Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/652

616 among others Judge John Worth Edmunds, Gor- ham Worth, and Lawrence Worth, president of the Park bank. Young Worth received only a common-school education, and in early life entered a store in Hud- son, whence he soon removed to Albany, where he continued in mer- cantile pursuits till he was eigh- teen years of age. On the opening of war with Great Britain he ap- plied for a com- mission in the armv. and on 19 March, 1813, re- ceived the ap- f)ointment of 1st ieutenant in the 23d infantry. He served as aide to Gen. Winfield Scott, and for gallantry was promoted to the rank of captain, 19 Aug., 1814. In the battle of Niagara he again so distinguished himself as to receive the thanks of his general and the rank of major. At the close of the war he was appointed superintend- ent of the IT. S. military academy, and in 1824 was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. In 1838 he be- came colonel of the 8th infantry. In the Florida war he was especially active, fighting the battle of Palaklaklaha, 19 April, 1842, in which the Semi- noles were disastrously defeated. He was second in command to Gen. Zachary Taylor at the opening of the war with Mexico, leading the van of his army, and being the first to plant, with his own hand, the flag of the United States on the Rio Grande. Under Taylor he conducted the negotia- tions for the capitulation of Matamoras, and by him was intrusted with the assault on the bishop's palace at Monterey. It was a hazardous under- taking, the cannon having to be dragged up precipi- tous cliffs, and throughout the action his troops were exposed to the heaviest fire, but he achieved it with a small loss of life, and escaped personal injury, though constantly on horseback passing from post to post during the entire action. He was subsequently ordered to the Gulf coast to join Gen. Scott, and was under him engaged in all the battles from Vera Cruz to Mexico, having a principal part in ', , the capture of the impor- tant city of Puebla, and be- ing the first to enter the city of Mexico, where, with his own hand, he cut down the Mexican flag that waved from the National palace. After the war he was placed in command of the Depart- ment of Texas, and there he died of 'cholera. He was a man of tall and com- manding figure, and said to be the best horseman and handsomest man in the army. He was of a manly, generous nature, and possessed talents that would have won him distinction in any sphere of action. He was bre- vetted major-general for his services at Monterey, and given swords by congress, the states of New York and Louisiana, and his native county, Co- lumbia. A monument was erected to his mem- ory by the city of New York at the junction of Broadway and Fifth avenue. (See vignette.) — Thomas," caricaturist, b. in New York, 12 Feb., 1834, is the son of a cousin of Gen. William J. Worth. He was with his father in banking busi- ness for a few years after leaving school, but soon devoted himself entirely to art. He first came prominently before the public in 1862. with his il- lustrations to " Plutarch Restored." He illustrated also some of the books of " Orpheus C. Kerr," the edition of Dickens's " Old Curiosity Shop " that was published by the Harpers in 1878, and numer- ous other works. He is best known to the general public by his lithographed caricatures, many of them on sporting subjects or scenes in negro life ; and he has furnished pictures for every illustrated paper of note in the country. At present he is on the staff of " Texas Sif tings."

WORTHEN, Amos Henry, geologist, b. in Bradford, Vt., 31 Oct., 1813 ; d. in Warsaw, 111., 6 May, 1888. He was educated at Bradford academy and emigrated to Kentucky in 1834, where he taught. In 1836 he settled in Warsaw, 111., which continued to be his principal residence until his death. There he engaged in the forwarding and commission business, and later in the dry-goods trade. His attention was early directed to the geological features of his western home, and he collected specimens of the sedimentary rocks of that region, especially the geode formations that there existed in abundance. In 1842, owing to the financial depression on account of the Mormon disturbances in the west, he withdrew from business and spent two years in Boston, where he exchanged his minerals for a cabinet of sea-shells. On his return to Warsaw in 1844 he resumed his collecting, and, by comparing the fossil specimens with his shells, he became an expert palaeontologist. As his cabinet increased it attracted the attention of scientists, and by means of exchanges it grew to include forms from other parts of the country. In 1851 he became assistant on the newly established geological survey of Illinois, and in 1855 accepted a similar office in the survey of Iowa under James Hall, who intrusted him with reporting on the palaeontology of that state. This place he held until 1858, when he was appointed state geologist of Illinois and continued in the work of the survey until 1877, when the office was abolished. Meanwhile he associated with himself representative men in special fields of science, assigning the descriptions of plants to Leo Lesquereux, the vertebrate palaeontology to John S. Newberry, the invertebrate palaeontology to Fielding B. Meek, and geology to Garland C. Broadhead and Edward T. Cox, and it resulted in the publication of his reports on the "Geological Survey of Illinois" (8 vols., Springfield, 1866-'88). In 1877 he was appointed curator of the State historical library and natural history museum, which office he held until his death. In this capacity he gathered an extensive variety of minerals and fossils which he classified, and also furnished numerous collections to different colleges in the state. Mr. Worthen was elected to the National academy of science in 1872, and in 1874 was made a fellow of the American association for the advancement of science, besides membership in other American and foreign scientific bodies. His writings were confined to professional papers and the reports of the surveys.