Fort Worth Named For Forgotten Hero
Fort Worth Named For Forgotten Hero
Six months after leading the last American division out of Mexico City, Gen. William Jenkins Worth arrived in Galveston on Dec. 26, 1848, to take command of the department of Texas.
On the eve of the inevitable conflict with Mexico, 52-year-old Worth was the most highly respected officer in the United States Army. Besides an impeccable record in war and peace, most rated him the best looking man in uniform and the finest horseman in the military.
Beginning at the bottom as a lowly private, the New Yorker served with distinction in the War of 1812. Before sustaining a serious would in battle against the British, he rose in record time to the rank of major.
After a long convalescence, Worth was appointed commandant of cadets at the United States Military Academy, an important post second only to superintendent. During his eight years at West Point, he established the stringent standards of bearing and precision drill which still guide the elite institution.
Worth performed several thankless tasks in the 1830s including the suppression of a slave revolt in Virginia, a punitive expedition against Indians in Illinois, and the removal of the Cherokees from Georgia. These accomplishments qualified him for an even tougher assignment which had frustrated 10 predecessors, victory over the Seminoles in the swamps of Florida.
Promoted from colonel to brevet brigadier general after his decisive defeat of the red guerrillas, Worth and his Eighth Infantry were sent to Corpus Christi, where Gen. Zachary Taylor awaited the hostilities with Mexico that Lone Star statehood was bound to bring.
No sooner had Worth unpacked at his Texas base camp than he found himself up to his ears in controversy. The notoriously lazy Taylor had allowed discipline among the idle troops to sink to a scandalous level, a failing the general did not appreciate Worth calling to his attention.
Another officer picked a quarrel with Worth, insisting he held the higher rank in spite of the fact that both were brevet brigadiers. The debate divided the camp, a bad situation made worse by Taylor
