Martin Webster

Name: Martin Webster Company: Veteran; Wagoner; promoted Hospital Steward October 7, 1863
Birth Date: About 1830 Place: Indiana	Mustered In Date: January 6, 1862 Rank: Wagoner Age: 31 Residence prior to military service: Hastings, Dakota County, Minnesota?
Death Date: unknown Place: unknown Burial: unknown	Mustered Out Date: September 6, 1865 Rank: Hospital Steward Age: 34-35 Residence following military service: Hastings, Dakota County, Minnesota (1880) Vocation following military service: Carpenter (1880)

Martin Webster in the Civil War

Martin Webster was a Wagoner and Hospital Steward with Company A of the 5th Minnesota Regiment. He served during the entire active duty of the 5th Minnesota in the Civil War. During the war, he (like many other soldiers) wrote letters home to his family and received letters from his wife. Many of these letters are still in existence today.

Martin was born about 1830 in Indiana. Before the war he married Keziah (born about 1837 in New York), and they had a daughter, Nettie, born about 1858 in Minnesota.

While Company A was still at Fort Snelling, Martin spent a lot of time during a period of three weeks (February-March 1862) visiting Noah Webster (his brother, also in Company A) at the hospital. Around March 10, he also assisted with the care of William W. Clark, who died at Fort Snelling. On May 7, 1862, just before the Company was ordered South to the War, Martin wrote to his wife, Keziah, "I cannot believe it will be long before I will be discharged to return home."

On November 13, 1863, Martin wrote that he had been appointed hospital ward master while at the General Hospital at Iuka, Mississippi. In the same letter he refers to his prior duties as that of a nurse. He also described some of his duties as ward master:

When in camp I have plenty of writing to do. I have to copy all the prescriptions of medicine in a book and keep an account of all the tents, baggage, cooking utensils, and also what clothing and effects the sick may have that are in the hospital. When we go on a march I have to take charge of all the hospital property. It is no very easy task when there is so many ready to steal anything they can.

In his letters to Keziah, Martin often calls her Kizie, and he refers to his daughter as Netta or "the Pet."Other soldiers and individuals that Martin mentions in his letters are Noah Webster (his brother), William W. Clark (Company A; died March 10, 1862), Chaplain James F. Chaffee, Captain Josiah Dartt (Company A), "Mr." Stranahan (Henry, Oscar, or William? also in Company A), Isaac (last name: Arnold, Company I), Dr. Francis Etheridge (Surgeon of the regiment from March 24, 1862 to September 3, 1862), Colonel Frank, Confederate Generals Price and Vandorn, Burret (apparently a hospital worker and/or soldier), Mr. (Jesse T.) Hamlin (Company A; died March 11, 1863, at Germantown, Tennessee), George Marshall (veteran of Company A; enlisted March 4, 1862; deserted November 1864), William Stranahan (enlisted in Company A December 28, 1861; promoted Corporal; deserted March 1863 at Germantown, Tennessee), Union General Grant, Chaplain John Ireland, Union General Sherman, Union General Banks, Union Generals Smith and Mower, Confederate General Hood, Lieutenant Henry G. Bailly (Company D; wounded in the Battle of Nashville; died of wounds on January 7, 1865), President Johnson, and Dr. William H. Leonard (Assistant Surgeon from November 22, 1862 to May 23, 1865, when he was promoted to Surgeon)

Martin comments about a variety of things in his letters: he viewed the South (in Mississippi) as far behind the times and going backwards rapidly; he frequently reported waiting for pay ($21/month) that was late; he shares an incident precipitating the replacement of a Colonel (Rudolph Von Borgersrode); he characterizes President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation as "a step in the right direction and ought to have been taken long ago;" he describes the battle of Corinth; he tells of an incident in which he apprehended two confederate soldiers; he expresses suspicion that General Grant is a traitor while involved in digging a canal near Vicksburg; on February 26, 1864, (about a year before the end of the war) Martin predicts, "Another year and southern aristocracy will be pretty well used up;" he describes the afternoon attack on the second day of the Battle of Nashville (December 16, 1864);

After the war, Martin Webster returned to Hastings, Minnesota. A son, Albert, was born to Keziah and Martin about 1868. In 1880, Martin was working as a carpenter.

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