DOB:  March 15, 1843 DOD:  March 1, 1919 Comments: Washington “Wash” Webster was born in 1843, presumably in Maury County, and belonged to James H. Webster who lived between Williamsport and Cross Bridges of Maury County.  His master’s sons James J. and William Henry enlisted in the Maury Grays 1st Tennessee Infantry Company H and took Wash with them.  As mentioned in the Maury Democrat in 1896, the religious leader of the black group in the 1st Tennessee was Ike Campbell and he was reportedly at odds with Wash because he would not attend any church services.  He was known to say Wash “was going to hell as fast as the car[t] wheels go.”  Of his two masters, William Henry Webster was killed at Chickamauga on September 19, 1863 and James served in the 1st Tennessee until at least February 1864 and went to the 8th Mississippi Cavalry sometime after that.  It is presumed Wash stayed the entire time because he worked for James after the war, and this may not have happened if Wash was not loyal to him. Before going to the war Wash had a child named Hunter at the age of 17.  He married Bettie Brown in 1862 based on Census records though it appears they did not officially file this until 1903 in Alabama (unsure why in Alabama).  They had one more child post war.  Based on tax records found in the newspapers, Wash owned 31 acres on Bigby Creek.  In 1919 after his death it was reported 10 acres of land had delinquent taxes.  In 1870, it was reported in the Columbia Daily Herald that he worked a farm in Arkansas belonging to his former master James Webster.  Based on the article it appears James and Wash would goto Arkansas and harvest the crops before returning to Tennessee.  By the 1880 Census James is living there permanently, in Welborn, Arkansas, at least until 1915 (his wife’s death certificate states he died in Arkansas that year) but the tax records show he owns land in Maury County too.  It would stand to reason he probably traveled back and forth between the two areas. In the 1870’s he showed horses and livestock.  At a Colored Maury County Fair he helped organize for many years, several of his animals were prize winners.  On Christmas Day, 1875 he made the paper for fracturing the skull of another black man named Smith Hendley with a hickory stick for supposedly abusing his wife.  It was guessed that Smith would die but he was at least still living in the 1880 Census. Wash passed away in 1919 and is buried in Salem Cemetery on Mount Zion Road in Maury County. He was just two weeks shy of his 76th birthday.

Wash Webster’s tombstone in Salem Cemetery in Maury County.