Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/448

416 gold watch from the British board of trade for services to English seamen.

WEBSTER, John White, chemist, b. in Boston, Mass., 20 May, 1793; d. there, 30 Aug., 1850. He was graduated at Harvard in 1811, and at its medical department in 1815. In 1824 he was appointed lecturer in chemistry, mineralogy, and geology in that institution, and in 1827 he was elected to the chair of chemistry and mineralogy, which he then held until the year of his death. In 1842 Prof. Webster borrowed a sum of money from Dr. George Parkman, afterward increased to upward of $2,000, as security for which he gaves notes and mortgages on household property and collections. The mineral cabinets he secretly disposed of, and during an interview with Parkman, to whom he paid considerable money, the latter accused him of dishonesty in selling his collections, and threatened to foreclose the mortgages. An arrangement was made for a meeting on 23 Nov., 1849, at the college laboratory, at which Parkman was murdered. According to the confession made by Webster, at the time appointed Parkman arrived, and at once asked for the money, which not being forthcoming, he &ldquo;called me a scoundrel and a liar, and went on heaping on me the most bitter taunts and opprobrious epithets.&rdquo; Seizing a billet of wood, Webster struck Parkman a blow on the side of the head, which killed him. The concealment of the body at once presented itself as the only means of escaping the fatal effects of the crime, and Webster immediately dismembered it, burning such parts with the clothes as he could, and concealing the remaining parts for further treatment. As soon as Parkman's disappearance was noted, efforts were made to find him, and he was traced to the laboratory. Further search revealed parts of the cadaver, and Webster was arrested. On the trial, which lasted eleven days, the chain of circumstantial evidence was perfect in its conclusions as to the identity of the body. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jeffries Wyman, and others testified as to the anatomical proportions of the body. The teeth were identified beyond doubt by the dentist who had made them for Parkman. Webster was defended by John H. Clifford, and 116 witnesses were examined on the trial. Notwithstanding that every effort was made in his behalf, the jury returned a verdict of guilty, and he was hanged. During 1823-'6 he was one of the editors with John Ware and Daniel Treadwell, of the &ldquo;Boston Journal of Philosophy and Arts,&rdquo; and he published &ldquo;Description of the Island of St. Michael&rdquo; (Boston, 1821); &ldquo;A Manual of Chemistry&rdquo; (1826); and edited Playfair's &ldquo;Liebig's Organic Chemistry&rdquo; (Cambridge, 1841). Several reports of his trial were published, including one by George Bemis, one of the counsel (Boston, 1850).

WEBSTER, Joseph Dana, soldier, b. in Old Hampton, N. H., 25 Aug., 1811 ; d. in Chicago, 111., 12 March, 1876. His father, Josiah (1772-1837), was pastor at Hampton from 1808 until his death. The son was graduated at Dartmouth in 1832, and read law in Newburyport, Mass., but became a clerk in the engineer and war offices in Washington, was made a U. S. civil engineer in 1835, and on 7 July, 1838, entered the army as 2d lieutenant of topo- graphical engineers. He served through the Mexi- can war, and was promoted 1st lieutenant in July, 1849, and captain in March, 1853, but resigned in April, 1854, and removed to Chicago, where he en- gaged in business. He was president of the com- mission that perfected the remarkable system of sewerage for that place, and also planned and exe- cuted the operations whereby the grade of a large part of the city was made from two to eight feet higher, whole blocks being raised by jack-screws while new foundations were inserted. He entered the service of the state at the opening of the civil war, took charge of the construction of fortifica- tions at Cairo, 111., and Paducah, Ky., in April, and was made paymaster, with rank of major, of U. S. volunteers on 1 June, but in February, 1862, he be- came colonel of the 1st Illinois artillery. He was chief of Gen. Grant's staff for several months, was E resent at the capture of Fort Henry and Fort >onelson, and at Shiloh was also chief of artillery. At the close of the first day's fight at Shiloh he oc- cupied with all available artillery the ridge that covered Pittsburg Landing, thus checking the hitherto victorious Confederates. He received the highest commendation in Gen. Grant's official re- port, and continued to be his chief of staff till, in October, 1862, he was detailed by the war depart- ment to make a survey of the Illinois and Michigan canal. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 Nov., 1862, and, after serving for some time as military governor of Memphis, Tenn., and as superintendent of military railroads, was again Grant's chief of staff in the Vicksburg cam- paign, and from 1864 till the close of hostilities held the same post under Gen. William T. Sherman. He was with Gen. George H. Thomas at the battle of Nashville. Gen. Webster was given the brevet of major-general of volunteers, 13 March, 1865, re- signed on 6 Nov., and returned to Chicago, where he remained during the rest of his life. He was assessor of internal revenue in that city in 1869-'72, and then assistant U. S. treasurer there till July, 1872, when he became collector of revenue.

WEBSTER, Joseph Philbrick, musician, b. in Manchester, N. H., in 1820 ; d. in Elkhorn, Wis., 18 Jan., 1875. He acquired a good English educa- tion at Pembroke academy, and at ten years of age could play by ear upon the violin and flute. At twenty years of age he went to Boston, where for three years he was under the instruction of Dr. Lowell Mason and other teachers of music, and be- came known as a singer. At twenty-eight he lost his voice, after which he taught music in Connecti- cut, and from 1850 till 1855 in the south. While there he became a bitter foe to slavery, and this feel- ing was subsequently manifested in his many war songs. He afterward removed to Indianapolis, and then to Elkhorn, Wis., where he died. He com- posed a great number of sentimental songs. His cantata of " The Rebellion," in which is expressed his sorrow for the death of Lincoln, is one of his best efforts. His war songs were very popular in their day. Among his ballads are " Sweet Bv and By," " Lorena," and " The Golden Stair."

WEBSTER, Nathan Bnrnham, educator, b. in Unity, N. H„ 13 June, 1821. He was educated at Norwich university, but left in 1840, without being graduated, to take charge of the Virginia literary, scientific, and military academy which had been established by Cant. Alden Partridge in Portsmouth. Two years later he resigned and established a similar school in Charleston, S. C. In 1844 he returned to the Virginia military academy, but in 1847 he taught in Richmond and lectured on physics in Richmond college. During 1848-'9 ho was civil engineer in the U. S. navy-yard at Norfolk, Va., and then he founded the Virginia collegiate institute, and conducted it in Norfolk till 1862, when, owing to the civil war he removed to Ottawa, Canada, where he established a similar school. He opened the Webster institute in Norfolk in 1869, which he there continued till 1886. Prof. Webster invented the meteorgraph, an automatic meteoro-