A veteran of the Civil War fromTexas

Samuel James Webb 1827-1877, my mother's great grandfather. Born in Vienna, Dorchester County, Maryland, died in Clinton, Dewitt, Texas

His son was Leroy Francis Webb.



Yes I admit I've used this 1894 photo of roof-sitting friends for my great grandfather Leroy F. Webb before in Sepia Saturday HERE.  But last week I promised to show a sepia photo, rather than my usual more recent ones!

So I will talk about Leroy's father, Samuel J. Webb.  I posted about him a few years ago Here (also a Sepia Saturday link.)

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt photo!

Since everyone (in the US at least) has been celebrating our veterans last week, those who fought and died that we might have freedom, I'm going to consider his fighting for the Confederacy in a losing battle had as much merit as many other soldiers.

He enlisted in 1862 in the Confederacy, in Waul's Legion (Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery) according to US, Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865.  Another record from the same source says he was a private, Company B, in Waul's Texas Legion.

I'm currently reading more about the Siege of Vicksburg which ended on July 4, 1863.  That's because the lists on Wikipedia of the Confederate leaders doesn't include Waul.  Yet they do list him being there under his own biography.  Just curious, because also his biography doesn't list a Company B (in which Samuel J. Webb was listed) But there is a memorial to Waul's Legion in Vicksburg.

Waul's Texas Legion Monument, Vicksburg National Military Park

What I do know is that the north's winning general, U.S. Grant, did not want to keep track of all the prisoners of the Confederate Army following the eventual end of the siege...so he sent most of them home.  Those who weren't sick or injured continued to fight from Alabama.  I don't know whether S. J. went back to Texas at this point or kept fighting. But he was a private both in enlisting and leaving the army.

I'm linking to Sepia Saturday with some new photos I have found since my last posting about my great great grandfather.  This continues to be a process, so more information may come along in the future, about the past!

The house in Vienna MD may have been where Samuel J Webb lived, or perhaps cousins of his...the connection has not yet been found. There seem to be a lot of Webbs in the same area of Maryland, and some of them fought in the Civil War for the Union...most probably his brother Thomas H. Webb.

Handsell or Webb home Viena, MD

"Handsell, also known as the Webb House, is a historic home located at Vienna, Dorchester County, Maryland. It is a late-18th-century Georgian-style manor house. It is a ​1 1⁄2-story brick structure over an English basement. The main facade is five bays wide and has a central entrance containing a double door flanked by windows. Handsell bears the name of a 1665 land grant, which has been in the Webb family since 1892. Handsell was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

I now have a photo of Samuel J. Webb's grave in Clinton, DeWitt County, Texas...with probable dates for birth and death.

His wife's grave, Ellen Ann, wife of S.J. Webb, born Jan 25, 1842, died July 15, 1876