Webb, a S. county of Texas, bounded W. by the Rio Grande, which separates it from Mexico; area, about 1,200 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 2,615, of whom 2 were colored. The inhabitants are mostly Mexicans, chiefly engaged in stock raising, but some land is cultivated in the valley of the Rio Grande. In 1870 119,260 lbs. of wool were produced. There were 1,259 horses, 2,947 milch cows, 7,691 other cattle, and 71,730 sheep. Capital, Laredo.

Webb #1

I. Samuel B

Samuel B, an American soldier, born in Weathersfield, Conn., Dec. 15, 1753, died at Claverack, N. Y., Dec. 3, 1807. Hearing of the battle of Lexington, he went to Boston in command of a company of light infantry, was engaged and wounded at Bunker Hill, was subsequently aide to Gen. Putnam, and on June 21, 1776, became private secretary and aide-de-camp to Gen. Washington. He was engaged in the battle of Long Island, wounded at White Plains and again at Trenton, and was in the action at Brandy wine. In 1777 he raised the third Connecticut regiment, which under his command became a part of Gen. Parsons's expedition to Long Island, and which was captured, Dec. 16, 1777, by the British fleet. Col. Webb was not exchanged till 1780, when he took command of the light infantry, with the brevet rank of brigadier general. After the war he resided in New York till 1789, when he removed to Claverack.

II. James Watson

James Watson, an American journalist, son of the preceding, born in Claverack, N. Y., Feb. 8, 18*02. He entered the army as second lieutenant in 1819, and became first lieutenant in 1823, assistant commissary of subsistence in 1824, and adjutant of the third regiment in 1826. In 1827 he resigned and became editor of the "New York Courier." In 1829 he purchased the "Enquirer," and united the two under the name of the " Morning Courier and New York Enquirer," which journal he owned and edited till July, 1861, when it was merged in the " World." Daring the existence of the whig party the " Courier and Enquirer " was a leading advocate of its principles. In June, 1812, he fought a duel in Delaware with Thomas F. Marshall of Kentucky, and was wounded; he was indicted in November by the New York grand jury "for leaving the state with the intention of receiving or giving a challenge," pleaded guilty, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment at Sing Sing, and was almost immediately pardoned by Gov. Seward. In 1843 he was appointed engineer-in-chief of the state of New York, with the rank of major general. In 1849 he was appointed by President Taylor minister to Austria, but was rejected by the senate.

In 1861, after declining the mission to Constantinople, he was appointed by President Lincoln minister to Brazil, in which office he negotiated the settlement of long standing claims against that country. He resigned the Brazil mission in 1869 and returned to New York in 1870. He has published "Altowan, or Incidents of Life and Adventure in the Rocky Mountains" (2 vols., New York, 1846); "Slavery and its Tendencies " (Washington, 1856); and a pamphlet, "A National Currency" (New York, 1875).