Special Orders #191, the Lost Orders

A month or so ago, I posted this: 

Planned Weekend Trip – Day 1

It was a day trip, for me, to be in Frederick, Maryland to hear more about Special Orders #191. I went and had a great time. I learned a lot, not only about what happened to the Lost Orders, but why it was important to the Civil War.

The National Park Service, just posted a YouTube Video about Special Order #191

Special Orders 191

 

There was a lecture on the topic, and a panel discussion by three Civil War Historians. In attendance were descendants of the two gentlemen who discovered these orders.

I won’t go into the details, but what is important to me, and why I spend the day driving, was that the Monocacy National Battlefield has, within it’s borders a Worthington House.

I got to see the actual paper that these orders were written on, as seen in the video and are on display at the battlefield, but to be WHERE they were found. Or at least the area. That was close enough for me.

 

What I learned from that visit, was not so much about the orders themselves, but more about what I learned from the Inferential Genealogy study that I did “in Second Life”. You may recall I mentioned two people, at the Battle of Gettysburg, who fought against each other and that their Grandfathers fought with George Washington. Brother against Brother took on a new, real, meaning for me.

Author Dennis E. Frye, “September Suspense, Lincoln’s Union in Peril” was the presenter and was on the panel, described Frederick, Maryland during the time of the Civil War. What surprised me, was that Frederick was “Union” friendly. Knowing that Baltimore was 50 miles (plus or minus) away, but was a “split town”, as was Maryland, split between the North and South. The study I did was on Confederate’s during the Civil War. Why were towns, so close together in my mind, so far apart at the time of the Civil War.

I had a chance to ask Mr. Frye about this. What he explained to me, was that the settlers of Frederick were Welsh and had come down to this part of Maryland from the port of Philadelphia and not the port of Baltimore. Knowing the Philadelphia area, and a bit of it’s history, that all made sense to me. Having just driven from northern New Jersey to Frederick that morning, it made total sense.

The lecture was fantastic. He told the STORY of Special Orders #191, “including citations”. Of course a Historian would have citations, but the reading of the articles he quoted helped put the “story” into a real place. His book has 23 pages of End Notes, and 6 pages of Bibliographical information.

The Panel included two other Civil War historians. The moderator took questions from the audience and asked the panel, in turn, to answer the questions. That is when the discussion became interesting, as each historian, had their own interpretation of the data from their studies.

Fort McHenry, Maryland

Last weekend’s “day trip” became two Day Trips. Unfortunately, Patti was not up to the trip, but we agreed that I would make the trip to Frederick, Maryland and the celebration of Special Orders 191 (will blog later on that). Our plan was to spend the night, visit Worthington Valley, then proceed to the Worthington Reunion. (already blogged about that).

It was hot, but there was time.

Since doing my research last summer (Inferential Genealogy), I wanted to Visit Fort McHenry.

 

The Howard family played a role at Fort McHenry early in the Civil War. While doing that research I realized that Frances Scott Key was in my family file. I had known of other Worthington / Key interactions in the past. There is a house in Anne Arundel County that belonged to Key and Worthington. (but that’s another story).

As you may be able to tell from the above picture, that is was a beautiful day. Fort McHenry has programs in the evenings on the weekends, War of 1812 Twilight Tattoo. Why not …. it gave me a chance to re-visit the Fort, as it’s been a number of years since I last was there AND had no pictures. Great day to visit and to that Pictures.

As may have been a tradition at Fort McHenry, in the evening, there was a gathering of the troops (Tattoo), and as was presented this evening, a band was there, along with the local “ladies”.

The Chesapeake Concert Band and the Fort McHenry Fife & Drum Corps played for those in attendance.

Period music was presented, including some music specifically created for Fort McHenry.

 

The Traditional Canon Salute was included in the ceremony.

So why all the fuss about Fort McHenry and Frances Scott Key? According to my database, he was the Father-in-law of my 10th Great Grand Uncle. What ??? OK, he’s distant, but still related. Looking at HOW we are related, I run into TWO, not one, but TWO Revolutionary War “Hero’s”. As reported on this Blog, John Eager Howard, grandfather of David Ridgely Howard and McHenry Howard, of Civil War fame, but also Ann Cooper Whitall, wife of James Whitall. (The Battle at Red Bank, New Jersey).

The Whitall House it across the Delaware River from Fort Mott. Another visit to the Whitall House is in order.

In this one line, I have Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the Civil War hero’s.

 

More Photo’s can be found here:

Planned Weekend Trip – Day 1

There is a “family reunion” this weekend in Darlington, Maryland. I have not been to this reunion before and don’t know what to expect.

We had planned to go to the National Battlefield at Monocacy, Maryland to attend the “Return of Special Orders 191” presentation and new exhibit. Not sure what to expect there either, but Civil War, Monocacy, why not go find out.

When the reunion information came out in a Newsletter that I receive and knowing this area of Maryland, it has become a weekend trip. Unlike some of the day trips that I have made in the past. But this one will be a “three for…”.

Between Monocacy and Darlington is another Worthington family location in Worthington Valley. I’ll post more about that location later. But the plan is to go to Monocacy, stay over night, go to church at Saint John’s Episcopal Church (Western Run) in Glyndon, then head to Darlington.

I have posted a number of items on this blog about Monocacy.

I blogged about this a couple of weeks ago.

The Battle of Monocacy–148 Year Ago

In this battle, some orders were issue by Confederate General Robert E. Lee, but they were lost, but later found by a Union soldier. The event on Saturday is a special event and exhibit at the Battlefield.

More information can be found here:

http://www.nps.gov/mono/parknews/return_so_191.htm

As mentioned before, part of this battle took place on the Worthington Farm.

To help put this farm into my family tree, here is a descendant chart from my ancestor, Captain John Worthington (1650 – 1701) to the owners of the Worthington Farm.

Because the chart may not be readable:

Descendants of Capt John and Sarah Howard Worthington
John Worthington, Jr 1689 – 1763
John Worthington III 1728 – 1790
James Worthington 1772 – 1854
John Henry H Worthington 1793 – 1858
John Thomas Worthington 1828 – 1905
Glenn Howard Worthington 1858 – 1934

The farm was owned by John Thomas Worthington. John Worthington, Jr, was the oldest son of Capt. John and Sarah.

Of note, if you have been following this blog, Howard shows up again, in the final entry above, Glenn Howard Worthington.

I had met the grandson of Glenn Howard Worthington a couple of times, include in 1999 when a hiking trail at the Worthington Farm was dedicated. He, David Reed, has since passed away.

Looking forward to this event and exhibit, and finding more about this important battle of the Civil War.

The Battle of Monocacy–148 Year Ago

It’s called the Battle that Saved Washington.

July 7, 2012, the National Park Service celebrated the Battle of Monocacy that took place on July 9, 1864. It was to have been a two day event, but the temperature was in the 90’s, so they backed it off to one day. Monocacy is a couple of miles south of Frederick, Maryland.

So what was it like in 1864? Don’t know, as I haven’t found any temperature readings for that date and place, but there was much to be learned about this battle.

There were three farms along the Monocacy River, where this battle took place. One on the North side of the river, the Best Farm, Two on the South, the Thomas and Worthington Farms.

The Best Farm:

The Thomas Farm:

And the Worthington Farm:

The owner of this farm was John Thomas Worthington (1826-1905) who is my 4th Cousin, 3 Times Removed. His ancestor was the oldest son of Capt. John Worthington (1650-1701), while my ancestor was the youngest son of Capt. John.

Judge Glenn Howard Worthington (1858-1934) was the son of John Thomas Worthington who wrote the book “The Battle that Saved Washington”.  It should be noted, that Judge Worthington was involved in creating this National Battlefield before his death in 1934.

The re-enactor’s for the day, were “in uniform”, as they may have been 148 years ago, and had a number of demonstrations to give a hint as to what the battle might have looked like.

The story teller, gave us a hint into the life of the Confederate Army at the time of this battle.

The above photography was demonstrating a Skirmish Line, as an advanced party ahead of the Confederate Army that was behind them.

The Union story teller, walked us through “by the 9 count”, and what that was so important.

The Union Army was demonstrating “by the 9 count” way of firing. Oh, did you know that 4 teeth and 2 fingers were required to be in the Army? We learned why.

The National Park Service provided information about the importance of this battle. This was the only battle that the Confederate Army won on Union Soil?

The Confederate Army was going to take Washington, DC. The Union Army was “out of place”, and were trying to get re-enforcements back to DC to fortify the city.

The Union Army was able to slow down the Confederate Army for “a day”, allowing those re-enforcements to get back into place.

The heat of the day, watching the demonstration, helped put this battle into perspective, from the stories of this battle, at this place, 148 years ago.

Samuel Worthington on this day122 Years ago

Well, yesterday.

Dear MYRTLE found a Civil War Pension Record for Samuel Worthington, my Great-Grandfather. (1843-1897).

This is a card created when he file this Invalid Application on May 21, 1889. The application number is 705.908, Certificate 699.194. I hope to actually see the documents that this is referring to next week.

“Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934″, digital image, The National Archives (www.ancestry.com), accessed: 22 May 2012; citing  General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. T288, 546 rolls. index for Samuel Worthington.