Here Sleep the Victims of the "Webster Massacre"

Accounts of the Webster party disagree on almost everything but its fate. The Handbook says the date is uncertain, between summer 1838 and October 1839, and counts thirteen in the party, where the plaque says about thirty. Local historians Karen Thompson and Kat Howell, quoted by Community Impact, put the dead at forty to forty-four and the date in June 1839, and call the marker's August 27 inaccurate. They say men from Tumlinson's Fort buried the dead in one grave, later part of Davis Cemetery. None of these sources names the dead. The attackers were Comanche (Numunuu).

What the plaque says

Here Sleep the Victims of the "Webster Massacre" Here sleep the victims of the "Webster Massacre" of August 27, 1839. About thirty homeseekers headed by John Webster en route to what is now Burnet County, were attacked by a band of Comanche Indians. After attempting to flee under cover of darkness, they were trapped in this vicinity. Mrs. Webster and her two children were captured and later released. All the others were killed. Martha Webster then but three years old was later married to Marmaduke Strickland. (1936)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Inner Space Cavern — 8.4 mi
  A Georgetown cave found in 1963 when highway engineers drilled test holes, holding Pleistocene fossils and 72-degree rooms that visitors reach by an artificial tunnel.
• The Round Rock — 9.5 mi
  A table-shaped stone in Brushy Creek gave Round Rock its name in 1854; the Chisholm Trail crossed the creek near it, and Old Town stayed behind when the railroad pulled the town east.
• Williamson County Courthouse — 9.6 mi
  The fifth Williamson County courthouse, a Beaux Arts building by C. H. Page, rises over a Georgetown square of more than 50 Victorian-era buildings.
• Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge: Doeskin Ranch — 15 mi
  A free federal refuge north of Lake Travis kept for two songbirds that need old juniper and oak, with trails at the Doeskin Ranch unit near Bertram.

More markers nearby

• Leander — 1.6 mi
• Norton Moses Lodge No. 336, A.F. & A.M. — 1.8 mi
• Leander Schools — 1.8 mi
• Leander United Methodist Church — 1.8 mi