James Watson Webb
| James Watson Webb | |
|---|---|
James Watson Webb, between 1855 and 1865.
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| United States Ambassador to Brazil | |
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In office October 21, 1861 – May 26, 1869 |
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| President | Abraham Lincoln |
| Preceded by | Richard K. Meade |
| Succeeded by | Henry T. Blow |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
February 8, 1802 Claverack, New York |
| Died | June 7, 1884 (aged 82) |
| Political party |
Whig; Republican |
| Occupation | Diplomat, newspaper publisher |
General James Watson Webb (February 8, 1802 – June 7, 1884) was a United States diplomat, newspaper publisher and a New York politician in the Whig and Republican parties.
Webb was born in Claverack, New York to Catherine (Hogeboom) and Gen. Samuel Blachley Webb, a Revolutionary officer of distinction. At age 12 he moved to Cooperstown, New York to live with his brother-in-law and guardian, Judge George Morrill. He entered the United States Army in August 1819, advanced to the grade of first lieutenant in 1823, and in the following year became assistant commissary of subsistence.
In September 1820, a party led by Lewis Cass, governor of the Michigan Territory, on its return from the exploration of the source waters of the Mississippi River, encountered Lt. Webb and a small group of soldiers at the mouth of the Black River in what is now Port Huron, Michigan. H.R. Schoolcraft, historian of the trip, said Webb and his men were returning to Fort Gratiot, a frontier outpost, with a boat full of freshly harvested watermelon.
In the fall of 1827 he resigned from the army to become a newspaper publisher, purchasing the Morning Courier which he published in the interest of General Jackson. In 1829 he purchased the New York Enquirer, which he consolidated with the Courier under the title of the New York Courier and Enquirer. He remained connected with this paper for more than 30 years. Historian Don C. Seitz wrote of those days:
In 1834, Webb used the Courier and Enquirer to coin the name of a new political party: the Whigs. Webb had formerly been a supporter of Jackson, but no longer. That same year he recycled or invented extravagant rumors of miscegenation, that the abolitionists had counselled their daughters to marry blacks, and Lewis Tappan had divorced his wife to marry a black woman, and that the Presbyterian minister Henry Ludlow was conducting interracial marriages, which fueled the organized mob violence of New York's anti-abolitionist riots that June.
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