Everything to Know About John Wilkes Booth's Death: Killer, Location, and Legacy
By Alexander Ross
Before Booth could raise his weapon, a shot cracked through the night air. Sergeant Thomas P. "Boston" Corbett, an eccentric, deeply religious Union soldier standing roughly thirty feet away, fired his Colt Army revolver through a split in the wooden wall. The .44-caliber lead slug struck Booth behind the ear, penetrated the cervical vertebrae, and completely severed his spinal cord, producing an injury remarkably parallel to the head wound Booth had inflicted on Lincoln twelve days prior.
Corbett had violated direct orders from Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to bring the assassin back alive. When Conger angrily asked why he had fired, Corbett saluted and replied, "Providence directed me."
Soldiers dragged the paralyzed assassin from the burning structure onto Garrett’s front porch. A local physician, Dr. Charles Urquhart, examined him and declared the injury fatal. Booth remained conscious for nearly three hours, unable to move his limbs and gasping for breath as blood filled his throat. At one point, he whispered, "Tell my mother I died for my country." Just before sunrise, he gestured toward his hands and asked a soldier to lift them before his face. Staring at his limp fingers, he uttered his final recorded words: "Useless, useless." At roughly 7:15 AM on April 26, 1865, Booth took his last breath.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
