OR-GENERAL WORTH.

BY FAYETTE ROBINSON, AUTHOR OF "THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES," ETC.

All persons naturally exhibit a great desire to become acquainted with
the events of the lives of those individuals who have made themselves
or their country illustrious. It is very pleasant to inquire into the
nature of the studies which matured their minds, to examine the
incidents of their early career, and follow them through the obscurer
portions of their lives for the purpose of ascertaining if the man
corresponds with the idea we have formed of him.

Gen. Worth has recently attracted so much attention, and the events of
his whole life have been so stirring, that this is peculiarly the case
with him. No one can think without interest of one who, while a boy
almost, opposed the British veterans at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane, and
in his manhood won a yet higher reputation amid the hamacs of Florida,
and in front of the batteries of Molino del Rey and Monterey. It is,
however, a matter of much regret that of Worth's early history and
family annals but little is known. It is true, no man in the army has
been the theme of so much camp-fire gossip, or the hero of so many
gratuitous fabrications; but we are able to learn nothing of him
previous to his entry into the service. A thousand anecdotes without
any basis in truth have been told of him, altogether to no purpose;
for one who has so many real claims to distinction need never appeal
to factitious honors.

Gen. Worth, at the commencement of the last war with Great Britain, is
said to have been a resident of Albany, N. Y., and to have been
engaged in commercial pursuits. Animated by the feeling of patriotism
which pervaded the whole people, he left the desk and ledger, and is
said to have enlisted in the 2nd regiment of artillery, then commanded
by Col. Izard, afterward a general officer of distinction. The lieut.
colonel of one of the battalions of this regiment was Winfield Scott,
the attention of whom Worth is said soon to have attracted. Col. Scott
is said to have exerted himself to procure him a commission, and to
have taken care of his advancement. This may or may not be true; it is
sure, however, that Worth first appears in a prominent position in the
military annals of the United States as the aid-de-camp and protege of
General Scott, at the battle of Chippewa, where Scott was a brigadier.
Worth was his aid, having in the interim become a first lieutenant.

No man in