The Webster Massacre is a little known and tragic event in Williamson County and Burnet County Texas history that happened back in the early days of the Republic of Texas.
John Webster, an attorney and adventurer from Virginia, had decided to go West, to what would become the State of Texas. He sold 100 slaves and his plantation, taking 10 slaves with him. He landed in Galveston Texas in November of 1836. A party of 44 men led by Webster left from Hornsby’s Station near present day Webberville, Texas on June 11th or 12th in 4 ox wagons. His plan was to settle in a land grant of one league and one labor in what is now Strickling, Texas on the North Fork of the San Gabriel River to build a fort. They had a cannon along for the fort they planned to establish. The men were promised land for coming along and fighting. Webster had put $10,000. in the bank before leaving just to be safe. Edward Burleson, Martin Wells and 100 men were coming behind them along with 300 head of cattle.
The Webster party got to within 6 miles of where he was going to build his fort. They came up to the San Gabriel River, looked down and saw a huge tribe of about 300 Comanche. Seeing this, they decided to turn around and head back. At sundown they camped and fixed a broken axle on one of the wagons that had broke. It took until about 3 am to fix the axle and then they started moving again, making it to the Brushy Creek area around sunrise. Little did they know but the Native Americans had been following them during the night. The Native Americans attacked at sunrise and fought until 10pm. All 14 men were killed by the Comanche. The Native Americans broke coffee bags open, broke china, took out silver and broke it up. The Native Americans took Captain Webster’s sword and broke it in 3 pieces.
Meantime, the cattle coming behind this first party had stampeded and had to be rounded up. Edward Burleson and his 100 men got to the area of the slaughter. The men were scalped and dismembered.
The Webster Massacre victims are buried in a mass grave in the Davis Cemetery on the north side of 2243 between Ronald Reagan Boulevard and Highway 183A in Leander, Texas. There is no sign for the cemetery so you have to watch for it. A monument was erected in 1936 in the cemetery that lists the date of the massacre as August 27, 1839. Edward Burleson is the first man to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin Texas.
Webster Massacre Survivors
Mrs. Webster, her daughter Martha Virginia Webster, and son Booker Webster were the only survivors of the massacre. Mrs. Webster and the children were stripped. Mrs. Webster was forced to wear Native American garb and the children to be naked as the Native American children were. Martha Virginia was only 4 years old at the time of the Webster Massacre. Mrs. Webster and her 2 children were held captive by the Comanches for about 2 years. The Republic of Texas and the Comanche nation were going to have an exchange of prisoners in San Antonio. However, Mrs. Webster heard that they were not really going to turn her over so she planned another escape. She had already tried to escape several times but was captured. She left with her daughter, following the trail to San Antonio, hiding by day and traveling by night.
Martha Virginia later married Marmaduke Strickling but he died in 1865. She lived in Oregon and then California afterwards where she is not buried. Martha Virginia wrote a narrative years later about the Webster Massacre based on what she remembered and what she had been told which is now at the Dolph Briscoe Center of American History at the University of Texas.
The Strickling Texas Area Today
The Comanche Country of Burnet County looks today like it did back in those days for the most part. We were told the story of the Webster Massacre at our Daughters of the Republic of Texas meeting at the Pilot Knob Vineyard at 3125 County Road 212 near Bertram, Texas. To get to Strickling Texas take Highway 183 north to Liberty Hill, Texas and then head west to Bertram, Texas on Highway 29. In Bertram, take FM 1174 north to County Road 210A. Turn right or northeast to Strickling, Texas. Bertram and Burnet Texas are both north of the sprawling 27,500 acre Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge,