Charlie Brown wore blue, gray, and then blue once too often

In another era he might be considered a swashbuckler, but playing Yankee and Johnny Reb left Maine’s Charles Webster Brown — a.k.a. Alfonso C. Webster — hanging and dead.

Writing in the April 2003 Civil War Times, author and Civil War historian Robert L. Willett skillfully wove the tale of Brown/Webster, who hailed from Weld in Franklin County (think Mt. Blue State Park). The 19-year-old “left his family farm [circa 1859] … to seek his niche in the exciting milieu of a nation headed toward war,” according to Willett.

Reaching Carlisle, Penn., Webster wrote his sister, Jane Holden, that he had changed his name to Alfonso C. Webster. On October 3, 1861 he enlisted in the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment and became a first lieutenant in Co. A, led by Capt. Griffith Jones.

Hailing from Weld in Franklin County in Maine, Charles W. Brown likely was familiar with nearby Farmington, the county seat. The current courthouse was built in 1885. (Brian F. Swartz Photo)

A malcontent, Webster pressured some Co. A privates “to travel with him to Boston to form a new company with him in command,” Willett noted. Jones caught on, and military authorities told Webster to hightail the army or face court-martial. He resigned on October 18.

When the 9th Pennsylvania left Harrisburg for Louisville, Ky. on Nov. 25, Webster traveled along as a civilian and “approached several men and explained his plot. They were less than amicable.” After the steamboat carrying the regiment docked at Louisville, Webster fled, resumed his Charles Brown identity, and joined the 8th Virginia Infantry as a Confederate.

Mostly “on sick call … until March 1862,” Webster fled again. He briefly joined with Charles Cooper, another Confederate, to run Southern mail “across the lines,” but Alan Pinkerton soon identified the men as spies.

Sick yet again, Webster sheltered “in the Quaker town of Waterford … a picturesque village … in the hills of the Catoctin Mountains,” Willett wrote. Residents were primarily Unionists, and when federal Capt. Samuel C. Means rode into town on June 27, 1862 while recruiting Yankee cavalrymen, he sent troopers to bring in “a stranger of unknown allegiance” from a nearby farm.

Standing 5-10 and weighing 180 pounds, the man claimed he was Charles A. Webster and signed on with Means. Webster proved so handy with military matters that Means made him a drillmaster charged with “training the recruits.”

In August, Webster and three other soldiers tracked down Confederate Capt. James R. Simpson of the 8th Virginia Infantry. Caught at his home in Mount Gilead, he fled “out the back door and started to run across a field toward … nearby … trees.”

Webster chased and caught Simpson and shot him dead. Willett speculated that Webster knew his victim and vice versa.

Known as the Loudon Rangers, Means’ outfit fought Elijah V. White’s “Comanches,” the 35th Virginia Cavalry Battalion, at Waterford on August 27. Means and Webster were captured and paroled along with other Rangers.

The outfit “reformed in September.” While Means was away, “Webster held an election” and coerced the enlisted men into electing him first lieutenant, Willett noted. Means responded by ordering Webster to “raise his own company.”

He married 22-year-old Alice Downey in Frederick, Md. on October 20, 1862. A press account claimed the bridegroom was “Lt. Alphonso E. Webster, 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry.”

An aide holds a fine-looking horse belonging to a “Lt. King.” Maine turncoat Charles Brown/Alfonso Webster started his own downfall by stealing two valuable horses in early December 1862. (Library of Congress)

On December 3, “Policeman Sebastian” arrested Webster in Georgetown, Md. for stealing horses in Leesburg, Va. First he entered a stable owned by James Thomas and seized “a fine stallion valued at $500,” according to the Daily National Republican. Webster claimed he acted on behalf of the federal government.

Webster sold the horse “to a man near Georgetown for two horses and $50,” the paper reported. Then he stole from George Roades of Leesburg a horse bearing a “U.S.” brand. That animal was sold to Georgetown resident Asa Gladden.

“Taken before Justice Reaver, of Georgetown,” Webster was tossed in jail, according to the newspaper.

He skated free, however, and “decided to get revenge” on Means, whom Webster “suspected was responsible for his arrest,” Willett wrote.

Elijah V. White commanded the 35th Virginia Cavalry Battalion, known as “White’s Comanches.” He thwarted an attempt by a Union soldier, Alfonso C. Webster, to desert (yet again) to the Confederacy and arrested him as a suspected spy. The soldier actually was Charles W. Brown of Weld, Maine. (Encyclopedia Virginia)

His convoluted life saw Webster try to join White’s Comanches, but White believed the turncoat “was there to kill him” and tossed him “in the guardhouse.” Sent under guard to Gen. William E. “Grumble” Jones in Staunton, Webster wound up in Castle Thunder Prison in Richmond on December 18, 1862.

In late February 1863, Confederate “Secretary of War James Seddon ordered that Webster be tried by military court,” according to Willett. The accompanying documentation included a letter identifying the people, such as Elijah White, who claimed “Webster is a spy” who “has operated on both sides … he is a villain and too dangerous a character to let go.”

Despite repeated escape attempts, Webster finally faced his military judges on March 11, 1863. He acted as defense attorney, but the evidence damned him; the court martial convicted him on “charges of violation of parole, horse-stealing, and two counts of murder” on March 26, Willett noted.

Webster went to the gallows in Richmond on Friday, April 10. With both of his ankles broken during a failed escape, he was “strapped … into a straight-backed chair and manhandled … out of prison into the waiting carriage.”

Dressed in a “complete Federal captain’s uniform” except for its epaulettes, Webster remained in the chair as attendants placed it “above the trap door.” An assistant provost marshal “secured the noose and foot straps,” and shortly after 1 p.m. Webster dropped his hat as a signal.

The trap door sprung, and Webster hung.

Willett delved deeply into Webster’s service records. Confederate authorities wrote much about him. As for his on-and-off federal service, his “Union service record” contained one sentence.

There is no record of the service of this soldier.”

Sources: Robert E. Willett, Civil War Times, April 2003; Daily National Republican, Dec. 5, 1862


If you enjoy reading the adventures of Mainers caught up in the Civil War, be sure to like Maine at War on Facebook and get a copy of the new Maine at War Volume 1: Bladensburg to Sharpsburg, available online at Amazon and all major book retailers, including Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble. —————————————————————————————————————–

Brian Swartz can be reached at visionsofmaine@tds.net. He enjoys hearing from Civil War buffs interested in Maine’s involvement in the war.

Brian Swartz

About Brian Swartz

Welcome to "Maine at War," the blog about the roles played by Maine and her sons and daughters in the Civil War. I am a Civil War buff and a newspaper editor recently retired from the Bangor Daily News. Maine sent hero upon hero — soldiers, nurses, sailors, chaplains, physicians — south to preserve their country in the 1860s. “Maine at War” introduces these heroes and heroines, who, for the most part, upheld the state's honor during that terrible conflict. We tour the battlefields where they fought, and we learn about the Civil War by focusing on Maine’s involvement with it. Be prepared: As I discover to this very day, the facts taught in American classrooms don’t always jibe with Civil War reality. I can be reached at visionsofmaine@tds.net.