My G-Grandfather, Pvt Samuel F. Webber, Company H, 39th Missouri Mounted Infantry, 1864 - 1865, was one of only 32 survivors of the "Battle" of Centralia.
There's no question that Pvt Samuel Webber from H Co, 39th MO Inf, is "my" Sam. Names/dates/places on Sam's enlistment/hospital/discharge/pension documents (and his pay vouchers - signed by Adam Theiss,) all match up with our family's verified census/marriage/death records.
Sam was born & raised in Lewis County (Deer Ridge/Reddish/Lewiston area.) When the war started, Sam was denied enlistment in the Union Army because he was only 15, so he spent a couple of years as a civilian teamster/hostler with the Union cavalry. As soon as he turned 18, Sam joined the first mounted unit he could hook up with. He enlisted in Hannibal in late August,1864, and mustered in to the 39th on September 8, 1864. Fewer than 3 weeks later, Sam was on an old plow horse, armed only with a single-shot Enfield, enroute from Paris to Centralia with Major A. V. E. Johnston... and I guess all y'all know the rest of that story.
Sam was a quiet man, and rarely talked about the war. When pestered, Sam would simply say that he had "seen some excitement one day in a little town called Centralia," and leave it at that. Until I came along, no one in the family ever checked the history books to find out what happened in Centralia that would qualify as "some excitement." Wow. The 1925 photo that hangs over my desk of the spry 80-year old man with serious brown eyes, who still wears a lonnnggg dark, Civil War-era beard, Civil War-era cavalry boots and enlisted cavalry slouch hat with his 20th-century 3-piece suit, has a whole new meaning to me now.
I'm hoping to get away from work to visit Centralia this coming September 27th, spend a few weeks doing research around the state, and maybe visit a Round Table meeting or two. Perhaps I'll run into some of you.
Thanks for all the great knowledge and insight you share.
- SizzMo' (S.M.Down, San Diego, CA)