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General William Jenkins Worth: Monterey's Forgotten Hero

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General William Jenkins Worth: Monterey's Forgotten Hero ** ** GENERAL WILLIAM JENKINS WORTH Monterey's Forgotten Hero EDWARD s. WALLACE \ ~ I I I rI i ** "I, ,! : ~ or 10 ' .. " ... "'/ .. ' 1953 Southern Methodist University Press DALLAS 1 370l \/'J\",)/~ q?, f \I~\/l' ty(,; Copyright 1953 Foreword by Southern Methodist University Press OR several years, while living in New York City, I wondered, when passing the imposing monu­ Fment over the grave of General William Jenkins Worth in Madison Square, just who ,he was, and why more was not known about him. Fate seemed to throw his name in my way, for upon stopping later in Hud­ son, New York, I found the hotel there to be named the "General Worth," and again his name appeared before me on a bronze plaque upon an old colonial house in LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard. Still later, as my in­ 53-12918 terest in the Mexican War of 1846-48 grew, I found that General Worth had played a major part in that colorful episode, yet had received only minor credit at the hands of most historians; probably in part because of his death immediately after that war, in part because the Civil War almost eclipsed the earlier and smaller struggle, in part because of the propaganda of his enemies which seems to have been accepted from sheer inertia in re­ \) P kill,: search, and in part because of the present lack of inter­ ,~..... ;-;: - est in military history for which our educational sys­ I I. _t_ " ,., r- ! ," : d ,\ " ~I-.L.:) tem has largely been to blame. That Worth deserves Itl ..,'- I " .i J I ,"'-...r PRINTED IN THE 'bNITED STATES OF AMERICA more attention from posterity became increaSingly ap­ AT DALLAS, TEXAS parent as I dug into the records and correspondence of his times. There were many discouragements in gathering ma­ terial, and it seemed at times as if the baneful dead hand [ v ] ,9;",,) •t (1" ,_,'.) "Q FOREWORD FOREWORD of Winfield Scott was at work. For example, I fotmd, and most helpful. Of the greatest assistance was the after a search of months to locate Worth's personal let­ loan by Professor Fayette Copeland of the University ters and papers, that they had been destroyed. Luckily of Oklahoma of a typescript of 935 pages of George they were available to Professor Justin H. Smith, and Wilkins Kendall's unpublished manuscript about the his references to them can be traced in his monumental Mexican War. Miss Louise Hardenbrook of the Colum­ "l'l work, The War with Mexico. Even more fortunately, a bia County (New York) Historical Society supplied picked selection of these letters was published in the invaluable information about the fotmding of Hud­ New York Times Magazine for July 16, 1916. These, son, New York, and the boyhood of Worth. General with other material located in various libraries and his­ Worth's great-granddaughters, Miss Edith Hubbell torical societies and in the possession of individuals, and Mrs. James Woodruff, have also been of the great­ furnished enough data to form a reasonable outline of est assistance. Worth's life, although there are still some obvious blind Most of the original letters used were found in the spots in his early career which only the discovery of library of the United States Military Academy at West new material can fill in. Point, and deep gratitude should be expressed for the In the background and battle descriptions of the co-operation there of Lieutenant Colonel W. J. Morton, Mexican War, Justin H. Smith gives such a masterly Librarian, and Mr. Sidney Forman, Archivist. I received condensation from such an infinite variety of sources ­ the best of advice from Colonel William A. Ganoe and the product of twenty years of research - that it is al­ Major Charles Winslow Elliott (although the latter dis­ most a waste of time to check back on these except for agrees with my opinions on Winfield Scott). Miss Edna personal incidents. He did, however, miss a few im­ L. Jacobsen of the New York State Library went to in­ portant sources such as Kendall's manuscript and the finite trouble to send me copies of the charred remains files of the American Star, and I have relied heavily on of the John P. Gaines letters. Other individuals and insti­ these to supplement his basic outline. Kendall, particu­ tutions who have been of much help are: Mr. Dexter larly, being a statmch admirer of Worth, is a healthy B. Wiswell of the Military Historical Society of Massa­ antidote to Smith's hero-worship of Scott and his rather chusetts; Mr. Marshal Shepard of the Dukes County cavalier dismissal of Worth as a good fighting general Historical Society (Edgartown, Massachusetts); the but too much of a prima donna in temperament to Massachusetts Historical Society; the American Anti­ warrant favorable consideration. quarian SOCiety; the New York Historical Society; the In somewhat different form, this biography of Gen­ Library of Congress; the War Department; the National eral William Jenkins Worth served to satisfy one of Archives; the Fort Worth Public Library; the Daugh­ the requirements for the Ph.D. degree at Boston Uni­ ters of the American Revolution, Hudson, New York; versity. A great many people have been interested Miss Mary Wimpenny of Edgartown; the New York [ vi ] [ vii ] FOREWORD Public Library; the New York Genealogical and Biogra­ Contents phical Society; the New York State Historical Associa­ tion; the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; and the Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library of Watertown, New York. Foreword v The illustrations of battle scenes are used by courtesy 1 Background and Early Boyhood 3 of the Yale University Library. The first four are from Whitings Army Portfolio, and the remaining five are 2 The War of 1812 15 by Carl Nebel, from The War Between the United 3 West Point 23 States and Mexico Illustrated, by Carl Nebel and S4 George Wilkins Kendall. The map of Monterey in 1846 4 The Patriots' War is reproduced from T. B. Thorpe, Our Army at Mont­ 5 Winnebagos and Seminoles 46 erey (Philadelphia, 1847). The medallion portrait of 6 Repercussions of the Semmole War 56 Worth as a young officer was obtained from his grand­ daughter. The portrait of Worth as brevet major gen­ 7 Ordered to Texas 65 eral was engraved by J. Sartain for Graham's Magazine, 8 On to Monterey 77 May, 1848, from an original daguerrotype. 9 The Battle of Monterey 87 EDWARD S. WALLACE 10 Saltillo and Vera Cruz 104 Washington, Connecticut 11 Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo 117 July 29, 1958 12 Perote and Puebla 128 13 Contreras and Churubusco 143 14 Armistice and Final Battles 157 15 The Court of Inquiry 172 16 The Aftennath 185 Notes 197 Bibliography 225 Index 235 [ viii ] ARMISnCE AND FINAL BATl'LES ARMlSnCE AND FINAL BA'ITLES orders to Quitman and Worth to proceed slowly -and The day we entered they commenced a fire upon us from cautiously into the city and occupy the key points. the housetops, and cut down several of my officers and men. My friend Garland [the colonel commanding one of Worth's Worth advanced as far as the Alameda, within three or two brigades 1. who was at my side, caught a shot aimed at four blocks of the Gran Plaza, where. in compliance with me. I caused the heavy guns to be turned against every his orders? he stopped. But Quitman. having earlier house, whether palace, church, or convent, and after a few received word of the evacuation direct from the Mexi­ hours of such appliance, not regarding where or who it hit, quelled the dastardly villains, but it cost me some fifty cans, proceeded, shortly after daybreak, to the GraI!. brave fellows ...28 Plaza where he occupied the National Palace anq. raised the American Hag. At eight o'clock in the morning Such drastic measures had their effect. By the after­ of September 14, General Scott, in full dress uniform­ noon of the next day, general peace and order were gold epaulets, yellow top-feathers in his dress hat, and restored to the capital, to last until the evacuation of all-and mounted on a giant charger, dashed into the the city by the Americans in June, 1848. It is true that Gran Plaza, followed by a clattering escort of dragoons. there were assassinations of individual soldiers during H ever a man looked the part of the triumphant con­ this period, but never again were there any mass queror. of the noble soldier, Winfield Scott, with his disorders.29 towering height of six feet four inches, did on that occa­ The army then settled· down to the anticlimax of sion; and the American soldiers, recognizing his splen­ routine occupation duty. Discipline' was tightened up dor as the personification of their grimy glory, greeted and spit 'n and polish and "chicken" raised their ugly him with cheers which seemed to rock the palace and heads, as always in such circumstances. The punish­ 26 the cathedral on their foundations. ments for infractions were severe and "rugged," by our Thus ended the official hostilities of the war, but there present-day standards. But the results were good, for were two more days of sniping and disorder in the the army, on the whole, behaved admirably. Scott was capital before the American army settled down to at his best in this kind of duty. For the soldiers there routine occupation duty. Before leaving, Santa Anna were compensations as well. Stores, restaurants, and had released all the criminals from the jails; and these, saloons were soon reopened by the Mexicans, and many with the disbanded militia and the treacherous leperos, others were started by American entrepreneurs.
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