Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/363

 WEBB

WEBER

panion of the Rev. Thomas Hooker in Hartford, Conn., in 1635. His father liaving died when he was quite young, Samuel B. Webb became private secretary to his stepfather, Silas Deane. He was 1st lieutenant of a company under Cap- tain Chester ; commanded a company of light in- fantry at Bunker Hill, where he was wounded, and was commended for his gallantry in general orders. He was appointed aide-de-camp to Gen. Israel Putnam in 1775, and in 1776 was private secretary to General Washington with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He wrote the order for making public the Declaration of Independence in New York city, July 9, 1776, and refused to accept despatches from Lord Howe, addressed to " Mr," George Washington. He took part in the battles of Long Island, Princeton, White Plains and Trenton ; raised the 8d Connecticut regi- ment, and participated in Gen. Samuel H. Par- sons's disastrous expedition to Long Island, where he was captured, Dec. 10, 1777, and imprisoned for three years. He was brevetted brigadier- general in 1780 and succeeded General Steuben to the command of the light infantry under Washington. He was a founder of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783, and was the grand mar- shal during Washington's inauguration in New York city as first President of the United States. He removed to Claverack, Columbia county, N.Y., in 1789 ; was married to Catherine Hage- boom, and their son, James Watson Webb, was born there, Feb. 8, 1803. General Webb died at his home in Claverack, N.Y., Dec. 3, 1807.

WEBB, William Seward, capitalist, was born in New York city, Jan. 31, 1851 ; son of Gen. James AVatson and Laura Virginia (Cram) Webb, and grandson of Jacob L. Cram. He was edu- cated at Colonel Churchill's Military scliool. Sing Sing, N.Y., 1864-69; at Columbia college, 1869- 71 ; studied medicine abroad, 1871-72, and was graduated, M.D., from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York city, 1875. He was married in 1878, to Lila Osgood, daughter of Wil- liam H. Vanderbilt, and in the same year gave up the practice of medicine, and engaged as a stockbroker. In 1883 he assumed the man- agement of the Wagner Palace Car company as president of the corporation. He was also pres- ident of the Adirondack and St. Lawrence rail- road company, and a managing director of the Bennington and Rutland railroad company. He purchased 200,000 acres and converted the tract into a game preserve in the heart of the Adiron- dack region. He also gave the land for the san- atorium erected at Lake Saranac ; established a summer home, " Shelburne Farms," at Shelburne, Vt., on Lake Champlain, and made his 4000 acres rival in magnificence the finest English estates. He was a member of the Century association ; of the

leading New York clubs ; served as president-gen- eral of the national society of the Sons of the Revolution ; served on the staff of the governor of Vermont with the rank of colonel ; was in- spector-general of rifle-practice ; vice-president of the Vermont Sons of the Revolution, and be- came prominently identified in advancing the prosperity of his adopted state. He is the author of: Calif ornia arid Alaska (1891) ; Papers of Gen- eral James Watson Webb; Papers of Colonel Samuel Blatchley Webb (3 vols.), the two latter collections being a valuable contribution to the history of the American Revolution.

WEBBER, Samuel, educator, was born in Byfield, Mass., in 1759, and was graduated at Harvard, A.B., 1784, A.M., 1787. He did some preaching, and in 1787 returned to Harvard as tutor, becoming HoUis professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in 1789 ; and president of Harvard on May 6, 1806, to succeed Joseph Wil- lard, who died Sept. 25, 1804. He was a member of the American Philosophical society, and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, being elected vice-president of the latter im- mediately after becoming president of Harvard. He received from Harvard the honorary degree of D.D. in 1806, and is the author of a System of Mathematics (2 vols., 1801), and Eulogy on Pres- ident Willard (1804). He died in Cambridge, Mass., July 17, 1810.

WEBER, Max, soldier, was born in Achern, Baden, Aug. 27, 1824. He was graduated at the Military school of Carlsruhe in 1843 ; served as a lieutenant in the army of Baden until 1849, when he joined the revolutionists with his regiment, and was elected colonel, serving under Franz Sigel. He immigrated to New York in 1849, and engaged in the hotel business, where he cared for German refugees, and on May 16, 1861, was com- missioned colonel of the 20th New York volun- teers, Turner regiment, and joined General But- ler's command at Fort Monroe. In August, 1861, he joined Col. Rush C. Hawkins of the 9th New York (Zouaves) in a successful attack on Forts Clark and Hatteras, on Hatteras Island, N.C. From September, 1861, until May, 1862, he com- manded Camp Hamilton, and on April 28, 1862, was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers. He remained in southern Virginia until Septem- ber, 1862, being stationed at Newport News during the duel between the Monitor and Merri- viac, March 9, 1862. He fought at South Moun- tain, Sept. 14, 1862, and was wounded at Antie- tam, September 17, leading the 3d brigade, 3d division, 2d corps (Gen. E. V. Sumner). His wound necessitated his leaving his brigade, which was engaged at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, but was separated and merged into other com- mands prior to Gettysburg. He was assigned to