John C. Webb was wise to move to Texas until the end of the Civil War

During discussions of the Civil War, Webb City is often left out because it hadn’t been built yet.

Founder John C. Webb was still living in his log cabin, which was located at what is now the northwest corner of Broadway and Webb Street. He was farming his land. But the heat of the war was around him. There were many skirmishes around Jasper County. Citizens were being killed in their own houses or yards by the Federals, Col. Ritchey’s Indians, Union troops, Rebels, and the state militia. Life in Jasper County was uncertain with so many groups killing people in their homes.

Not long after the war began, Webb answered the call issued by Governor Jackson and joined the Missouri State Guards, enlisting for the six months suggested. He sent his family to Texas to be safe while he was gone. After his enlisted time was up, he joined his family in Texas until the end of the war.

In the meantime, many of Webb’s extended family members were still in the area. Thomas Webb and his family lived in Pilot Grove, (where Mount Hope Cemetery is now located). In 1964, Tom and his son were captured at their home by the Federals, taken about a mile south and killed. Tom Webb’s neighbor was taken to Neosho and killed by the state militia. Another neighbor was killed by the Federals. It was hard to know exactly which group was the enemy. One man pretended to be a rebel when attacked in his home. He did not take a stand for any side but lost his life because he thought the men after him were the rebels, and they were not.

The Webb family living at the head of Turkey Creek had a neighbor killed on their prairie by the Federals. Jabez T.F. Hatcher, it was stated, lived near where Webbville (Webb City) would soon stand, and he was killed by the Federals. John C. Webb’s brother, William J. Webb, served with General Shelby during the war and went to Texas following the war. He came back to Webb City in 1873 and opened a blacksmith business.

There were many massacres by Richie’s Indians around where Georgia City would later stand, but just down the road at Galesburg, the Federals were doing massacres of their own. Richie’s Indians moved from Georgia City to Minersville (Oronogo) and added to the number of men they had killed.

Other places where action took place in Jasper County were: Medoc, Sherwood, Sarcoxie, Carthage, Shirley’s Ford, White Oak, Nashville and Willow Springs.

So even though Webb City was not a town at the time of the war, the effects were felt all over this part of Jasper County. What terror the citizens of Jasper County suffered.

It was just a few years after John C. Webb returned to his farm, in 1873, that he discovered lead while plowing. Sadly, he died just 10 years later (1883), leaving behind a growing city that carried his name.

There were many Jasper County residents who fought in the Civil War, including Joseph W. Aylor, who served with Pindall’s Battalion of Sharp Shooters attached to General Parsons’s Corps. Joseph Fountain, belonged to the Sixth Kansas Volunteer Calvary and served until the end of the war. He had lived in Jasper County since he was 13 years old. John G. Lofton served with the 32nd Illinois Infantry for three years.

I have heard many times that the Civil War was terrible, as brothers fought against brothers, fathers and sons were on opposite sides and childhood friends were pitted against each other. But here, in a county that hadn’t taken sides, many people were killed because they were in the path of men who seemed to kill just to kill.

Saddest yet was that many of the soldiers were teenagers.

I did not mention the action in Carthage or Joplin, which would have included many more sad incidents. But those men who fought the battles were fighting for their beliefs and honoring their families. However, with any war, sadness overcomes many heroic events.

We honor those from our area who took up the challenge, no matter which side they fought. They were each doing what they thought was best.