George P. Webster's Brigade

George P. Webster's Brigade. Perryville . The Battle For Kentucky. , Colonel George Penny Webster, commander of the Union 34th Brigade at Perryville, was born near Middletown, Ohio, on December 24, 1824. An attorney, Webster volunteered for the Mexican War where he was wounded in the shoulder during the Battle of Monterey in September of 1846., When the Civil War erupted, Webster left his law practice and volunteered for service in the Union army. In the early stages of the conflict, Webster served as major of the 25th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The unit fought against the Confederates in western Virginia (now West Virginia) and central Virginia in late 1861 and early 1862. It performed with exceptional distinction, fighting against Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall” Jackson during the battle of McDowell on May 8th, 1862. In late summer of that year George Webster was promoted to colonel and transferred to the western theater. He formed his own regiment, the 98th Ohio Infantry and was organized at Steubenville, Ohio and mustered in for three years' service on August 20th, 1862. The regiment was recruited in eastern Ohio., Webster was soon after promoted to command of the 34th Brigade of the Army of the Ohio's Tenth Division, including its commander, James S. Jackson, was deployed just over a half mile north. This left Colonel Webster with what amounted to an independent command consisting of men who had never seen combat. Many were armed with antiquated Prussian muskets that were old and unreliable. General Jackson was soon killed, further isolating Webster's Brigade from the chain of command. The other brigadier general in Tenth Division, William R. Terrill, was killed soon after., Webster's Brigade was based around the 19th Indiana Battery which was posted on the ridge just over 100 yards to northeast of here, the highest ground on the battlefield. After the more forward Union troops belonging to Lovell Rousseau's 3rd Division gave away under tremendous pressure, the fight came to Webster's Brigade. After putting up a gallant stand, the veteran, but bloodied Confederate troops of Benjamin Cheatham's Division, supported by the fresh Confederate Brigade commanded by St. John Liddell's Brigade, pushed over the ridge, driving the panicked survivors of Webster's Brigade towards this location. In this general area, Colonel Webster was shot in the hip and fell from his horse while rallying his men. Webster was taken to a field hospital where he soon died of his wound. Webster's death, along with the deaths of Jackson and Terrill, marked the complete decapitation of the Tenth Division. At no other time in the Civil War were a division commander, and all of its brigade commanders killed in a single action., Many of our guns were defective, and when I rammed down my second cartridge I discovered my gun contained two loads. I re-primed, however, and thought I would "double the dose” by firing two balls at once; but my gun again refused to fire. I retired down the hill, took off the tube [nipple], picked the powder in the touch hole, primed, advanced and made the third effort to fire, but there was not sufficient power in the lock to burst the cap. I stood and snapped four times, but in vain. I then threw down my gun in disgust , picked up another, tried it with the ramrod and found it like mine , containing two loads. Picked up the second and it was in the same condition , the third ditto , the fourth had lead just about one foot from the muzzle. - Private Joseph P. Glezen, 80th Indiana Infantry, [Webster] told me he thought he was mortally wounded, and prayed for God to have mercy on his soul. He also said "Tell my dear wife and children they were in my last thoughts.” - Sergeant Major Duncan C. Milner, 98th Ohio Infantry., (Caption):, Colonel George Penny Webster , 12/24/1824 , 10/8/1862