From Ford's Theatre to the Burning Barn: the 12-Day Manhunt and Booth's End
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had issued absolute instructions to the search party: Booth was to be taken alive. Stanton wanted a sweeping public trial before a military tribunal to expose the full conspiracy and interrogate Confederate leadership links. The orders were clear to every officer on site.
Sergeant Thomas P. "Boston" Corbett, a deeply eccentric, religiously fanatical English immigrant, positioned himself at an opening in the barn wall roughly thirty feet from Booth. As the fire spread, Corbett spotted Booth moving toward the door, apparently preparing to shoot his way through. Corbett leveled his Colt revolver or Spencer carbine, accounts vary between officers, and fired through a gap in the slats.
The bullet caught Booth in the back of the neck. He crumpled to the floor instantly. Conger and Baker burst through the door, initially thinking Booth had shot himself. They found him limp, bleeding profusely from the neck, with his eyes open but unable to raise his arms. When Conger angrily confronted Corbett for disobeying orders, Corbett saluted and stated, "Providence directed me."
