LINCOLN, Abraham, ASSASSINATION] CORBETT, Thomas P. "Boston," Slayer of Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Autograph letter signed ("Boston Corbett") to Alfred T. Wise, Clarendon Hotel, Washington, D.C., 6 May 1865. 1 page, 8vo, mounted, small stains . A PRAYER FROM JOHN WILKES BOOTH'S KILLER Corbett (1832-?), a Union soldier who had spent some time as a prisoner of war at Andersonville, was one of 26 cavalrymen from the 16th New York Infantry, under command of Edward Doherty, who pursued Booth and his accomplice, David E. Herold, after the assassination of Lincoln. At Garrett's farm in Virginia, Booth and an accomplice were cornered in a barn, which was set ablaze. When Booth refused to surrender, Corbett, aiming through a crack in the barn wall, shot him. Suddenly famous in the wake of Booth's shooting, he writes: "My dear young friend I must give you an answer for you ask so pretty. May God Bless and Protect you and keep you from the Snares of the Wicked One Who so prevailed with him who took the life of our President." In a postscript he adds "God Says Ask And Ye Shall Receive. He will give much more readily than I have done." Corbett was obsessively religious; when asked by his superior officers why he had disobeyed orders and shot Booth, he replied "Providence directed me."
LINCOLN, Abraham, ASSASSINATION] CORBETT, Thomas P. "Boston," Slayer of Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Autograph letter signed ("Boston Corbett") to Alfred T. Wise, Clarendon Hotel, Washington, D.C., 6 May 1865. 1 page, 8vo, mounted, small stains . A PRAYER FROM JOHN WILKES BOOTH'S KILLER Corbett (1832-?), a Union soldier who had spent some time as a prisoner of war at Andersonville, was one of 26 cavalrymen from the 16th New York Infantry, under command of Edward Doherty, who pursued Booth and his accomplice, David E. Herold, after the assassination of Lincoln. At Garrett's farm in Virginia, Booth and an accomplice were cornered in a barn, which was set ablaze. When Booth refused to surrender, Corbett, aiming through a crack in the barn wall, shot him. Suddenly famous in the wake of Booth's shooting, he writes: "My dear young friend I must give you an answer for you ask so pretty. May God Bless and Protect you and keep you from the Snares of the Wicked One Who so prevailed with him who took the life of our President." In a postscript he adds "God Says Ask And Ye Shall Receive. He will give much more readily than I have done." Corbett was obsessively religious; when asked by his superior officers why he had disobeyed orders and shot Booth, he replied "Providence directed me."
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
