Fort Worth's Namesake-- Part 4: His Death and All Those Namesakes

Ten forts were planned  between Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande River and the Trinity River, though only seven were built, including Forts Graham, Duncan and Lincoln.

In the spring of 1849, as William Worth's career continued to ascend,  San Antonio was struck by a deadly cholera epidemic.  Worth contracted the disease and died at the age of 55.  General William Harney then ordered the last fort , near the Trinity River, be named in honor of the fallen hero, Fort Worth.

Worth  was later buried in a tomb in what is now Worth Square in New York City, where a street is also named for him.

Several other cities and counties across the nation are also named for him.  Lake Worth, a small suburb next to Fort Worth, Texas, is also named for the general.  It now has a population of 5,000.

William Worth's most famous  namesake, Fort Worth, is now the fifth largest city in Texas with more than 900,000 residents.

--Brock-Perry

William J. Worth-- Part 6: Worth Square, Manhattan

William Worth's remains were reinterred in a 51-foot granite monument on Worth Square on a traffic island between Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 25th Street  in New York City's borough of Manhattan.  It is the second oldest monument in New York City (the oldest is Cleopatra's Needle).

It was designed and built by James G. Batterson in 1857.

The monument's decorative bands are inscribed with the names of Worth's battles and attached to the front of it is a bronze equestrian relief of Worth.  The top of each spike of the cast iron fence surrounding the monument is topped with a plumed helmet he is wearing on the memorial plaque.  The main part of each spike is modeled after Worth's Congressional sword.

The American artist Thomas Hart Benton depicted the monument in his "New York: Early Twenties" painting  Worth Street (Manhattan) at the southern end of Little Italy, is named in his honor.

Quite an Important Early American Hero You Probably Have Never Heard Of Before.  --Brock-Perry

William J. Worth-- Part 5: The Havana Club Plan and Death

In 1848, William Worth was approached by  a group of Cuban Freemasons known as the Havana Club, composed of  sugar plantation owners and aristocrats, who wanted the overthrow of the island's Spanish government.  They sent a college professor named Ambrosio  Jose Gonzales to ask Worth to lead an invasion of Cuba at the head of American Mexican War veterans.

Knowing that Worth was also a Freemason, Gonzales greeted the war hero with the Masonic secret handshake, and offered him $3 million.  Worth accepted the offer, but before anything could come of it, he was transferred by the War Department to Texas.

He was in command of the Department of Texas  when he died of cholera in 1849 in San Antonio.

The general's body is buried at Worth Square in New York City.

--Brock-Perry