Alexander Stewart Webb

Background

Alexander Stewart Webb was born in New York, the son of James Watson Webb and his first wife, Helen Lispenard Stewart.

Education

After training in private schools Webb was appointed a cadet in the United States Military Academy, where he was graduated in 1855 and commissioned second lieutenant of artillery.

Career

In 1856 he saw dangerous and exacting duty in Florida during the war against the Seminole Indians. After a year of garrison duty at Fort Independence, Massachussets, and Fort Snelling, Minn. , he returned to the Academy, November 10, 1857, as assistant professor of mathematics. At the beginning of the Civil War he was commissioned first lieutenant, 2nd Artillery, and returned to duty in the field. Having distinguished himself at Fort Pickens and in the first battle of Bull Run, he was appointed assistant to the chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac. From March to November 1862 he was inspector general on the staff of Gen. William F. Barry and served with distinction in the battles of Yorktown, the Seven Days, and Malvern Hill. At the end of the Peninsula campaign, he was sent to Washington as inspector of artillery in the camp of instruction, but in January 1863 was reassigned to duty in the field as assistant inspector general of the V Corps. Relieved of this duty in May, he assumed command of the 2nd (Philadelphia) Brigade, Second Division, II Corps, which he led at Chancellorsville and at Gettysburg. In the latter action Webb's brigade occupied the Bloody Angle, where it bore the brunt of Pickett's charge and had a decisive part in his repulse. For "distinguished personal gallantry in the battle of Gettysburg" Webb was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, September 28, 1891. After Gettysburg he served continuously, commanding the Second Division, II Corps, until the battle of Spotsylvania Court House (May 1864), where he was severely wounded. After his recovery he did court-martial duty in New York until January 1865, when he became chief-of-staff to General Meade. At the end of six months he was appointed assistant inspector general, Division of the Atlantic, which duty he relinquished in February 1866. From June of that year until October 1868 he was principal assistant professor of history, ethics, and constitutional and international law at the Military Academy, then rejoined his regiment for service in Washington. He was unassigned for a year, and honorably discharged from the army at his own request, December 31, 1870, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. During his career in the service he occupied every rank to that of major-general, either by appointment or by brevet. He enjoyed the highest respect and admiration of his men, who, in later years, delighted to honor him by election to high office in veterans' organizations, and after his death took a leading part in causing the State of New York to erect a statue of him at the Bloody Angle. On July 21, 1869, Webb was elected president of the College of the City of New York, in succession to Horace Webster, also a graduate of West Point, and in accordance with the custom then prevailing was appointed also to the chair of political philosophy. He continued in active service until failing powers forced his retirement on Dec. 1, 1902. Though much admired by faculty and students for his personal qualities, he made no original contribution as an educator. He rigidly maintained the fixed curriculum set by his precedessor, and expended a disproportionate amount of his own time and of that of the faculty on routine matters of administration. During his tenure of the presidency, the College maintained the high standards of scholarship set from the beginning, without significant advancement in the scope of its work, but the picturesqueness of his personality and the dignity of his bearing brought to the life of the institution an impressiveness that in some measure made up for his lack of leadership in scholarly attainment. In 1881 he published The Peninsula: McClellan's Campaign of 1862. After his retirement Webb lived quietly at Riverdale, going to the city only occasionally for patriotic celebrations or to fulfill his duties as a member of the New York Monuments Commission (1895 - 1911) and member of the council of the Military Service Institution. He died at the end of his seventy-sixth year, survived by four daughters and a son.

Achievements

• The honors that came to him in recognition of personal gallantry indicate his importance as a soldier. He received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Campaigns Of The Civil War Vol. 3 - The Peninsula

    (The Peninsula Campaign (also known as the Peninsular Camp...)

  • An Address Delivered Before the New York State Society of the Cincinnati, on Washington's Birthday: Saturday, February 22, 1873 (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from An Address Delivered Before the New York Sta...)

  • The Peninsula, McClellan's Campaign of 1862 - Scholar's Choice Edition

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Peninsula

    (The Peninsula. McClellan's campaign of 1862. This book, "...)

Personality

He had little experience in leading masses of men or in planning large-scale military activities, but he was an inspiring commander under fire and an intrepid fighter.

Connections

In 1855 he married Anna, daughter of Henry Rutgers Remsen.

Father:

James Watson Webb

Mother:

Helen Lispenard Stewart

Spouse:

Anna

References

• In Memoriam, Alexander Stewart Webb, 1835-1911