Samuel Blachley Webb (1753-1807)
Colonel in Command of the 9th Connecticut Regiment & Washington's Secretary
He was born at Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut. In 1772, he went to the Caribbean to serve as agent to his family's trading business. Returning home in 1774 he served under his stepfather, Continental Congressman Silas Deane, as his private secretary. In 1775, he was commissioned into the Wethersfield Militia Company and made a name for himself at the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he was wounded but earned a commendation for his bravery. Within a month, he was promoted to Captain and made aide-de-camp to Gen. Israel Putnam, and from June 1776 he joined the staff of George Washington as his aide and private secretary with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He and Colonel Joseph Reed established an important precedent for future communications with the British by refusing to accept a letter from Lord Howe because it was addressed not to General Washington, but to "George Washington, Esquire."
Colonel Webb fought at the Battle of Long Island, and was wounded again at the Battles of White Plains and Trenton, when his horse was shot from under him. After taking part in the Battle of Princeton, he was given orders to return to Connecticut to raise and equip a regiment at his own expense - the 9th Connecticut Regiment - of which he was given command with the rank of Colonel. He was taken prisoner in 1777 and was not exchanged until 1781 when he was given the brevet rank of Brigadier-General and served until the end of the war. He was one of the original founding members of the Society of the Cincinnati.
After the war, he purchased a farm at Claverack in Columbia Co., New York. In 1789, he served as Grand Marshal of the Day for Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States and held the Bible when Washington took the oath of office. His first wife, Eliza Bancker, died the year after they were married in 1781, but he had seven children by his second wife, Caty Hogeboom, most notably Gen. James Watson Webb, the owner of the New York Courier & New York Enquirer whose son married Eliza Vanderbilt.
Colonel Webb fought at the Battle of Long Island, and was wounded again at the Battles of White Plains and Trenton, when his horse was shot from under him. After taking part in the Battle of Princeton, he was given orders to return to Connecticut to raise and equip a regiment at his own expense - the 9th Connecticut Regiment - of which he was given command with the rank of Colonel. He was taken prisoner in 1777 and was not exchanged until 1781 when he was given the brevet rank of Brigadier-General and served until the end of the war. He was one of the original founding members of the Society of the Cincinnati.
After the war, he purchased a farm at Claverack in Columbia Co., New York. In 1789, he served as Grand Marshal of the Day for Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States and held the Bible when Washington took the oath of office. His first wife, Eliza Bancker, died the year after they were married in 1781, but he had seven children by his second wife, Caty Hogeboom, most notably Gen. James Watson Webb, the owner of the New York Courier & New York Enquirer whose son married Eliza Vanderbilt.
