Webster H. Abbott was born around 1843 in Pennsylvania to Thomas K. Abbott and Tryphena Estee. His father was a farmer who owned $4,500 of real estate and $800 of personal property in 1860. Abbott grew up and attended school in Freehold, Pennsylvania, and by 1860, he was working as a laborer. He enlisted in the Union army on August 27, 1862, and mustered in as a private in Company E of the 145th Pennsylvania Infantry later that day.
The regiment took part in the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, the siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox campaign. He looked forward to peace in April 1865, confessing that the “cry has allways been that the war wold end next fourth [of July] but I never thot so till now.” He lamented President Abraham Lincoln’s death, and he predicted that Andrew Johnson would “be harder on the rebs than Abe wold[.] he cant bee eny to hard on them to to sute mee.” He mustered out in Alexandria, Virginia, on May 31, 1865. Abbott returned to Freehold after the war and earned a living as a farmer. He married Susan G. Baker there around 1869, and they had at least two children: Louella, born around 1870; and George, born around 1877. He applied for a federal pension in May 1880 and eventually secured one. He died around 1905.