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Contributed by: Deenie Sparks John Webb 12th MO Inf , Company K , 3rd Reg. Killed in Action on October 20, 1862 Ripley /Carter County MO. .....John Webb and wife (Susan Wells) liked the country they saw and decided to settle on Little Black where he prospered. By the time the Civil War started his estate was considered quite large, owning land on Little Black as well as on Current River, a few miles west of where the community of Hunter stands. He was the envy of many in that sparsely settled section and thought ultimately to have been the cause of his death. Like other men residing just south of the Mason and Dixon line, he joined the Confederate forces. During October 1862 he was on leave from the army when several men, some said to have been natives of the area, came to his home. Mr. Webb had been gone for several days, being on business at the home of Jaunce Waller on Current River, but had returned the night before. Quite a snow had fallen and it was extremely cold. .....The men turned out to be Jay hawkeers led by a man claiming to be a Deputy U.S. Marshal, a band that had been known scouring the nearby countryside. Mrs. Webb saw them when they were a short distance away. She informed her husband, who went out between the house and the kitchen and attempted a shot, but his gun snapped. He then ran for his horse which he always kept tied in the brush behind the house, but he was shot down. Eight shots were fired at him and he lived only a few minutes. It is said that the men killed him because he had killed a man by the name of Broadenstein, but that was only an excuse, since it was known that Broadenstein was slain by another man, not Mr. Webb .....According to the story handed down, after Mr. Webb was shot and before he had breathed his last, one of the Jay hawkers dismounted from his horse and attempted to take his coat from his back, but his 13 year-old daughter, Nancy Webb, who later became the wife of John Richmond, got over her father and fought the man off. The identity of this particular man, who is said to have been the leader of the band, was known to the family. This is said to have almost cost him his life in later years, and certainly caused his sudden departure from the newly created Carter County. .....John Webb had four sons at the time he was murdered on the morning of October 10, 1862, the oldest, Eli Webb, being only 16 years of age. The second son, James Webb, was ten, Franklin Pierce Webb was eight, and the youngest, Ike Webb, was only six. It is handed down that no attempt was made to avenge the death of their father until all the boys were grown. As one of the men who actually was implicated in the act had been identified at the time the father was killed, several years went by, but sometime in the early 1880's or slightly before, the oldest and two youngest boys got together and drew straws to decide who would avenge his murder. The lot is said to have fell on Frank Webb .....It was well known that the three men were expert marksmen, but the first and only attempt was foiled when the bullet from his rifle hit a cornstalk in the field where the intended victim was plowing, deflecting but creased the man's temple, knocking him to the ground. Mr. Webb never got another chance. The victim is said to have left the country quickly being hid away in the bed of a wagon and taken out of the country. Source: Ozark Graphic Weekly, February, 1974, Page 7 by H. Ted Woods Notes; By Deenie Webb Sparks (gg granddaughter of John Webb JR.) John Webb muster Roll states he died in Ripley County MO. He died in the newly formed county of Carter on the “Old Webb Farm”, which was/is a few miles north of Ripley County MO. John Webb Jr. is buried at the Mc Roan Cemetery , Carter County MO. John Webb Muster Roll |