The City College of New York (CCNY) is one of the most famous educational institutions in New York City. It was founded in 1847 and was the first free public college in the United States. Back in the early part of the 20th Century the college was called the “Harvard of the Proletariat,” or “the poor man’s Harvard.” With so many elite educational institutions excluding Jews from their student body before World War II, the college developed a reputation as the launch pad for many Jewish scientists and social scientists. The school now has 16,000 students.
In the center of the campus is a statue to Alexander Webb. Webb gained fame during the Gettysburg Campaign where his leadership of the Philadelphia Brigade in repulsing Pickett’s Charge made him a national hero. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery during the battle. In 1869, Webb was named as president of the City College, a position he held until 1902.
The statue is on Convent Avenue at 139th Street in Manhattan in the middle of the school’s academic buildings.
Webb was born in the Bronx in 1835. His father was a regular army officer. He graduated West Point in 1855 and he was 25 when the Civil War started. At the time Fort Sumter was fired up, Webb was a math professor at West Point. He saw service at the First Battle of Bull Run, but he attracted a lot of attention for helping to organize the artillery during the Battle of Malvern Hill during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862. He became Major General Meade’s Chief of Staff for the V Corps. During the Battle of Chancellorsville, Webb led a brigade. On July 1, 1863 he was promoted to brigadier general by Lincoln. The commander of the Philadelphia Brigade was under arrest and Webb was appointed to replace him just three days before the Battle of Gettysburg.
The Philadelphia Brigade was part of the II Corps and on July 3, 1863 it was posted on Cemetery Ridge. The brigade held theĀ “Copse of Trees” where Pickett’s Charge was centered. As the Confederates advanced, Webb, who was unknown to many of the men in his command, exposed himself to Rebel fire repeatedly. As other regiments faltered when General Lew Armistead’s Brigade charged, Webb ran to the front of the Irish 69th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment and firmed up their opposition to the Confederates. General Webb was wounded on the leg and groin but he kept on fighting. On September 28, 1891 he was awarded the Medal of Honor for “distinguished personal gallantry in leading his men forward at a critical period in the contest”
At the Battle of Spotsylvania, he was hit by a bullet in his right eye with the bullet coming out of his ear. He recovered over the next six months and he returned to the Army of the Potomac as its Chief of Staff.
After the war, Webb became a Regular Army Lieutenant Colonel and he was assigned to several infantry regiments. By 1869 he was back at West Point as a professor. In 1869 he was named the second president of City College in the Manhattanville section of Harlem.
Webb continued the work of his predecessor of offering both a classical education and the advantages of the new German approach to higher education with a focus on sciences and math. Webb died in 1911 and was buried at West Point.
Under the spurred foot of Webb in the photo above is the name of the sculptor, John Massey Rhind. He was a Scottish immigrant who also designed the Webb monument at Gettysburg. He is most famous for his memorial to the Grand Army of the Republic in Washington and for his sculptures of Abner Doubleday and Francis Barlow at Gettysburg.
On the monument, the first credit Webb receives is for his presidency of City College. The funds were provided by the alumni of the college, nearly all of whom had gone to the institution while Webb was president.
The great Neo-Gothic architecture on the campus, like Shepperd’s Hall (above), were erected during Webb’s presidency. The buildings are unique in Manhattan. Even though Manhattan is the most densely populated of any county in the United States, it has a feel of being a European college built in the late Middle Ages, at least until you turn around and see the buildings erected in the 1960s and 1970s.
Thanks to my stepson Adam for reminding me about this monument. He just got his Masters Degree there.
All color photos are by Pat Young.
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