Boston Corbett

A Kansas Portrait

Known by most Americans as the "Avenger of Lincoln," Boston Corbett came to Kansas in the fall of 1878. Born in London, England, in the year 1832, he immigrated to the United States in 1839 with his family. He was a hat maker (hatter) by trade but quietly enlisted for military service in the Union Army after the Civil War broke out. He was serving in the Sixteenth New York Cavalry stationed at Lincoln's Barrack in Washington, D. C., when he supposedly shot Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, in a burning barn outside Bowling Green, Virginia on April 26, 1865. At the conclusion of the war Corbett continued his career as a hatter for a time in Philadelphia, but eventually made his home in Camden, New Jersey, where he began a career in the ministry. He remained in Camden until he homesteaded in Kansas in 1878.

Soon after taking his homestead outside of Concordia in Cloud County, the Civil War veteran, former hat maker and Methodist minister turned farmer, became renowned for his eccentric behavior. Often neighbors and unwary travelers would be chased off of Corbett's land with a shot expertly placed at their feet and an order of "About Face and march off this Farm."

During the organization of the Kansas House of Representatives in January 1887, Corbett was elected third assistant doorkeeper. From his homestead he brought with him (among other articles) the gun belt and 38 caliber pistol he used during the Civil War and his worn copy of the Bible; all three he planned to use to help maintain order in the House. In the forenoon of the 15th of February he suddenly began to chase members and staff of the Kansas House with his 38 caliber pistol. Several rounds were fired, but no one in the Capitol was harmed, the only casualties being some frayed nerves. After being apprehended by local police officers, Corbett was judged insane and placed in protective care at the State Hospital for the Insane at Topeka.

On the May 26, 1888 Corbett escaped by stealing a young visitor's pony. Corbett hastily rode to Neodesha and, after a brief stay there, he left for Mexico, never to be heard from again.