In a rut: Oregon Trail Ruts National Historic Landmark

Wagon swale at Rock Creek Station State Historic Park

During our years of travel, we have managed to nearly traverse the entire length of the California, Oregon, Pony Express and Santa Fe Trails.  In very few places is there any evidence left of the trail, especially if you do not know for what you are looking.  Much of the main branches of the old trail have been preserved in railroads and roads for automobiles.  The trail was never a single-track route and many of the minor branches have been largely erased by the plow on farmland.  In other spots, the track of the wagons is preserved as a swale, a depression worn by the wagons in which the individual ruts are not identifiable.  An example of this is in the picture to the left, which shows a wagon swale at Rock Creek Station State Historic Park near Fairbury, Nebraska.  The swale runs from center right in the picture and continues towards the left.

6 foot tall Ben walking in a rut

After leaving Fort Laramie, at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers, the settlers following the North Platte River climbed up sandstone bluffs near present day Guernsey, WY.  The passage of thousands of wagons wore ruts into the sandstone to a depth of up to six feet here.  Not only are the swales preserved, but you can actually see the ruts that accomodated the wagon wheels.  The sandstone was soft enough to be eroded by the wagons, but is resistant enough to erosion that we can still see direct evidence of the passage of a road here.  The climb from the valley floor is a treacherous one, and looking at today's landscape, it is difficult to see why the traveler's did not just stay between the bluffs and the river.  The trip up onto the High Plains must have been easier going over the hills, but the going was tough.  Some of the rock was gouged out by settlers trying to make the passage easier.

Ruts criss-cross each other so people were passing slower wagons by cutting their own trail.  On the five month trip west, a delay of a few days could be the difference between making it to your destination safely or getting caught in snow in the mountains and dying (or worse).  Over a period of about 25 years, about 300,000 people passed over this ground, making it one of the epic migrations of human history.

I can't imagine the busted knuckles and swearing this must have caused

If you are a trail history buff, this is a must-see stop.  Close to Fort Laramie and Register Cliff, you could spend an entire day within the space of an hours drive.  At no other place along the California-Oregon trail will you see trail ruts that are this well preserved.

While you can see ruts from the paved walking trail, you will have to walk off-road a bit to see the best developed ruts on site.  Make sure to keep an eye and ear out for rattlesnakes, though.  Just off of the parking area at the bottom of the hill are restrooms and a picnic area.

Shallower ruts

Getting There

We got there by taking US-26 from Scottsbluff west to Guernsey.  At Guernsey, we took a left onto Lucinda Rollins Rd and followed the signs to the parking area.  From I-25, you get onto US-26 East from Exit 92 into Guernsey.  The turn onto Lucinda Rollins Rd will be a right.  The way is fairly well signed.  Heck, Ben and I got there during our 2015 ManTrip to Montana.  

Waypoint: Latitude: 42.2570414 N; Longitude: 104.7511572 W

Further Reading

Guernsey Ruts NPS

Oregon Trail Ruts Wyoming Tourism

Is that a cannon in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?: General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson Shrine

Ben stands next to a cannon at Spotsylvania.

When we went to Quantico, VA to see Christian's graduation from Marine Corps Officer Candidates School and his commissioning as a second lieutenant in March 2015, Ben and I wanted to see some Civil War sites.  In Virginia, it is almost impossible to swing a dead cat without hitting a marker about the US Civil War.  We stayed at Fredericksburg the first night in the DC area and were in the middle of the overlapping battlefields of Fredericksburg (December 1862), Chancellorsville (May 1863), Wilderness (May 1864) and Spotsylvania Courthouse (May 1864).

A common assumption in American thinking is that one person does not an organization make.  In the extreme, that is true, but it may take one person to serve as the glue that holds an organization together.  Strange though he was, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was a man that understood orders issued in polite Southern speech.  He was the man that brought Robert E. Lee's battle plan to fruition, and it is often argued that the friendly-fire death of General Jackson was the beginning of the end for the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate States of America.  Because of his position in Civil War history, Ben and I decided that we'd like to see the house in which Gen. Jackson died.

Thomas Jackson

Jackson was a "self-made" man, working his way up in the world despite a difficult childhood.  Jackson's parents were Jonathan Jackson, an attorney and Julia Jackson.  The family plunged into poverty when typhoid struck the family when Thomas was two.  The death of Jackson's father and sister left Julia a widow at 28 with four children to care for, including a newborn.  Julia refused family charity, sold off their possessions, moved into a small cabin, and took in laundry and taught school to earn a living.  Thomas' mother married Blake Woodson in 1830, but he did not like her children.  As the family continued to struggle financially and Julia's health declined during pregnancy, the family was split up among the relatives of Jonathan Jackson and Julia.  This arrangement became permanent with the death of Julia Woodson in 1831.

Thomas Jackson in US Army uniform

Sent first to Jackson's Mill and his Uncle Cummins Jackson, after four years Thomas was sent to his Aunt Polly's.  After enduring verbal abuse from Aunt Polly's husband, Isaac Brake, Thomas ran away and found his way back to the grist mill.  He developed a hard work ethic on the farm, attended classes when possible and read when he could.  Eventually he earned his keep by teaching school, before gaining admission to the US Military Academy at West Point.

Starting out last in his class. largely due to his lack of formal preparation for the strenuous curriculum, he worked his way up to 17th in a class of 59 in 1846.  Commissioned a second lieutenant in the US Army, his aggressive use of artillery during the Mexican-American war led first to a promotion to full lieutenant and a brevet commission as major.

Jackson returned to teaching school as a Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and instructor of artillery at Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, VA in 1851.  A poor lecturer, he memorized his lectures. showed an inability to deviate from that narrative on the fly and considered students who asked the same question twice to be insubordinate. Although he lacked the respect of students at that time, and was poor in the lecture room, he was a military visionary.  The artillery curriculum that he developed at VMI before the Civil War stressed discipline,  mobility, efficient use of artillery supported by an infantry assault, and discovering enemy strength and intention without giving away one's own plans.  These ideas are still taught to military students, as they are essential regardless of weapons development.

Lt. Gen. Thos. Jackson  24 Apr 1863

Application of these ideas to the Confederate cause in the service of the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War earned "Stonewall" Jackson the respect of soldiers that he lacked from his students.  His performance at battlefields such as Manassas (First and Second), Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville made Jackson a must study commander for all American military officers since.  His disciplined approach in battle failed him seldom and his campaigns forced much larger Union armies to be held out to defend Washington, D.C.  Over 150 years have passed since his death and he still ranks as one of the all-time great American military leaders.

The Death of "Stonewall"

During the Battle of Chancellorsville, Lee decided to divide his forces and try to flank the Army of the Potomac and its new commander, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker.  Jackson's forces entered The Wilderness on 2 May 1863 in an attempt to find the Union right and rear.  Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry was successful in probing the Union lines, and Jackson marched his II Corps through the dense growth, catching the Union Army unawares.  Charging from just a few hundred feet from Union forces, Jackson rolled up the Union right.  Only nightfall brought an end to infantry action.  Artillery barrages would continue through the night to the next day.

Fairfield plantation office

As Jackson returned to camp with his staff, pickets from the 18th North Carolina Infantry mistook them for Union forces and fired on them before they could answer the sentry's challenge.  Even after Jackson's staff identified themselves, the North Carolinians, suspecting a Union trick fired a second volley.  In the end, Jackson suffered three wounds: two in the left arm and one in the right hand.  At least one other staff member was killed and another wounded.  The worst of Jackson's wounds broke the humerus (upper arm bone) and severed the brachial artery of the left arm.  Jackson was helped from his horse, nearly fainting in the process, and a tourniquet was applied to the general's left arm by his aide-de-camp.

Site of Fairfield directly across from the office

In the end, delayed medical care probably doomed Jackson.  At first, his men tried to walk Jackson out, but Union artillery fire slowed their progress.  He was dropped from his stretcher, and progress to a field hospital was very slow, even after reaching an ambulance.  At the Chancellor House, Dr. Hunter McGuire, chief surgeon of Jackson's corps, took charge of the general's care.  McGuire observed that Jackson's uniform was saturated with blood because the upper wound was still bleeding and so the doctor readjusted the tourniquet.  Without this care, the general would likely have been dead within 10 minutes.   Given the extent of the injuries and owing to the loss of a lot of blood , McGuire found little to do but amputate Jackson's left arm.

General Jackson's deathbed

After surgery, Jackson appeared to be in good spirits, engaging in conversation and sending for his wife to be with him as he convalesced.  Lee, fearing that the field hospital would be overrun by Union forces, ordered Jackson's evacuation to Guinea Station on May 4th to the south and east of the battlefield. This was a major staging area for Lee's forces and Hooker's forces had torn up the track to the south, cutting Lee's supply lines.  This would be an ideal point for departure to Richmond, once repairs could be made to the railroad.   Pioneers were deployed to remove obstructions and smoothen the road. The journey over the rough roads was difficult, taking about 12 hours to move the 27 miles from the field hospital.   "Fairfield", owned by Thomas Chandler was offered for Jackson's recuperation.  The general chose the plantation office for his quarters, not wanting to unhouse the family.   This was for the best as Dr. McGuire discovered that a patient already housed in Fairfield had a contagious disease.

Dr. McGuire's couch in the sickroom

At first, it seemed that the general would recover.  McGuire limited visitors and Jackson slept well through the first night.  Rev. Beverley Tucker Lacy held a prayer service at Jackson's bedside the following day, which comforted Stonewall greatly.  Rev. Lacy retrieved Jackson's left arm and buried it in the family cemetery at Lacy's brother's house, Ellwood.  McGuire went to sleep in an adjacent room that night, thinking the general was recovering.

At about 1 AM, Jackson was feeling nauseated and asked his servant to put wet cloths on his side, which had been in pain since shortly after the amputation.  When Jackson finally allowed McGuire to be awakened, the doctor found his patient exhibiting classic symptoms of pneumonia.  Mrs. Jackson arrived with their baby daughter and seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation quickly.  Jackson would sink into delirium, then recover and talk to his wife and hold his daughter, then the cycle would start again.   On 10 May, he was informed by his wife that the doctors thought that he would die that day.  Consulting with Dr. McGuire, Jackson said "Very good.  Very good.  It is all right."  The reverent Jackson thought it proper to die on a Sunday.

The view from the upstairs

Jackson's condition deteriorated through the day, and he sunk into a final delirium.    After preparing for one last battle in his dreams, he said "Let us pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees."  He died at about 3:15 PM.

His death was a hard blow to the Confederacy, and Lee would never be able to find another subordinate that understood his orders and provide balance to the more defensive-minded Longstreet. Jackson laid in state in Richmond, VA, where thousands filed past his coffin in the capitol rotunda.  His remains were then transported by train to Lexington, VA where he had taught school at VMI.  He was buried in what is now Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery.

Soon after his death and the end of the Civil War, the Chandler farm, Jackson's grave, the burial site of his arm and the site of his wounding were marked and visited by a stream of people.   The Chandler farm was visited by none other than Union General Ulysses S. Grant during the 1864 campaign.  In 1911, the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad, owners of the property, decided to dismantle all but the building where Gen. Jackson died, as the plantation had fallen into disrepair.  It was the railroad that gave the site the name "Stonewall Jackson Shrine".  In 1937, the property was sold to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, which is currently part of the National Parks system.  The care of the site is evident.  About 40% of the building material in the shrine is original, many of the furnishings, including the deathbed and a bed cover, are original.  The marker at the site is one of a dozen similar markers placed by James Power Smith (Jackson's aide-de-camp) in 1903 commemorating Jackson, Lee and John Pelham.

Nadienne and the kids viewing the markers.

Disease and war

Civil War field hospital

The experience of Stonewall Jackson is not uncommon among soldiers in war.  The ratio of soldier's deaths due to disease compared to battle wounds was 7:1 in the Mexican-American War; 2:1 in the Civil War and 5:1 in the Spanish-American War.  These deaths were caused by a variety of illnesses.  Some of them, such as typhoid fever and dysentery were linked to poor sanitary conditions.  Others were due to parasitic infections, such as worms and malaria.  Diseases spread by respiratory droplets were also common: smallpox, measles and pneumonia.  Lack of sterilization procedures meant that many wounds became gangrenous or the patients contracted septicemia (blood poisoning).  A weakened post-operative patient exposed to patients with pneumonia would very likely contract pneumonia themselves.

Studies and work by health care professionals such as Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War were instrumental in halting the spread of disease in camps.  Many campaigns were lost in the end because of disease.  Typhus defeated Napoleon in Russia to a greater extent than any army.  Crusaders were turned out of Palestine more by dysentery than any other factor.  The first army to suffer more deaths from battle wounds than disease were the Germans in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870.

Getting There

Your best bet is to check one of the websites and follow detour signs at present.  The most direct way to the shrine is blocked by a washed out bridge at present.

Waypoint: Latitude: 38.147864 N; Longitude: 77.4423529 W
Street Address:  12023 Stonewall Jackson Road, Woodford, VA 22580

Hours for the Stonewall Jackson Shrine change seasonally, so it is best to consult the website for updates.

Further Reading

The Curious Fate of Stonewall Jackson's Arm

The Death of Jackson

Virtual Tour Stonewall Jackson Shrine

Stonewall Jackson Shrine Web Page

Disease and Death in the Civil War

Office building from the parking lot.

By the numbers 155:511:435,788 - WWII Prisoner of War Camps in the United States

My first exposure to a prisoner of war camp came through the television and "Hogan's Heroes".  It made war and POW life look easy and amusing.  The hapless Germans, the brave and clever Allies - who you knew could escape if they really wanted.  After exposure to movies like "The Great Escape" and "Bridge Over the River Kwai" (you know you are whistling), they didn't seem like such great, fun places.  I was sure that a POW camp must be a horrid place after reading what would now be called a graphic novel in 1975/6 about Jeremiah Denton's captivity in the "Hanoi Hilton" during the Vietnamese War.

I was a bit surprised on a visit to Fort Robinson in Nebraska with Nadienne and the boys to find out that during WWII, the fort hosted a POW camp for German prisoners.  It would surprise most people, as it did me, that there were 435,788 POWs hosted in the US and Alaska during the war.  Most of those POWs were German prisoners.  There were 155 area (main) POW camps and 511 satellite branch camps throughout the US, with the exception of Nevada, North Dakota, Vermont, and the territory of Hawaii.  Kansas had 2 area camps, 14 branch camps and 1 prison; Missouri had 4 area camps and 36 branch camps; Iowa: 2 area camps, 12 branch camps; Nebraska: 6 area camps and 25 branch camps.

The POW museum in T-9, opened in 2015

One of the Kansas area camps was Camp Concordia in Cloud County, KS.  Little remains of the camp today, but a POW museum has been established on the site inside of T-9, an original warehouse on the POW camp grounds.  The position of some of the buildings are still marked by concrete pads and concrete markers. An original guardhouse, a rebuilt guard tower, the base for the camp water tower and the original officer's club remain on grounds.  Several of the barracks were sold following closure of the camp and remain in Concordia as houses.

View of the camp looking south from the water tower

In its heyday, Camp Concordia had 304 buildings, 880 US soldiers, 179 civilian employees and 4,027 German prisoners, the first arriving from Rommel's Afrika Corps.  POW labor was used to replace the manpower lost to the US war effort, and enlisted men did much work on area farms, railroads or the local ice factory.  In addition to the $0.10 credit they earned in camp, workers on the outside could earn $0.80 a day credit (about the same as a newly recruited US soldier) to spend as they wished.  The camps in the US were designed to exceed the minimum conditions laid out by the Geneva Convention.  German prisoners were often given minimal supervision, with some given firearms to hunt by farmers for whom they worked.  Prisoners had their own bands and newspaper.  Those that could paint, draw or sculpt were able to sell their work to the locals.  The University of Kansas provided college courses to prisoners that wanted to take them.

Rebuilt guard tower on Union Road, with water tower base in background

The fair treatment of prisoners rubbed several locals and politicians the wrong way, with several congressmen referring to them as "our coddled prisoners".  Military authorities were intent on making existence in the camps as comfortable as possible out of a sense of honor, to minimize escape attempts and hopefully encourage German soldiers to surrender with less fight should word of their treatment make it back to Germany in the letters written home.  In all, there were only about 2,000 escape attempts nationwide.  Most of the men that attempted escape did so because they were bored or had received a "Dear John" letter from home.  This rate was lower than that of the civilian prison population.  Few of the escapes were successful, although a handful of escapees were recaptured in the 1950s and the last holdout, Georg Gärtner gave up in 1985, after living in the United States as Dennis Whiles since his 21 September 1945 escape from a New Mexico POW camp.  I could find no records of escapes from Concordia.  Two executions took place at Concordia, both conducted by prisoners, and reported as suicides.  When crimes were committed in the camp, suspects were tried and those convicted sent to prison at Fort Leavenworth.

T-60 original guardhouse

Owing to the large population of fairly recently immigrated German families in Kansas, many people found that they had relatives imprisoned in the camps.  Many long-term friendships developed between Americans and German POWs during this time, as well.  Years of economic difficulty in Germany following WWI meant that most of the POWs were fed and clothed better during imprisonment than they had been at home.  The scene that they returned to was one of utter devastation, but their fair treatment by US forces meant that most harbored no animosity towards the United States and helped create a strong alliance between the countries following WWII.

Getting There

Base for the 100,000 gallon water tank

Your approach will be from US-81.  Two miles north of Concordia, turn east (right from northbound US-81, left from southbound US-81) onto Union Rd for 1.5 miles.  The camp grounds will be on the north (left) side of the road.  The first part of the camp that you will see is the rebuilt guard tower.  To the north of the guard tower, you will see the water tower base in a field.  The museum and other buildings are just a few blocks further east.  Follow the signs that are present on site.

The sights are fairly sparse, although you can pick out many of the building foundations.  Building T-9 hosts a POW camp museum.  It is not open on a regular basis, but appointments can be made by calling the Camp Concordia Preservation Society at (785) 243-1710.

Foundation for building T-10 directly north of the new museum

Waypoint: Latitude: 39.611204 N, Longitude: 97.640219 W
Street Address: 1555 Ft. Kearney Rd., Concordia, KS 66901

Further Reading

German POWs coming soon to a town near you

Stalag Sunflower: German Prisoners of War in Kansas

Camp Concordia WW2 POW Camp

POW Camp Concordia

We've got big balls: Rock City Park, Minneapolis, KS

Rock City Central

As an AC/DC fan, anytime that I can work a title from "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" into a post, I'm going to take a shot.  They are big balls, they are dirty big balls, they are blue balls, they are busted big balls.  I don't know that they are the biggest balls of them all, but they are large.  The nation is chock full of interesting geological formations, which also tend to have some commercial value.  This is true of Rock City Park, a small area (about five football fields long) of about 200 large (up to 30 feet in circumference), primarily ball-shaped concretions in three main groupings. A similar formation near Clay Center, KS was dynamited for road rock material in 1915, spurring the owner of the current area, William Nisbeth, to preserve this unique feature for future generations.  

Nadienne provides a size scale for the concretions

The resulting non-profit organization cares for the area, which has a gift shop, picnic grounds and recently updated outhouses.  From May-September a small admission charge is collected ($3 for adults and $0.50 for children under 16 as of 2015).  A donation box is also available for after hours visits.  If you have kids that love to climb, this is a good place to let them get out and stretch their legs on a trip to or from Colorado along I-70.  So many attractions have a "don't touch" policy, but this one seems to encourage interaction with the star features.

Fossilized river bed

Having the world view of a scientist, I find myself constantly "reading" my surroundings, trying to tease out the biological, physical, geographical and geological features/history of the areas I visit.  One of the things that leaps out immediately here is the cross-bedding (angled-lines) in the rocks.

Concretions showing cross-bedding

These show that the sand in these concretions was deposited in a river bed.  As a river transports sand downriver, the sediments pile up at riffle points until the structure is too tall, and fall over the downstream side of the riffle.  The resulting lines of sediment deposition point downwards toward the downstream direction of water flow.

These rivers were active during the Cretaceous at the time of the deposition of the Terra Cotta member of the Dakota Sandstone, roughly 100-112 million years ago.  Over time, the sediments piled up to a depth of about a quarter- to a half-mile.  The high pressure and the intrusion of minerals like calcite from underlying sediments in groundwater created nucleation points for precipitation of crystals which cemented the sandstone together from the center outwards, creating these ball-shaped structures.  Some nucleation points were close enough together that the concretions formed grew together and created long, multilobed rocks.  As water and wind eroded the softer surface sediments, the relatively hard concretions emerged in their present form.  At several places in the park, it is possible to see ripple marks in concretions that have delaminated (fallen apart).

Ripple marks in West Rock City

Making big ones into smaller ones

Blue-gray lichens on sandstone

The exposed concretions also serve as a great introduction to the process of succession and soilmaking.  The exposed concretions are exposed to cycles of freezing, thawing, heating and cooling which widen the cracks in the concretions.  The naked rock is also colonized by lichens, a symbiont of fungus and algae.  The algae can photosynthesize, making organic molecules from carbon dioxide, water and sunlight.  Unfortunately, they lack the ability to hold onto substrate and retain water.  The fungus provides an anchor point, and a structure that retains water.  The hyphae (threadlike chains of cells) penetrate into the algae, providing water and the algae provide the fungus with organic molecules.  The acids released by metabolism breaks down the crystalline structure of the rock that the lichen rests upon.  The first organisms to colonize the rock, lichens are part of the group called pioneer species.

Plants growing in soil collecting in rock cracks

As the rock breaks down, and decaying biological matter accumulates, a soil is formed that can hold mosses and then vascular plants in place.  The root systems of the vascular plants invade the cracks on the rock, wedging them apart and increasing the rate of breakdown of the rock into soil.  Eventually, the concretions break down totally and become buried in the soil that is being made.

A National Natural Landmark

The National Natural Landmark program registers places of natural historical significance, such as this field of concretions.  The legislation that produced the Natural Landmark program does not carry the same protections to the site as designation of a National Historic Site, Monument or Park.  The agreement is between the landowner (public or private) and the Department of the Interior, and either party may terminate the agreement.  There is no necessity of the feature being open to view by the public.  In essence the landowner acknowledges that they are caring for a unique feature and will try to maintain its natural features as much as possible.  Rock City Park was declared a National Natural Landmark in 1978.

Getting there

Most will approach from I-70.  Catch US-81 North for about 10 miles and turn west (left) onto K-18 for 4 miles, then north (right) on K-106 for 5 miles to Ivy Road.  Turn left (west) onto Ivy Rd. and follow signs into Rock City Park (about 1 mi).

Waypoint: Latitude 39.0909 N; Longitude 97.736542 W
Street Address: 1051 Ivy Rd., Minneapolis, KS 67467

Further Reading

Roadside America Entry

Kansas Travel Entry

The Giant Concretions of Rock City by Paul Heinrich

Mad as a hatter: The man who killed the man who killed Lincoln

I have been intrigued by the life of Abraham Lincoln as long as I can remember.  Maybe it was the stories of his boyhood arcing into the Presidency.  He was a kid just like me and a bit of an outsider just like me.  He wanted to get out from home and see the world.  Well, who really doesn't?

Through the years I have taken day trips to experience the unique, the offbeat, and just strange sights the world has to offer.  One of the strangest things I have seen a monument to is the hole, charitably referred to as a dugout, that Boston Corbett lived in following the Civil War.  

Gateway to monument near Concordia, KS

Who was Boston Corbett and why did he live in a hole?  He was the hatmaker who, as a sergeant in the Union Army shot John Wilkes Booth (counter to orders by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton) in the Garrett farm barn outside of Port Royal, VA in the early morning hours of 25 April, 1865.  A reading of his biography shows Corbett to be a truly disturbed individual who was periodically psychotic, most likely due to mercury poisoning, a common hazard of his vocation.

Born Thomas Corbett in London, England in 1832, he immigrated to the United States with his family in 1839.  Arriving in New York City, his family moved several times until they settled in Troy, NY.  As a teenager, Corbett apprenticed as a hatter.  The occupational exposure to mercury (II) nitrate used in feltmaking likely resulted in the eccentric behaviors exhibited throughout Corbett's adulthood.

Married as a young adult, his wife died giving birth to a daughter, who also died.  A devastated Thomas Corbett turned to alcohol, literally staggering throughout New England, until he met a street preacher in Boston, MA.  Urged to change his ways, Thomas paid heed, found a job as a hatter and eventually took to preaching and distributing religious literature on his own street corner.  He grew his hair and beard long, in imitation of Jesus.  He swore off liquor and sought to live a life of Christian devotion. Baptized by a Methodist Episcopal Church minister on 29th August 1858, Corbett renamed himself Boston in honor of the city in which he found salvation.

Narrative of Boston Corbett Dugout Marker

As is often the case in conversion, the pendulum of Corbett's life swung from a life of utter purposelessness and drunken stupor to hypervigilant religious zeal.  Whenever someone cursed in his presence, he would sing to God and pray, often interrupting his work.  Propositioned on 16 July 1858 by prostitutes while going home from a church meeting (and body parts responding in an earthly fashion), he used a pair of scissors to remove his own testicles in an effort to avoid temptation.  He took a meal, then attended a prayer meeting before seeking medical attention.  That is one tough (and unbalanced) fellow.

Civil War service

Enlisting as a private in Company I of the 12th Regiment of the New York Militia in April 1861, Corbett was soon at odds with military life.  Carrying a bible at all times, reading from it randomly and condemning soldiers and officers for swearing apparently doesn't mix well with military life.  After reprimanding Colonel Dan Butterfield (composer/arranger of "Taps") for using profanity, Corbett was arrested and held in stockade until such time as he would apologize to the colonel.  When no such apology was forthcoming, Butterfield relented and set Corbett free.  His continued insubordination eventually brought a court-martial, and Corbett was sentenced to be shot.  The sentence was reduced and he was discharged in August 1863.  

Matthew Brady photograph of Corbett, 1865

One would think that would be a lesson well-learned, but Corbett re-enlisted in Co. L of the 16th Regiment, New York Cavalry.  Stubbornly standing his ground during a fight with Mosby's Raiders, he was captured on 24 June 1864 at Culpeper, VA.  His bravery under fire earned the respect of the Confederate troops, who took Pvt. Corbett prisoner instead of executing him. At Andersonville, he stood as a model Christian and human, refusing to give in to the predatory environment of the prison camp.  After five months and suffering from dysentery, exposure and scurvy, Corbett was released in a November 1864 prisoner exchange.  Upon his return to his company, Corbett was promoted to sergeant.  After the war, Sgt. Corbett testified against the commandant of Andersonville, Capt. Henry Wirz.

On 24 April 1865, Corbett's regiment was given the task of apprehending Booth - Alive.  Stanton wanted answers as to the reasons for and extent of the conspiracy to kill President Lincoln.  Surrounding David Herold and Booth in a barn near Port Royal, VA on 26 April, the regiment captured the surrendering Herold, but Booth vowed to fight on.  The barn was set on fire in an attempt to flush Booth out, then a shot rang out.  Booth fell, with a shot in the back of the neck, his spinal cord severed.  Removed from the burning barn, Booth died of his injuries two hours later.

When questioned who fired the shot, Corbett immediately admitted that it was him.  When asked why he had disobeyed the direct order to take Booth alive, he said that "Providence directed me",  Under arrest and interrogated by Stanton, Corbett claimed that he thought Booth had raised his gun to shoot and he killed Booth to protect himself.  Seemingly satisfied, Stanton ordered his release, concluding that Booth's death had saved the country time and money in prosecuting him.  Corbett eventually collected $1,653.85 ($25,000 2015 value) in War Department reward money for Booth's capture.

Life after the Civil War

Following the war, Corbett traveled the East Coast as a hatter and lay minister.  His habit of interrupting work to pray and sing caused him to be unable to keep a job.  He then tried to capitalize on his fame as "Lincoln's Avenger", speaking to women's groups, Sunday schools and tent meetings about the shooting of Booth.  His rambling speeches and eccentric behavior resulting in his not being asked back to lecture again.  He became increasingly paranoid, worried about conspiracies against him from the government and Booth supporters.  At an 1875 reunion of Civil War soldiers, the fact of Booth's death was questioned, angering Corbett to the point of drawing a weapon.  He was promptly removed from the meeting before harm could come to him or others.

This was a repeating theme of postwar life for Boston Corbett.  After killing Booth, he expected to be hailed as a hero, the man who brought the assassin Booth to justice.  Instead, he found himself hated by men who expected to make a name for themselves in the prosecution of Booth, the target of death threats from Booth supporters and the suspect in a variety of conspiracy theories, including several that Booth was not actually dead.  Disillusioned, Corbett sought to separate himself from the well settled East Coast.

Boston Corbett built his dugout home on the side of this hill

In 1878, Corbett homesteaded land near Concordia in Cloud County, KS.  He constructed a crude "dugout" which was little more than a hole, located some sixty yards south of the current marker.  A crack shot, he could kill birds on the fly, leaving no doubt he could hit a fairly stationary backlit target exactly where he wanted.  His oddities followed him and he was intolerant of his neighbors and their children, and would brandish a firearm should any stray too close.  

During this time, he continued to preach informally.  He would attend church, then at the end of the service, inform the minister that "God wants me to say a few words".  By some accounts, he would remove the two six-shooters that he was carrying and place them on either side of the Bible on the lectern as he said his words.  In January 1887, he was appointed assistant doorkeeper at the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka.  On February 15, convinced that  he was being discriminated against, he drew his pistol and chased officers out of the building.  He was declared insane the following day by a judge and sent to the Topeka Asylum for the Insane.  

Corbett escaped from the asylum on 26 May 1888 and after meeting with a fellow POW in Neodesha, KS rode off into history.  Although he claimed to be heading for Mexico, where he went nobody knows for sure.  It is thought that he might have built a cabin near Hinckley, MN where he perished in the Great Hinckley Fire on 1 September 1894.  It is a fact that a man named Thomas Corbett is listed as missing or as having died in the blaze.

The monument

Inoceramid clams in Corbett Dugout marker

In 1958, Boy Scout Troop 31 of Concordia built this monument to Corbett out of native stone from the Cretaceous Greenhorn Formation.  Inoceramid clams common to the Cretaceous Kansas seas can be seen on the monument itself and the steps leading to the monument.  The monument area is about a half mile east of Road 791 on the south side of Key Road.  No visible trace of the dugout is left, having been filled in or collapsed long ago.  The site of the dugout was once marked by a sign, but it had been removed and was laying next to the monument when we visited.  It is on private land, but can be accessed by gate.  A walk to the top of the hill reveals a huge expanse of prairie, cattle and windmills.  How much more Kansas could you get?

Please close the gates behind you.  We want no wandering cattle.

When the monument was built, two six-shooters were mounted into the concrete, but they, like Boston Corbett have since disappeared into the mists of time.

Space formerly occupied by pistols on Boston Corbett Monument

Traveling is a lot more fun with a partner, especially when you can bore them to tears with your own interests.  Through the years I have traveled with my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, cousins, friends, my wife (Nadienne) and sons (Christian and Benjamin).  This time it was Nadienne's turn to wonder "Where in the heck is he off to now?"

Me and my travel buddy, my wife Nadienne.

Getting There

The most common approach will be from I-70.  Take US-81 North from Salina, KS for about 41 mi., then east (right) onto Key Road (Co. Rd. 374) for about 3.5 miles.  The marker will be on the south (right) side of the road.

Waypoint: Latitude: 39.466263 N; Longitude: 97.598604 W
Street Address: 1718 County Rd. 374 (Key Rd.), Aurora, KS 67417

If the marker is still missing when you visit, here is a Google Earth view that shows where the sign was located in May 2014.

Further Reading

Roadside America listing

Washingtonian story about Boston Corbett

Kansaspedia Entry