This site and grave marker is a cenotaph; Lester Webb's actual burial site is now located at Custer National Cemetery, Montana.

From the official records of Fort Buford, North Dakota: Mr. Lester A. Webb, a citizen patient and in the Post Hospital, died at 6:15 am of hip disease. Signed: L.W. Crampton, Assistant Surgeon, US Army, Post Surgeon.

Residence was not listed; 18 years old.
Enlisted as a Private (date unknown).
On 5/15/1861 he mustered into "F" Co. MN 1st Infantry
He was transferred out on 10/24/1862
On 10/24/1862 he transferred into US Army Cavalry
(date and method of discharge not given)

Leciester Austin Webb was born on December 26, 1842, at the Webb Settlement, Ridgefield Township, Huron County, Ohio. When the news of the war arrived in Red Wing several students volunteered for service. It appears that Lester did not enlist during the first wave of emotion in April. He may have traveled home to discuss the situation with his family. With in a brief period of time, though, the 18 year old made the trip to Fort Snelling. His classmates had been put into Company F of the First Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. On May 15, 1861, he was mustered into service and placed in the same company. When mustered in it was reported that he had blue eyes, light hair and stood 5'8" tall. He traveled with the regiment to Washington, DC, and from there to their first battle at Bull Run. Lester was listed as sick at Hampton, Virginia early in the spring of 1862. He fought at the Battle of Antietam, in which he was wounded slightly. Shortly thereafter, on Oct 24, 1862, Lester transferred to the US Cavalry, when the men in the regiment were given the opportunity. 1st Sgt James Wright, also of Company F.
On October 26, 1862, while at Knoxville, Maryland, he was enlisted by Lieutenant Coates of the Regular Army into Company B, 6th Regiment US Cavalry; given a hefty bounty (possibly as high as $500) and allowed to finish his enlistment with no extension of term of service. He was present and participated in several battles and skirmishes while with the 6th.

Lester was captured at Richard's Ford, on the Rappahannock River in Virginia (about 10 miles from Fredericksburg) on Feb 14, 1863, while on picket duty several miles from the regiment's encampment. On the morning of the 15th of February, it was discovered that all nine men of the picket post at Richard's Ford, including Lester, were missing and it was later learned that they had been taken the previous night in a raid.

He was paroled and released on Feb 20, 1863, at City Point, Va. The next day is was at Camp parole in Annapolis, Md. Arrangements weere made to send Lester to Fort Snelling. Lester was the sole member of the 6th US Cavalry stationed at Ft Snelling. He must have been in poor health. He spent the remainder of his term assigned to the detachment of Invalids and Convalescents at the fort. In the same group of convalescing soldiers was his younger brother, Private Martin L. Webb of Co. D, 4th Minnesota Infantry. Lester was in the hospital during Nov and Dec of 1863.

Lester was discharged on May 5, 1864, from the 6th US Cavalry at the expiration of his term of service.

Lester was buried at the post cemetery at Fort Buford. In the 1890s Fort Buford was closed, and in 1896 the bodies in the cemetery were exhumed and reinterred at the Custer National Cemetery at Little Big Horn, Montana. When exhumed, his gravestone was no longer legible and his body was not properly identified for reburial. It is possible that his grave marker had been made of wood and was no longer legible 15 years after his death. He is probably buried along with 38 other unknowns in Section A, graves 50-79 and 139-159 at Custer National Cemetery.