WEBB
WEBB
to Anna Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Rutgers
and Elizabeth Waldron (Phoenix) Remsen; served
in the Seminole Indian war in Florida, 1856;
and was assistant professor of mathematics at
the U.S. Military academy, 1857-61. He formed
Griffin's battery at
West Point, which
became Battery •' D,"
5th U.S. artillery,
and proceeded to
Washington, Feb, 14,
1861, in the defence
of the capital; was
transferred to Bat-
tery A, 2d U.S. ar-
tillery, for service at
Fort Pickens, Fla.,
(this battery having
done service in the
war with Mexico
as " Duncan's Bat-
tery"), and while at
Fort Pickens was made captain of volunteers
and directed to recruit the 11th New York in-
fantry. Ordered north he reached Washington
in time to take part with Battery D, 5th U.S.
artillery, in the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861,
where he witnessed its partial destruction, and
on returning to Washington he accepted a cap-
tainc}" in the 11th New York infantry, but im-
mediately after was appointed assistant to Gen.
W. F. Barry, chief of artillery. Army of the Po-
tomac, with the volunteer rank of major of the
1st Rhode Island light artillery. He took part
in the siege of Yorktown; made reconnaissance
to Hanover Court House by order of General
McClellan, and destroyed the railroad under fire
from the brigade of Gen. L. O'B. Branch, C.S.A.
He guided Gen. Fitz John Porter to the ground,
which had been selected by General McClellan
for the battle of Hanover Court House on the
report made by Webb arter his reconnaissance,
and represented McClellan ' at Porter's head-
quarters during the battle of Gaines's Mill. He
was assistant adjutant-general and chief of staff,
5th army corps; was pi'oaioted lieutenant-colonel
of staff, U.S.V., Aug. 20, 1862, and was present
at Antietam, Sheplierdstown and Snicker's
Gap. He was inspector of artillery at Camp
Berry, Washington, D.C., November, 1862- Jan-
uary, 1863; assistant inspector-general, 5th army
corps, in the Rappahannock campaign; was
promoted brigadier-general, U.S.V., June 23,
1863; commanded the 20th brigade, 2d division,
2d corps in the Gettysburg campaign, and was
with the color guard of the 72d Pennsylvania
volunteers, of which every man was killed or
wounded. He left the color guard, and crossed
the front of the companies to the right of the
69th Pennsylvania, all the way between the
lines, in order to direct the fire of the latter regi-
ment to repel the advance of Gen. Lewis A.
Armistead, C.S.A. , and by this act of gallantry
kept his men at their work until more than half
were killed or wounded. This movement placed
both Armistead and Webb between the lines, and
both officers were wounded. Meade mentions it
as an act of bravery not surpassed by any gen-
eral of the field, and it won for General Webb
the congressional medal of honor. He was
brevetted major, U.S.A. for Gettysburg; com-
manded the 2d division, 2d army corps, Au-
gust, 1863-May, 1864; and was brevetted lieu-
tenant-colonel, Oct. 11, 1863, for Bristoe Station,
Va. He commanded the 1st brigade. 2d division,
2d army corps in the Wilderness; was severely
wounded in the head at Spottsylvania, and
for service there was brevetted colonel, U.S.A.
May 12, 1864. He was brevetted major-general,
U.S.V., Aug. 1, 1884, for Gettysburg, Bristoe Sta-
tion, the Wilderness and Spottsylvania; was
chief of staff to General Meade, January-
June, 1865; was brevetted brigadier-general,
U.S.A., and nmjor-general, U.S.A., March 13,
1865, for services during the war; was acting
inspector-general. Department of the Atlantic,
1865-66, and was honorably mustered out of the
volunteer service, Jan. 15. 1866. He was princi-
pal assistant professor of geography, history
and ethics at the U.S. Military academy, 1866-68,
teaching constitutional, international and mil-
itary law; was promoted lieutenant-colonel,
U.S.A., July 28, 1866; assigned to the 44th U.S.
infantry; was promoted by President Johnson
major-general, U.S.A., and commanded the 5th
military district, 1869-70. He was assigned to
the 5th U.S. infantry in 1870, but declined and
was honorably discharged from the service, Dec.
3, 1870. He was elected president of the College
of the City of New York in 1869, and accepted
the position in 1870, resigning Dec. 1, 1902, but
serving until the close of the term June, 1903.
He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from
Hobart in 1870; served as commander-general of
the ^Military Order of Foreign Wars; member of
the Order of the Cincinnati; commander of New
York Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal
Legion of the United States; an original mem-
ber of the California Society of the Sons of the
Revolution, 1876; a life member of the Albany
Burgesses Corps, and a member of the New York
Monuments Commission for the Battle Fields of
Gettysburg and Chattanooga. His son, William
Remsen Webb (1st lieutenant U.S. infantrj^),
representing the fourth generation of the Webb
family in the U.S. army, died at Huntsville, Ala.,
March 8, 1900. General Webb is the author of:
The Peninsula: McClellan s Campaign of 1862,
