William Jenkins Worth

Background

William Worth was born on March 1, 1794, in Hudson, New York. His father was Thomas Worth, a seaman, one of the original proprietors of Hudson, and his mother was a daughter of Marshall Jenkins.

Education

Worth received a common school education.

Career

Then he entered a store in Hudson, but removed shortly to Albany, where he continued his mercantile pursuits until the opening of the War of 1812, when he applied for a commission in the army. He was appointed first lieutenant, 23rd Infantry, on March 19, 1813. After he had served as private secretary in the official family of Gen. Morgan Lewis, he was selected by Gen. Winfield Scott as aide-decamp. At Chippewa and Lundy's Lane his zeal and intrepidity were eulogized by Scott in his report of the battles. At Lundy's Lane he was so severely wounded that for a time it was felt he would die. As it was, he was confined to his bed for a year and lamed for life. He was brevetted a captain for his work at Chippewa and a major for Niagara. Though somewhat crippled, he remained in the army after the war, serving both in the 16th Artillery and in the Ordnance Department. From 1820 to 1828 he was commandant of cadets at the United States Military Academy, although he was not a graduate of the Academy. On July 25, 1824, he was brevetted a lieutenant-colonel for ten years of faithful service in one grade. He became colonel of the 8th Infantry, July 7, 1838, and as such commanded in Florida at the battle of Palaklaklaha, where the Seminoles were disastrously defeated. For "gallantry and highly distinguished services" in that engagement he was brevetted a brigadier-general by President Polk. When the war with Mexico was brewing Worth was ordered to join Zachary Taylor in the Army of Occupation. Here he was second in command until David E. Twiggs appeared. With Twiggs he took part in an acrimonious and unfortunate controversy over rank. He fought well in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and was the first to plant the flag on the Rio Grande. At Monterey, where the weather buffeted him and he was left to his fate by Taylor on Independence Hill, he so successfully stormed the heights and the town that a large part of the victory should be credited to him. He was rewarded on September 23, 1846, by a brevet of major-general and by a resolution of Congress on March 2, 1847, presenting him with a sword. Shortly after that battle he was transferred south with Scott's victorious army, where he took part in all the engagements from Vera Cruz to Mexico City. At Cerro Gordo he showed energy and efficiency, and diligently pursued the flying Mexicans after the battle. At Churubusco, Chapultepec, and Mexico City, he again showed himself to be an indomitable force upon the field. A certain deficiency in temperament and character which displayed itself most noticeably off the battlefield caused Worth's reputation to suffer. He was narrow and self-centered; at Vera Cruz the suggestion that he might be president was his undoing. His governorship of Puebla was fraught with unsound decisions, harassment of the soldiers, and a disregard of the native population. When mildly called to account, his ambition took refuge in hostility to Scott. Toward the end of the expedition, he found opportunity to enter into a cabal with Pillow and Duncan against Scott, who had given him his start and treated him with every consideration. His letters caused articles to be written in the newspapers in the states; the purport untruthfully credited the triumvirate and discredited Scott with ridicule and contempt. When called upon for an explanation, he became truculent, defiant and insulting, so that Scott had to place him in arrest. Worth's failings robbed him of the full glory of his attainments in campaign, but as a leader in battle few have surpassed him. After the war he was placed by Scott in command of the Department of Texas, where he was seized by cholera and prematurely died on May 7, 1849, in San Antonio.

His body was returned to New York, the state of his birth, and in 1857 Worth's remains were reinterred in a 51-foot granite monument on Worth Square on a traffic island.

Achievements

• William Jenkins Worth was an army General, whose greatest fame came during his service in the War of 1812, the Second Seminole War in Florida and the Mexican-American War. For his service at the Battle of Chapultepec, on March 2, 1847, the United States Congress awarded him with a sword of honor. From 1847, William Worth was an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati. The cities of Fort Worth and Lake Worth in Texas, the villages of Worth in Illinois and Worthville in Kentucky, and the counties of Worth in Georgia, Missouri, and Iowa are all named in his honor. There is a Lake Worth in Florida. Worth Street (Manhattan) at the southern end of Little Italy was also named in his honor. At the western side of Madison Square Park, on an island bordered by Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 25th Street, stands an obelisk, which was erected in 1857 over the tomb of General William Jenkins Worth.

Membership

In 1847, William J. Worth was admitted as an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati.

Personality

He was tall and broad-shouldered with a "commanding figure, " all of which was accentuated by the ramrod posture of a career soldier. He had a broad, open face topped by thick curls. As if God had not given him enough physical blessings, he was also a "splendid horseman" who rode like he’d been born in the saddle.

Connections

On September 18, 1818, William Worth married Margaret Stafford of Albany, by whom he had three daughters and a son.

Father:

Thomas Worth

Thomas Worth was an American captain. In 1790, Thomas Worth married Margaret Abigail Jenkins, they had two children. After the death of his wife, on August 8, 1802, he married Susanna Swasey, by whom he had also two children.

Mother:

Margaret Abigail Worth (Jenkins)

Sister:

Mary Jenkins Worth

Half-brother:

Algernon Sidney Worth

Half-brother:

Thomas Gilbert Worth

Stepmother:

Susanna Worth (Swasey)

Wife:

Margaret Worth (Stafford)

Daughter:

Mary Sprague (Worth)

Daughter:

Josephine Worth

Daughter:

Margaret Worth

Son:

William Scott Worth

William Scott Worth was an American brigadier general.

References

• First Campaign of an A.D.C The War of 1812 Memoir of Lieutenant William Jenkins Worth, United States Army
• Reports On the Erection of a Monument to the Memory of William Jenkins Worth, Late Major-General of the United States Army
• Address of the Hon. Fernando Wood, Mayor, at the funeral ceremonies in honor of Major-General Worth, delivered at the monument, Nov. 25, 1857
• General William Jenkins Worth: Monterey's Forgotten Hero
• Lake Worth (Images of America: Florida)