General James Watson Webb (February 8, 1802 – June 7, 1884) was an American diplomat, newspaper publisher and a New York politician in the Whig and Republican parties. Webb had formerly been a supporter of Jackson, but no longer. That same year he recycled or invented extravagant rumors of miscegenation, that the abolitionists had counselled their daughters to marry blacks, and Lewis Tappan had divorced his wife to marry a black woman, and that the Presbyterian minister Henry Ludlow was conducting interracial marriages, which fueled the organized mob violence of New York's anti-abolitionist riots that June.

Diplomatic career

In 1849, Webb was appointed minister to Austria, but the appointment was not confirmed. In 1851, he was appointed engineer-in-chief for the State of New York with the rank of Brigadier General, but refused to accept the appointment.

In 1861, he was appointed minister to Ottoman Empire, but even though it had been confirmed by the United States Senate, he declined. According to biographer Glyndon Van Deusen, "Webb, an inveterate beggar for office, wanted a diplomatic appointment that would be lucrative."

Shortly afterward, Webb was appointed minister to Brazil and served in that position for eight years, resigning when he was accused of extorting a large sum of money from the Brazilian government. He tried to sever US ties with the country without Washington's knowledge. At Paris in 1864, Webb claimed he was instrumental to negotiating a secret treaty with Emperor Napoleon III for the removal of French troops from Mexico.

Abraham Lincoln's biographer, Carl Sandburg, wrote that Webb "believed that Lincoln should have appointed him major general, rating himself a grand strategist, having fought white men in duels and red men in frontier war." In 1869, he resigned the mission to Brazil and returned to live in New York.

Personal life

On July 1, 1823, Webb was married to Helen Lispenard Stewart (1805–1848). a publisher who married Mary Van Horne Clarkson (d. 1880) and Frances (née Morgan) Starkweather.(d. 1912). in 1859. the chief of staff to Union Army General Henry Jackson Hunt. He married Mary Parsons of Hartford. who was a noted Civil War general who married Anna Elizabeth Remsen (1837–1912).

On November 9, 1849, he married Laura Virginia Cram (1826–1890), the daughter of Jacob and Lydia (née Tucker) Cram. (the house is currently a private residence). Together, they were the parents of: a railway executive who married Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt (1860–1936), the daughter of William H. Vanderbilt.

  • Sarah Augusta Webb (1851–1909), William's twin. In 1872, married William Adam Singer (1834–1914), oldest son of Isaac Singer
  • Henry Walter Webb (1852–1900), also a railway executive who married Amelia Howard Griswold (1856–1910).
  • George Creighton Webb (1854–1948), a Yale Law School graduate and attorney in New York with Saunders, Webb & Worcester who did not marry.
  • Francis Egerton Webb (1859–1942), who married Mary Welsh Randolph (1868–1962), the daughter of banker Edmund Dutilh Randolph and niece of Maj. Gen. Wallace F. Randolph.

Webb died in New York City on June 7, 1884, surrounded by his children. Webb was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx.

Published works

Webb published the following:

  • Altowan, or Incidents of Life and Adventure in the Rocky Mountains (1846)
  • Slavery and its Tendencies (1856)
  • National Currency, a pamphlet (1875)

References

  • James Watson Webb papers (MS 683). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University. [http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0683]
  • Mr. Lincoln and New York: James Watson Webb
  • History of St. Clair County, Michigan, Volume 1, Page 133, William Lee Jenks, 1911