a very measured kind of Hannibal Lecter kind of way. I don't know, this guy Corbett kind of gave me the creeps. The whole self mutilation thing, that's a bridge too far.

[Ben]

It's a sign of mental illness.

[Noel]

Yeah, I think for sure. And yeah, again we should point out that he had been exposed to these vapors, these mercury vapors for quite some time in his hatting career before any of this happened. Yeah. And he says, colonel, don't you know you are breaking God's law? And yeah, Butterfield was probably just like, you know what, my boy, thank you so much for pointing that out. Thank you, thank you for saving money. No, that's not what he did at all. It's not what he did at all.

[Ben]

No, he said, I'm going to send you to jail. So Corbett begins loudly singing hymns, pretty much shouting hymns while he's in jail. He's asked to stop. He won't. Butterfield eventually throws up his hands and says, look, if you just say you're sorry, I can let you out of prison. To which Corbett says, he says, no.

[Noel]

Sir, I have no cause to apologize to you, for you are but immortal and you hath offended the delicate sensibilities of the Lord thy God.

[Ben]

So if you ask God to forgive you, then maybe I'll ask you to forgive me. The chutzpah.

[Noel]

Oh, it's out of control.

[Ben]

For a guy without balls, this is really ballsy.

[Noel]

Seriously. Yeah, no, no doubt about that. I think it just goes to show that those kind of balls come from within, my friend.

[Ben]

There we go. So he is released to jail.

[Noel]

Yeah, because he's like, this guy's impenetrable, you know?

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah. Also there's a war going on.

[Noel]

Yeah, they, they probably need him. He's a crack shot. He's at least a passable soldier. So yeah, they, they, they need him. And okay, let's see. God, this guy's got a really storied storied life.

[Ben]

Yeah. Where do you want to go?

[Noel]

Well, he becomes a pretty important figure in the Union cause he fights in all these very, very deadly conflicts that most people would not have survived and did not survive. And I don't know if he had God on his side or whatever, but it's. I don't know, it's hard to not think that. That his piety maybe had something to do with it, or maybe it was just he was stark raving mad and fearless and just kind of like had luck on his side.

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah. Like the New England Historical Society covers a little bit of his activity in the Civil War. I did not know that he had enlisted or reenlisted three times. He took to this conflict and he wasn't the best soldier, but he was consistent. The thing people hated about working with him is that he was always telling people not to curse or do sinful stuff.

[Noel]

Sure. Like, you know, like you do in the Army.

[Ben]

Right.

[Noel]

He sounded like a real killjoy. But he eventually got captured and sent to Andersonville. Do you know about Andersonville Prison, Ben?

[Ben]

Yes. No. Andersonville Prison is a terrible, terrible place. Or it was a terrible, terrible, terrible place.

[Noel]

We should say it's in here in Georgia.

[Ben]

Right. It was a Confederate run prison here in Georgia, which you can visit. I've actually been. It's the Andersonville National Historic Site now. So it preserves Camp Sumter, which is also known as the prison. And it held 45,000 Union soldiers prisoner during the war. Nearly 13,000 of them died not from execution, but from diseases, scurvy, diarrhea, dysentery. The bloody flux, yeah. Is that, Is that what it was called?

[Noel]

I think that's what they call it, yeah. That was the. That was the shorthand. Although it's sort of longer. No, just dysentery. The bloody flux. Same number of syllables, but sounds a lot scarier, doesn't it?

[Ben]

It does, yeah.

[Noel]

Because. Because the flux, I guess, is when you. When you expel blood. Right.

[Ben]

Now the thing about, the thing about Mr. Boston Corbett is that maybe it's a matter of his faith, maybe it's a matter of luck. He survived. Yeah.

[Noel]

This man was nothing if not resilient. I mean, he survived a self administered castration first and foremost. He survived, you know, drunkenness in the streets, and he survived some of the most intense battles of the Civil War. And he survived this prison which was built to house 10,000 inmates and ballooned to over 32,000. There was like a little stream that ran through it and apparently it had just become a swamp of human filth, and all of these diseases ran rampant. The guy who was in charge of this, this facility was actually brought up on war crime trials because thousands, if not tens of thousands of men died in this facility.

[Ben]

Yeah, 13,000 that we know of. So that guy was rightly brought up on war crimes.

[Noel]

What was his name?

[Ben]

His name was Captain Henry Wirz. W I R Z. Not only was tried for war crimes, but he was executed. So after Corbett gets away, after he survives this and convalesces for a bit.

[Noel]

One would imagine, right.

[Ben]

Learns to eat solid food again, he still stays with the army. He had eventually reached the rank of Sergeant in the 16th New York Volunteer Cavalry. Now we get to the point where we began the story.

[Noel]

Oh, man, weren't we having a barn burner? Maybe we hadn't quite gotten there yet, but our man John Wilkes Booth, hobbled from his idiotic fall at the Ford theater after putting a bullet in old Abe Lincoln's head, is now holed up in this barn along with two accomplices.

[Ben]

I want to say, yeah, everybody else has deserted them. He's 73 miles away from the theater and being hunted like a dead dog. Boston Corbett is one of the 26 elite cavalrymen sent from the unit to pursue John Wilkes Booth.

[Noel]

And pursue him they did. They got a tip from a local innkeeper who put them in touch with. With a man who kind of gave it. Give it to us, Ben. I'm not. I'm not doing a very good job here.

[Ben]

Oh, no. You got it. You got it. We've got Booth and his conspirator David Harold in a tobacco farm owned by a guy named Richard Garrett. So what do the Calvary men do once they have them cornered in that barn?

[Noel]

Well, they're not coming out, right? So they light some straw and fire and poke it through a knothole in the barn, and, you know, like old dry wood tends to do it. It went up in flames pretty quickly.

[Ben]

And David Herold says, okay, this is crazy, even for a terrorist like me. I give up. Booth, who has already made his decision, made his peace with whatever powers he thinks exist, stays inside. But as the barn disintegrates in the conflagration, the soldiers outside can see Booth's silhouette moving back and forth in the burning barn.

[Casey]

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[Laura]

This is Courtside with Laura Carrenti, the podcast that's changing the game and breaking down the business of women's sports like never before. I'm Laura, the founder and CEO of Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment, your inside source on the biggest deals, power moves and game changers. Writing the playbook on all things women's sports, from the heavy hitters in the front office to the powerhouse women on the pitch. We're talking to commissioners, team owners, influential athletes. Athletes and the investors betting big on women's sports. We'll break down the numbers, get under the hood, and go deep on what's next. Women's sports are the moment, so if you're not paying attention, you're already behind. Join me courtside for a front row seat into the making of the business of women's sports. Courtside with Laura Carrenti is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to Courtside with Laura Crenti Starting April 3rd on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.

[Noel]

And let's just remind our listeners, maybe not really a reminder because we haven't said it yet. The instructions of this brigade was to bring back these men alive because the plot against Lincoln, there was a good chance that it had been organized, orchestrated by forces on the Confederate side, and they wanted to, you know, get to the top of this conspiracy. Right?

[Ben]

Right.

[Noel]

So when our boy Corbett popped one off, as he would say, right at John Wilkes Booth, as he hobbled away, people were understandably annoyed.

[Ben]

Right. And another government employee says, what on earth did you shoot him for? And he's rushing to yank Booth out of the burning barn. They wanted him alive to, you know, run up the ladder of the conspiracy. And Corbett refused to apologize. Booth dies around 7am the next day, and the government forces are wondering why this guy is completely contradicting his orders. And all he says is that God almighty directed me to. So instead of John Wilkes Booth going back to D.C. they take Corbett.

[Noel]

Yeah. And Edwin M. Stanton, who's the secretary of War who had issued a, a reward, the war department, of $100,000. 50 for Booth, 25 for Seurat, and 25 for Harold, and a total of $100,000. And this guy questioned Corbett personally and I think he sort of decided it wasn't worth pursuing that. You know, the guy's dead, the justice has been served. This guy's gonna be kind of a national hero. Let's let it slide.

[Ben]

Yeah. Even though Corbett kind of changes his message at the trial and he says, I didn't fire the ball from fear, I was under the impression that he, meaning Booth, had started to the door to fight his way through. And I thought he would do harm to my men if I didn't fire. So it changes a little bit. He's not quite as self righteous about it. But how does this story end, Noel? He doesn't get the whole 50 grand.

[Noel]

You know, he gets a portion of it, though.

[Ben]

I think he gets a little over 1600. And then he asks if he can take his horse home, which I thought was pretty sweet. He says, he's not valuable, but I'm attached to him and I'd like to take him home.

[Noel]

He's a sentimental man. He's a sentimental eunuch. Mad hatter.

[Ben]

Later, he is largely forgotten. He starts initially going back to work as a silk hat finisher. Then he turns to being a Lay Preacher making 250 a year.

[Noel]

$250 dollars?

[Ben]

Yes. Not thousands.

[Noel]

No, no, of course not.

[Ben]

And by 1874, his mental state has further deteriorated. He is convinced that John Wilkes Booth is actually still alive and that Booth has sent people from the former Confederacy to kill him.

[Noel]

That being said, though, he was not a popular man among his cohorts for the reason we talked about earlier that always in people's faces preaching the, the Holy Roller line. But also like even the, the other troops that he was with in his unit, they would have been irritated with him because he kind of stole their glory. Right. That could have been any of them. Also, it would have been much more of a group victory if they had brought the men back alive like they were supposed to. But instead he took it upon himself to, to, to pop one off.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Noel]

And so he was getting threatening letters. That was real.

[Ben]

Yes, he was getting threatening letters. We don't know if they were meant just to torture him, but some were signed J. Wilkes Booth. So in his mental state, he felt that these really were from this guy and there was this overarching conspiracy to assassinate him. By 1878, increasingly unpopular, despised by half the country, strongly disliked by his colleagues. He hops in a wagon and says that he's gonna head west.

[Noel]

Where's he go, Ben?

[Ben]

He goes to a place called Cloud County, Kansas, and starts the homestead. On 80 acres.

[Noel]

Yeah. Unfortunately, that doesn't go super well. And because of some pretty intensely erratic behavior, he does not get to continue in that endeavor. Some of that behavior includes, in 1887, he holds the Kansas House of Representatives hostage, basically using two revolvers and a sword. And then he declares that the session has been adjourned. And then he has various and sundry run ins with the law. And in 1887, October, that is, he is declared insane and he is committed to a Kansas asylum. But that's not the end.

[Ben]

That is not quite the end. He escapes from the asylum on May 26, 1888, because he sees somebody making deliveries and tethering a horse to the front of the building. So he breaks away, jumps on the horse and takes off all the way to Neodesha, Kansas, home of a fellow veteran and survivor of Andersonville, a guy named Richard Thatcher.

[Noel]

And that caused this kind of BOLO letter to be generated with the heading, insane man escaped, Topeka, Kansas, May 26, 1888. Dear Sir Boston Corbett, an insane man escaped from the insane asylum at Topeka this morning and is supposed to be heading for Cloud county. He's about 55 years old and 5ft 4 inches tall is a clever detail. This is a smart move. He has plucked all his beard out down to the lower part of his ears. His gray chin, whiskers and mustache, gray hair cut square at bottom and parts his hair in the middle. He wore a dark jean suit and black soft hat and was riding a bay or a sorrel pony with a boy's saddle. So keep a lookout for that guy.

[Ben]

He is regarded as a dangerous man, but was unarmed when he escaped. If he comes your way, arrest him and return him to the asylum at once. Or telegraph Dr. B.D. eastman, superintendent, insane Asylum, Topeka, for orders. What happens when he meets up with his old pal Thatcher or when he reaches Thatcher's property? We should say.

[Noel]

Well, the first thing he did when he got there to Neidosha, Kansas, was he took that stolen horse that he referred to as a borrowed horse, and he tied a note onto it and slapped it on the butt and sent it on its way. And it was quite a ways away, so it's unclear if that horse made it to its rightful owner. But the note kind of was like, sorry, I just. I had to do it. Here, please take this horse back. I didn't. I wasn't stealing it. But, yeah, he went to a train station and was trying to get to Mexico. And that is the last anyone ever heard from him.

[Ben]

Right. Rumors still trickle in after that. You'll see a lot of people list his death as 1894. One theory says that he was targeted by people who were bitter over the various battles he had had in his time in the Union Army. Someone else said he died in the Great Hinckley Fire. And then there were people who would point out other possibilities. You know, in the early 1900s, the federal prison Bureau heard about a Boston Corbett who claimed he was alive and well and wanted his pension checks. But the problem was that the guy who claimed to be Boston Corbett, who also went by the nickname Old Trapper, Old Trapper only gave vague descriptions. Yeah, I think he was taller, and. He was taller. Yeah, like, a lot taller. I believe a full eight inches or so. And then people thought that would be the last they heard of him. But more and more stories poured in. They just became less and less credible, if that makes sense.

[Noel]

It does.

[Ben]

And now he is largely lost to history, except for one. One thing that remains right.

[Noel]

Yeah, it's like a weird kind of memorial. It's just a pen, like a. Like a fenced area that marks where his final home was. And in this Washingtonian article, they wrap up talking about how in 1958, there was a Boy Scout troop that made a stone plaque to put there, and they called it the Boston Corbett dugout. And there are two revolvers embedded in the rock.

[Ben]

And here ends the strange story of Boston Corbett, war hero, to sum, a villain to others, but clearly a man in need of medical care of some sort.

[Noel]

Yeah, absolutely. Who left a pretty fascinating mark on history.

[Ben]

And if you'd like to read more about Boston Corbett, you can check out the book the Madman and the Assassin, which has a pretty snappy chronicle of his time, both his normal life leading up to the Civil War and his earlier struggles all the way to that fateful day when he shot John Wilkes Booth. That felt like a very definitive ending. Usually we get to a segue or something, huh?

[Noel]

Yeah, no, that's good. That's good. Where it's almost like we're getting a little bit better at this.

[Ben]

Well, let's not jinx ourselves.

[Noel]

Fair enough.

[Ben]

Fair enough. But we hope you enjoyed this story. We were surprised in the course of our research to learn that, you know, a lot of people haven't heard of this guy.

[Noel]

I Hadn't.

[Ben]

Yeah. They don't really teach you about it in school, you know.

[Noel]

Well, you know, it's like, I think this is an interesting slice of life of the time, too, in terms of, like, you know, the way mental illness was. Was handled. The whole idea of. And there's just so many interesting little twists in this story. The way the whole Andersonville incarceration thing, I knew a little bit about that, but this was a really interesting inside perspective, like, from someone who lived through it. The whole, you know, coming to Jesus stuff, it's just. This is like, why is there not a film about this guy? Who would play him?

[Ben]

Crispin Glover.

[Noel]

Yes. Did I tell you that my friend Matt saw Crispin Glover on the subway in New York for, like, an hour, just sitting by himself wearing a really nice black suit and listening to his earbuds?

[Ben]

I think you may have mentioned that.

[Noel]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Was it. Was he actually going somewhere, just riding the subway?

[Noel]

No, I think he was going. He said, well, Matt works way uptown, and his. His theory was maybe that he was shooting something in Harlem, because that's sort of the direction that you head in. Yeah.

[Ben]

Yeah. So I think Crispin Glover would be a good pick.

[Noel]

He would be awesome. I mean. I mean, look, if you look at this guy. Listeners, if you want to check it out, tell us what you think. Who would play Boston Corbett. Oh, Crispin Glover all day long. You know who else would be good? Norman Reedus. You know, Norman Reedus from the Walking Dead and the Boondock Saints? Yeah.

[Ben]

Also, my favorite moment in the guy's biography is definitely the other street evangelist saying, God has called you to preach, my son. About four blocks that way. That's still my favorite. That's good. We want to know what you thought about this episode, and as always, some of our best ideas come from you fellow ridiculous historians. So let us know what other tremendously important characters in American history, or in the history of your own country seem to be largely obscured today? We'd like to shed some light on that. As always, thank you for checking out the show. Thank you to our super producer, Casey Pegram.

[Noel]

Thanks to Alex Williams, who composed our theme, and thanks to Christopher Haciotes for being our researcher extraordinaire on this episode.

[Ben]

And by this time, longtime listeners, you know the drill. Find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also check out our community page, Ridiculous historians, which is a hoot. A real hoot.

[Noel]

And H und and.

[Ben]

Bruhaha.

[Noel]

Sure.

[Ben]

Are we just going to toss synonyms? We have to get out of here.

[Noel]

We do toss synonyms, huh? I like it. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.