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THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM JACKSON WORTHINGTON (1832 1914 CE)

A CHRONOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY

by Donald J. Ivey

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I.

Title

Page

Youth & Education (1832-1854 CE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

II.

Kentucky Pioneer (1854-1861) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

III.

Citizen Soldier (1861-1865) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

IV.

Legislator & Judge (1865-1895) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

V.

Lieutenant Governor (1895-1899) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24

VI.

Elder Statesman (1899-1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 APPENDIX: BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

PREFACE This is a biography that began with a picture. Some years ago, I had an interest in collecting signed carte de visites of Civil War veterans. (Carte de visites-also known as CDVs-were photographic portraits of individuals that were placed on small card size paper prints. Popular in the mid-to-late 19th Century, they were used as calling cards.) At one point in a swap I obtained a CDV of Worthington while he was serving with the 22nd Kentucky Infantry during the Civil War. Knowing nothing of him except the name and regiment which he had signed on the card, I researched a bit and found out more about him. The result is this study. This biography is presented in the form of an historical timeline chronology. By tracing the major developments of Worthingtons life through time, I hope to present both a concise and highly readable study based entirely on the facts as we know them. As a rule, however, historical chronologies are generally difficult to put together, as they can neglect important information while over-emphasizing others, which in turn can lead to a misrepresentation of the facts as a whole. With this very much in mind, I have endeavored to present to you, the reader, with a fair, balanced and accurate account of the life of this extraordinary man.

Donald J. Ivey September 14, 2009

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM JACKSON WORTHINGTON (1832-1914 CE) A CHRONOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY Chapter I: Youth & Education (1832-1854)

1832 November 9 William Jackson Worthington was born near the town of Johnstown in Westmoreland County, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was the fifth child and the third son of the nine children of John Worthington and his wife, Ann Sarah (Luther) Worthington. The Worthingtons were an old family of English ancestry. Williams father, originally from Maryland, worked as a collier (coal miner) and also farmed the land. His mother, a native of Pennsylvania, was said to have been a descendant of William Penn.

c.1839 or 1840 John Worthington moved his family to Lawrence County, Ohio, where he established a farmstead. During this period, William, now about age 6 or 7, underwent his early education. Education in rural areas of America during the Nineteenth Century was a far more informal affair than it is today, with the children receiving their initial instruction at home. Then, at about the age of age 6 the children were sent to school, which usually consisted of classes composed of children of all ages from the surrounding area. Classes were held in a small one or two room schoolhouse, or if the family was a bit better off, schooling would often continue at home under the tutelage of a private teacher. Helping on the family farm was also a major part of a childs upbringing, and William no doubt spent a considerable amount of his time doing chores along with his brothers (James, born in 1828; David, in 1830; Finley, 1834; John Jack, 1836; and Charles, 1843), and sisters (Nancy, born in 1824; Rachel 1826; Sarah Jane, 1838; Mary Hannah, 1841) while learning to hunt, fish, ride a horse and tend crops and livestock as well. Little is known of William J. Worthingtons early education, other than he attended the public schools of West Moreland County, Pennsylvania and Lawrence County, Ohio according to one source, as opportunity afforded.

c.1849 John Worthington again moved his family, this time settling them in Scioto County, Ohio. In Scioto, William, now about 17, worked on the family farm and may have also worked in the local iron furnaces in the area. 1

1850 August 24 United States census records for Carter County, Kentucky listed William J. Worthington, now age 17, as residing in District No. 2 within the county with his father John, 49, and elder brothers James, 21, and David 19. His father occupation was listed as Collier, while the occupation of William and his brothers was given as Laborer. No values were recorded on their real or personal property. Two other men (Jackson Wade, 21, a Laborer from Pennsylvania and Samuel Bell, 20, a Laborer from Ohio) were also listed as residing with them. September 5 Federal census records for Scioto County, Ohio also recorded William Worthington, age 18 [actually, he was still 17 at the time] as living in Green Township, District No. 133 with his parents; and brothers and sisters Annie, 27; Rachel, 24; James, 22; David, 20; John, 14; Sarah J[ane], 13; Mary H[annah], 10; Charles, 7; and Phinley [Finley], 16. The for William, his father and brothers James, David, and Finley was listed as Labourer; no values were recorded for their real or personal property. William was also listed as having attended school within the last year. William Worthington, his father and two brothers probably worked in the coal mines in Kentucky for part of the year, thus explaining their dual addresses during this census.

Chapter II: Kentucky Pioneer (1854-1861)

c.1854 At about the age of 22, William J. Worthington moved to Greenup County, Kentucky, most probably with his older brothers John (Jack) and Charles. [insert details on the history, geography, etc. of the county]. In Greenup, Worthington went into the iron business in east Kentucky, working with iron furnaces while also engaging in farming. By the following year (1855) he had taken charge of the Clinton Iron Works at Argillite, on the Little Sandy River.

1856 [or 1858] September 9 William J. Worthington, now age 23, married Miss Catherine Ann Steele, 23, the daughter of Dr. Daniel Steele of Cannonsburg in Boyd County, Kentucky. The marriage ceremony was conducted in Greenup County. Dr. Steele was a well-known local physician who practiced medicine at Prestonburg [in Floyd County] as far back as 1836 according to one source. He moved from Prestonburg to Cannonsburg about 1850, and continued to practice until 1861. His son, Catherines brother, Dr. john H. Steele, was said to have been the first doctor in Carter County, Kentucky.

c.1857 During this same period, Worthington also studied law. As with the rest of the educational system during this period, the process of becoming a lawyer was far easier and more informal than it is today. Few practicing lawyers of that era ever attended law school (many like Worthington, never even attended college). Instead, far more aspiring lawyers learned the profession by apprenticing themselves in the office of an established local attorney. By studying under the attorneys tutelage while assisting him in his practice, aspiring attorneys would then learn the practice of the law. Thus, with this kind of training behind him, Worthington was able to pass the bar and was admitted by the Greenup County Court to the Bar of the Commonwealth of Kentucky as an Attorney at Law.

1858 November 14 Birth of William and Catherine Worthingtons two eldest children, twin daughters, Anne (also known as Anna or Annie) and Agnes Worthington in Greenup County. Annie Worthington married twice, first to Charles H. Dickey, and then to W.B. Strader. She died in Boise, Idaho in 1930 at the age of 71. Agnes married George Callihan (or Callahan) and lived in Greenup County until her death in 1902 at the age of 43. December 16 No doubt to help provide for his growing family, Worthington on this date purchased two tracts of land from Henry and Ariane Hardwick, one containing 94 acres of 3

bottom land and another 28 acres of woodland on the banks of the Little Sandy River for the sum of $2,000- a princely sum in those days.

1859 December 1 Birth of William and Catherines third child and their eldest son, Finley Worthington in Greenup. Little is known about Finley, but he apparently moved to Alabama and appears to have died there at a young age sometime before 1889.

1860 July 13 U. S. census records for Greenup County recorded W.J. Worthington, now age 27, as residing near the Greenup County Courthouse in Sub[division] D No. 2, East Little Sandy with his wife C.A. [Catherine], 26, and their three children Agnes, and Annie, 2 [actually they were just shy of 20 months old], and Finley, 7 months. Worthingtons occupation was listed as Farmer. The value of his real estate totaled $4,000.00, and his personal estate was valued at $800.00--figures which all point to the familys increasing affluence. Also living with family is William Davis, a 24-year-old white male listed as a Farm Hand. November 6 Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, a Republican, was elected as the sixteenth President of the United States. Considered a radical by most slave holders, Lincoln carried all of the free states but none of the slave states. In Kentucky, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell narrowly defeated Southern Democrat and Kentucky native son Vice President John C. Breckinridge Kentucky, with Democratic challenger Stephen A. Douglas of Illinios coming in a distant third and Lincoln coming in last with barely 1,300 votes statewide. With Lincolns election, many in the South saw secession from the Union as the only alternative to what many slaveholders would saw as the tyranny of the Black Republican Party. December 20 In reaction to Lincolns victory, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union, declaring by a vote of 169 to 0 that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name of the United States of America is hereby dissolved. (31)

Chapter III: Citizen Soldier (1861-1865)

1861 April 12 Confederate artillery batteries under the command of Confederate Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard fired on Federal troops in Fort Sumter, off Charleston harbor in South Carolina. The next day the fort surrendered. The attack was the result of continuing demands by Confederate and state officials for all Federal facilities to be turned over the Confederacy, and signaled the beginning of the American Civil War. Three days later, President Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring that a state of insurrection existed, and called for 75,000 militia volunteers to serve for a period of three months. Later, on April 19, the President declared a naval blockade of all southern ports. Spring-Summer As preparations for war increased all throughout the country, in Greenup County Worthington began to recruit and organize a company of men for service in the U.S. Army. October 17 Meanwhile in Kentucky, the Worthingtons fourth child and their second son, (John) Thomas Worthington, was born, probably in Greenup. Like his brother Finley, John Worthington appears to have moved to Alabama. He died in 1923 at the age of 61 and is buries with Finley in Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky. November 9 On his 29th birthday and just weeks after the birth of son, Worthington enrolled for service in the United States Army at Louisa in Lawrence County, Kentucky [or Camp Swigert, Greenup County] as Captain of the company which he raised, which now was mustered into service as Company B of the 22nd Regiment of Kentucky Volunteer Infantry.

1862 January 10 Along with the rest of his company, Worthington was mustered into the United States Army at Louisa in Lawrence County, Kentucky, to serve for a period of three years or for the duration of the war. Worthingtons commission as Captain of the company was also approved, to take rank as of this day. January 20 Ten days later, the 22nd Kentucky Infantry Regiment was organized at Louisa, and Worthingtons company was mustered in as Company B of the regiment. The regiment was initially attached to 18th Brigade of the Army of the Ohio. January 10- May 22 According to company and regimental records, from January 10 to February 28, Worthingtons company was stationed at Camp Brownlow in Pikeville, Pike County, Kentucky, and then in March moved to Camp Cochran on the Cumberland River. From March, the regiment was also re-assigned to the 26th Brigade, of the 7th Division of the Army of the Ohio, where they served until October 1862. 5

May 22 According to company Record of Events, on this date Worthingtons company Left Camp Cochran on the Cumberland River [and] Marched five miles in the direction of Cumberland Gap, where they then Went into camp at what is known as Moss House. June 2 Citing private business that demands my attention at home which cannot be entrusted to the care of another without material loss, Captain Worthington tendered his resignation as Captain of Company B, to take effect on July 15, 1862. Although approved by the 22nds commander, Col. Daniel W. Lindsay, the resignation was subsequently not accepted by higher military authorities, and Worthington continued in service. Instead, a leave of absence was approved which enabled him to return home to care of his business, which was most probably connected with his farm. June 7 Meanwhile, on this date, according to company records, Company B On the morning of June 7 at 5 oclock we took up our line of march for East Tennessee, passing through what is known as Rogers Gap, nineteen miles west of the Cumberland Gap. We were much retarded in our march by obstructions placed in the road by the Rebels and also in crossing the mountain, which was very rugged. June 11-18 On June 18th, the 22nd Kentucky served as part of the Union forces under Brig. Gen. George W. Morgan which occupied Cumberland Gap, a vital strategic stronghold in southeastern Kentucky, which Union forces occupied the day after Confederate troops evacuated the area, the enemy having, according to regimental records, but a few hours before evacuated, the same destroying much valuable property, consisting of subsistence stores [and] camp equipage. According to the Record of Events for Company B during this period: We reached Powell Valley, where we remained until June 18, some slight skirmishing taking place between our pickets and the Rebel cavalry. At 1.30 on the morning of June 18 we started for the gap, expecting to engage the enemy eight miles above, when they were reported to be in considerable force, but before reaching them, [found] they had left. We immediately pushed on for the gap, which we reached at 3 oclock p.m., the Rebels having left at 8 oclock a.m. of the same day, leaving all their tents, about 500 in number, which they had completely riddled with their knives, and also five large cannon, all of which were spiked and the cartridges cut down. This place is justly termed the labyrinth of America, being perfectly invulnerable from every point. July 25-26 According to the Record of Events of the Regiments Field and Staff, on these dates the regiment Marched from Camp Virginia [near Cumberland Gap] to Tazewell, distance seventeen miles. Took up position on the hill north of the town and bivouacked 6

for the night. Early the next morning drove the enemys pickets from the ridge south of the town and occupied it during the day to protect a foraging train operating in the valley behind us. August 6 Captain Worthington served with his company at the Battle of Cumberland Gap (or Tazewell), Tennessee, where a Union foraging expedition under Col. John F. DeCourcey was attacked and almost surrounded by superior Confederate forces. The detachment (of which the 22nd was a part), managed to escape the entrapment, and in the ensuing retreat, the 22nd served to cover the Union Armys retreat from the town. September 5 [or October 21] 22nd Kentucky. Captain Worthington was promoted to the rank of major in the

September 18 After being cut off from all lines of communication and supplies by Confederate forces under Gen. Edmund Kirby-Smith, and facing imminent starvation, Morgan evacuated all of his forces from the Gap. Worthington was with the 22nd during the evacuation, in which the regiment covered the rear of the retreating Union army. By October 3, the army finally reached Greenup after a harrowing but skillful retreat of nearly 230 miles. October-December The 22nd Kentucky served as part of the 4th Brigade, District of West Virginia, Dept. of the Ohio until November 1862, and then served as part of the 3rd Brigade, 9th Division, Right Wing 13th Army Corps (Old), Dept. of the Tennessee until December 1862. November 15 After being stationed for a time aboard the steamboat Crescent City, Major Worthington and the rest of the regiment reached Memphis after retreating from Cumberland Gap to the Kanawha Valley to relieve the forces of General Cox, where the 22nd (as part of General Morgans Division) helped drive Confederate forces behind Gauley Ridge. December 26-29 Worthington served with the regiment (now part of DeCourceys 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, as part of Sherman's Yazoo Expedition) during several days of skirmishing with Confederate forces at Chickasaw Bluffs, near Vicksburg, Mississippi. When the commander of the 22nd, Lt. Col. George W. Monroe, was wounded in action during an assault on Chickasaw Bluffs on the 29th, Worthington assumed command of the regiment and took it out of action. Years later, in his memoirs, Union Gen. William T. Sherman had criticized DeCourceys brigade as being derelict in duty in an assault on Confederate positions on December 29th , a position which became the subject of hot dispute with the men of the 22nd Kentucky who served at the battle. Writing shortly after the engagement, Regimental Surgeon Dr. B.F. Stevenson of the 22nd recalled that: . . . On the morning of the 29th the order to assault at noon was given, and the central portion of the rebel works assigned to Gen. Morgans division, and, as I think, without due consideration for the exhausted condition of the men. They had 7

been engaged, without intermission, for forty hours, fighting or working; they had endured two nights of cold drenching rain; they had been badly fed, and many of the men were sick. They went in with alacrity, and came out with untarnished honor, but repulsed and terribly cut up. The distance was greater than anticipated, and the obstructions very much more than had been counted on. They had a space of full half a mile to pass over, covered with fallen timber; they had a bayou, or ravine, deep in mud and water, to wade through. All these difficulties were surmounted, and the open grounds immediately in front of the works reached and occupied, when a concentric fire from an array of masked batteries was opened on our fatigued and exhausted men, before which it was impossible for any troops to stand or advance. The force fell back in good order, bringing with them most of our wounded. . . . . The 22nd went into action with about 400 bayonets, and came out with eighty three killed and wounded, and twenty nine missing. In a letter written to Stevenson in 1884, Worthington also challenged Shermans account of the events of that day, writing: . . . My recollection . . . is very vivid in regard to the whole affair. The topography of the country, in fact all the incidents pertaining to that disastrous and ill-advised attack are too deeply impressed upon my mind ever to be forgotten. As regards the lay of the country, you will recollect that, as we advanced from the river, in the direction of the enemys works, there was on our left a bayou with a low levee, serving to protect the arable land from overflow. We, on going out, passed through cultivated land, not striking the levee until near the Lake house, where we were fired on (22d) in column and in front. All the land on our right and front in the neighborhood of the Lake house, up to where our batteries were posted in the woods, was at that time dry land. There was between the house and the woods where the batteries were posted, a swale or dry lagoon, having but little water in it. The night previous to the assault Captain Patterson, of the Pioneer Corps, with some four companies of the 22d Kentucky, was sent forward to dig some rifle pits, just in the edge of the woods, and adjoining the down timber which lay in our front, and between us and the enemys works, over and through which we had to pass in the attack; and also to pontoon the bayou, which lay in our immediate front. This being accomplished, the guard accompanying him was retired to the edge of the woods, where the rifle pits were constructed, and the rest of the brigade brought up in the early morning, where we remained until the assault was delivered. 8

This position brought us in fair view of the enemys works, and resulted in a brisk fire from their batteries all the forenoon. I was talking to General DeCourcey at the time he read the order to advance. The men were ordered to fall in, which they did in columns of company, in which position they remained for some time. DeCourcey directed me to go among the men and counsel them to keep cool, and advance rapidly when the order was given, and if compelled to fall back, to do so leisurely, and preserve our organization, so as to be ready to defend ourselves against any attack of cavalry, adding at the same time that the assault was ill-advised, and that it would prove disastrous, but not to let the men have any other idea than that of victory. When the advance was ordered we moved up and passed the pontoon above referred to, and formed line of battle on the edge of the bayou, in the fallen timber, being subjected to a heavy fire all the time from the enemys batteries; but, fortunately for us, they fired too high to do much harm. The line being formed, the advance was commenced, all in full view of the enemys works, which were constructed along the foot of the hills in a semicircular form, and from which there burst forth an almost unbroken sheet of flame as we commenced to advance. Our line of march led us directly into the field, half-way encircled by their works, without cover or shelter of any kind. The brigade moved forward rapidly and in good order until we reached the bayou to which, I presume, General Sherman refers, and says we safely crossed. This is a mistake, and an unpardonable one in the General commanding, in more ways than one; for, in the first place, he should have had the ground reconnoitered over which his troops had to pass in so perilous and hazardous an assault, so as to ascertain whether they would meet with an impassable barrier, immediately in the face of the enemys batteries and rifle pits; in the second place, if he has ever looked (since the engagement) at the ground the brigade passed over in its advance, he knows that the bayou lat right across their line of march, and was impassable (and at the time of the attack its very existence was unknown to the General commanding, or to any of his subordinates), and covered almost its entire front, being from ten to fifteen feet in depth. When the command struck the bayou it was temporarily checked. General DeCourcey was on the right center of the command at the time, and was so situated that he could not see how far the water extended to the left. He was much chagrined at this unexpected obstruction, and asked to have some one carry a note to General Morgan. No one coming forward, I proferred to carry it for him. He replied, No! Major, no! I will get some one else, and commenced to write. Just at this moment a command, or word of command, was passed up the line, to move by the left flank. The General repeated the command in a loud tone of voice, and started down the line, I accompanying him, and both going faster than the line could move in ranks. We passed down, or to the left, for about 150 or 200 yards, where we reached the end of the water, showing it to be a pond, where we passed around the pond, wading through deep mud and over some logs that had been used as a bridge, the men following as fast as they could, and forming, or attempting to form, on the plateau, just in front of the enemys guns, and under a 9

most destructive fire, continuing to advance all the time, not a single man stopping to take shelter under the bank, as stated by the General; and, furthermore, there was not a single position occupied or passed over by the brigade from the time the line of battle was formed, either in advancing or falling back, where it could have been screened for a moment from the enemys fire, but it was in fair view and direct range all the time. In order to have availed ourselves of the shelter afforded by the bank on the opposite side of the bayou, we would have been obliged to do what the General says we did (but what we did not do), that is, cross the bayou. Instead of crossing, as before stated, we moved to the left, and around the water, leaving us all the time in plain view and easy range of the enemys guns. The bridge on which we crossed, I think, was constructed by the enemy. The battle proper lasted but a short time, concentrated as our troops were in the small space of ground in front of the enemys guns, dealing destruction at every volley. General Sherman should remember the old Grecian adage, That he that has made no mistakes has not been engaged in the military service long. The General, having been engaged for some time in the business, must of necessity, according to this maxim, have made some mistakes, and this is probably the most flagrant and palpable one of them all. However, a scape-goat or an excuse must be had, and the consequence is that our brigade has to suffer, and, I must say, very unjustly, as no men ever behaved better under the circumstances than did DeCourceys. (Dr. Stevenson, who later wrote to Sherman to obtain his comments, was given the reply by Sherman that Frank Blair, T.C. Fletcher, and Fred. Steel were my authorities for this portion of his memoirs. In response, Stevenson wrote Frank Blair, T.C. Fletcher, and Fred. Steel, were all of them honorable men, but not a whit more so than General G.W. Morgan, J.F. DeCourcey, and Wm. J. Worthington; and the statements of the latter officers, corroborated and sustained as they are by the morning reports, must by all candid and just men be regarded as the more reliable testimony.)

1863 Janaury The 22 Kentucky was again, re-assigned, this time to serve as part of the 3rd Brigade, 9th Division of the 13th Army Corps.
nd

January 10-11 Union forces under the command of Gen. John A. McClernand captured and destroyed Fort Hindman, a Confederate stronghold at Arkansas Post on the Arkansas River. Worthington served with the regiment during this engagement. January 17-22 During this period, the regiment moved to Young's Point, Louisiana, where they remained on duty until March.

10

February 1863 The regiment was assigned to serve as part of the 2nd Brigade, 9th Division, 13th Army Corps, where they remained until July 1863. March- April During this period, the 22nd was stationed near Grand Gulf, Mississippi until April 10th, when they moved to new quarters at Richmond, Louisiana. From March 31st to April 17th, the regiment participated in operations from Milliken's Bend to New Carthage. May 1 Worthington commanded the regiment at the Battle of Port Gibson, also known as Thompsons Hill or Magnolia Church, in Mississippi. In his report of the action, Col. F.A. Sheldon, commander of the 2nd Brigade (of which the 22nd was a part), Ninth Division, 13th Army Corps, commended Worthington as having acted ably and gallantly during the battle, in which, according to the Regiments Record of Events, [a]fter a fight of nine hours the enemy retired, leaving us masters of the field. We had three wounded in this action. A report by Colonel Sheldon gives further details of the battle: At about 7:30 a.m. the Sixteenth, Forty-second, and One hundred and fourteenth Ohio and Twenty-second Kentucky were formed in line of battle, by battalion in mass, . . . and remained for half an hour under the artillery fire of the enemy, which did but slight damage, however . . . At about 8 oclock, the Sixteenth and Twenty-second were ordered to the center, to meet any movement in that quarter. They advanced to the woods and formed line of battle, and two companies were deployed as skirmishers and advanced into the woods. No enemy appeared, and the regiments, pursuant to General Osterhaus order, were moved to the left. . . . At about 11 oclock, the Sixteenth and Twenty-second were formed in the line on the left of the Forty-second [Ohio]. Two companies of skirmishers were thrown forward to the brow of the hill, keeping up for one-half hour a welldirected fire upon the enemy. At the expiration of this time, an advance of the three regiments was ordered. The order was obeyed in very splendid order. The Sixteenth and Twenty-second, obliquing to the left, entered the ravine on the front and left of the enemys position, and advanced under cover very near the enemy, and maintained their position until near night, doing considerable damage to the enemy by the continuous and well-directed fire they kept up. May 16 The 22nd served in the Battle of Champion Hill, or Bakers Creek, Mississippi, in which Union forces under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant routed a Confederate army commanded by Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton. Fifteen men of the 22nd were wounded in the engagement. According to the Regiments Record of Events, [w]e again encountered the enemy at Champions Hill and after desperate fighting for eight hours, we again drove them before us, capturing 2,000 prisoners and killing and wounded 1,500.

11

In this battle, according to Dr. Stevenson, Major Worthington, in command of Companies B and C [as part of Lindseys brigade] , had been directed to support the 1st Michigan battery . . According to the official report of battle from General McClernand: In front of my center, as well as my right, the enemy appeared in great numbers. Garrards brigade was hard pressed, and General Osterhaus requested that it should be supported. All of Lawlers Brigade, of Carrs division, except a reserve of one regiment, also advanced to support Lindseys , who had pushed a charge near the mouth of a battery. Lawlers brigade here cast the trembling balance in our favor. Himself narrowly escaping the effect of a shell, his men joined Lindsey, and both dashed forward, shooting down the enemys battery horses, driving away his gunners, and capturing two pieces of cannon. . . . The enemy, this beaten at all points, fled in confusion, the main body along the road leading to Vicksburg, a fragment to the left of that road. General Carrs division, taking the advance, hotly pressed the former, and Lindseys and Burbridges brigades the latter, until night closed in, each taking many prisoners. In his official report of the battle, Col. Daniel W. Lindsey added that On the morning of the 16th instant, in accordance with orders, marched in the rear of First Brigade, in the following order: One hundred and fourteenth Ohio, Twenty-second Kentucky, First Wisconsin Battery, Sixteenth and Forty-second Ohio. After moving some 3 or 4 miles on the road leading from Mrs. Jones' to Edwards Station, I was notified that the enemy was in our front. I was then ordered by the general commanding division to send four companies--two deployed as skirmishers, and the other two as their support--into the woods on the right, to press the enemy, and, if possible, ascertain their position and strength. The execution of this order was assigned to Major Lynch, of the One hundred and fourteenth Ohio, with four companies from his regiment. I was then ordered to place the remainder of the brigade, with the First Wisconsin and two sections of the Seventh Michigan Battery, in position to repel an attack, my front and flanks to be well protected by skirmishers. Having executed this order, we soon heard the skirmishers of the One hundred and fourteenth Ohio, and the First Brigade opened upon the enemy, who apparently gave way. In this position we remained something like one and a half hours, when I was ordered to advance two regiments, leave one in column on the road at a point where a plantation road turns off to the left, and with the other to turn off upon the last-mentioned road, and advance until the regiment in column should reach the opposite edge of the woods, immediately in front of my first position, and from there throw skirmishers to the front. The One hundred and fourteenth Ohio was left at the point above mentioned in the road, the four companies under Major Lynch having been previously ordered in, and the Twenty-second Kentucky was advanced in the woods. Judging from the little I could observe of our line on my right that I would soon receive the order to advance the Twenty-second Kentucky, I asked to be 12

allowed to strengthen it by either the Forty-second or One hundred and fourteenth Ohio. Lieutenant [Jacob] Swigert, one of my aides-de-camp, returned with the information that both of the regiments sent for had been ordered by General Osterhaus into action on the right, but that the Sixteenth Ohio would report to me in front immediately, and that a brigade from General Carr's division would advance with me. As soon as the Sixteenth could move to the front, the two small regiments there under my command, numbering --- men, companies from each having been left with the artillery, were formed in line, awaiting the advance of the brigade on our right, which had formed some distance to our right and rear, and also the order for me to move forward. The latter soon came, to the effect that I should move forward and take the woods to our right and front, which had the appearance of being a point at which the enemy were rallying and reforming such of his broken columns as had been driven back on the right. At command the line moved forward in very good order, until it came to a very large drain, running through the open field over which we were moving. Here they became somewhat broken; but the fire of the enemy was so severe that I did not deem it prudent to halt sufficiently long to reform entirely, but, as soon as the bulk of the men were over, ordered them to advance. From this point to the woods we moved very rapidly, the Sixteenth Ohio moving, however, too far to the left to reach the woods in time for the Twenty-second. The latter regiment went into the skirt of the woods, but was very soon driven back a little over the brow of the hill. Here they were halted by Lieutenant-Colonel Monroe, commanding, and the Sixteenth coming up, both regiments again charged into the woods. This position, which we held for about half an hour, we were compelled to retire from, the enemy having brought up a battery to rake the woods, with a much stronger infantry force than my own to support it. I regarded my advance as an important one, and regret exceedingly my inability to maintain it. Immediately on returning to the position from which we had made the charge, the regiments were reformed, and the line, both upon the right and left, advancing, we moved forward also. The enemy rapidly retired, our skirmishers only getting an occasional shot. After advancing some 2 miles, the greater portion of the distance through a dense woods, and capturing more prisoners than we had men, our skirmishers were fired upon by a battery upon our left. Knowing that we had forces upon our left, I sent a staff officer to communicate with them, and at the same time changed my front a little to the left and advanced my skirmishers. On the approach of the latter the enemy retired his battery, leaving a wagon-load of ammunition on the ground. At this point Lieutenant-Colonel Pardee brought me an order from General McClernand to move with my command to Edwards Station. Waiting a short time for the return of my aide.de-camp (Lieutenant Risdon), who had gone to communicate with Generals Blair and Smith, on the left, I ordered the 13

ammunition destroyed (in the execution of which order Captain Thomas, of the Twenty- second Kentucky, a most gallant and efficient officer, was severely burned by the explosion), marched to Edwards Station, and bivouacked at 12 o'clock at night. . . . My entire command, both officers and men, have exhibited an alacrity and promptness in the execution of all duties assigned them truly gratifying to me. Although worn down and but scantily fed during the period embraced by this report, each and every one of them has my sincere thanks . . . May 17 The next day, the regiment fought in battle at Big Black Bridge, Mississippi. This battle saw another major defeat and rout of the Confederates, as the Union Army continued its slow but steady encirclement of the Confederate Gibraltar of the West, at Vicksburg. The two engagements at Champion Hill and Big Black Bridge forced the Confederate army under Gen. John Pemberton to retreat into their fortifications at Vicksburg. According to the Record of Events of the 22nd, [The regiment] met them at big black river and again we were victorious, killing and wounding about 4,000 and capturing about 2,000 prisoners. According to the report of Brig. Gen. Peter J. Osterhaus of the engagement, In order to secure my flank and co-operate with General Smith I ordered Col. Lindsey, with the two remaining regiments of his brigade, 16th Ohio and 22 Ky., to take position in the edge of the timber and open fire against the enemys position . . . I refer to the Colonels report, and take great pleasure in commending the action of this meritorious officer. . . . Thousands of the enemy were found scattered everywhere, and fell into our hands as prisoners of war. Col. Lindsey , with the 16th Ohio and 22d. Ky. alone, took more prisoners than the whole numbers of his brigade combined. May 18-July 4 The 22nd arrived at Vicksburg on the 18th, where according to regimental records it Pursued them [the enemy], driving them into their fortifications in the rear of Vicksburg. Thus began the regiments participation in the siege of this vital stronghold for the Confederacy. The regiment served there until July 4th, when the remaining Confederate troops in the town surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. During the siege, the 22nd served in two major assaults on the city, on May 19th and 22nd. On the 19th, regimental records stated that We attacked them in their works, gaining good position, while on the 22nd We again attacked their works but were repulsed. July The 22nd Kentucky was posted to the 4th Brigade, 1st Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, where they served until to August 1863; they were then re-assigned to the Department of the Gulf until September 1863. July 19 While the regiment was encamped near Jackson, Mississippi, where it served in the siege and capture of that city, Worthington requested a leave of absence for 20 days to arrange my business . . . [which] is of the utmost importance to myself and my family. (The request 14

was subsequently granted, and in August, Worthington returned home to Greenup on leave of absence from the army to attend to his personal business. September 6 In September, the regiment was assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 13th Army Corps, and on this date, they [r]eceived marching orders; proceeded from New Orleans, Louisiana to Brashear City by rail, distance eighty miles. September 27-October 7 Started from Brashear City, reaching new Iberia, Louisiana on October 7, stopping frequently on the road, distance fifty miles. October 10-12 Left new Iberia for Vermillion Bayou. Reached there on October 12; no enemy in sight. October 14 The commander of the 22nd, Col. Daniel W. Lindsey, resigned his command to accept the position of inspector-general of Kentucky. October 15 The following day, George W. Monroe was promoted to the rank of Colonel to command the regiment, while Worthington was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and second-in-command of the 22nd at Plaquemine, Louisiana, where the regiment was assigned to the District of Baton Rouge, La., Department of the Gulf. October 22-27 Left vermillion for Opelousas. Reached there on October 27. October 30 Received orders to return to New Iberia. Reached there on October 30. Nothing of interest occurred on the march worthy of notice. November 21 From this date on, the 22nd Kentucky was posted to duty at Plaquemine, where they served until March 24, 1864.

1864 January 7 Worthington requested another leave of absence from the regiment (now headquartered at Plaquemine) for a period of 60 days due to the death of his father-in-law, which leaves my wife without any male friend, upon whom we can rely for the settlement of his affairs. He added that he believed it to be my sacred duty to see that my family are properly cared for. (According to one source, Worthingtons father-in-law, Dr. Steele, died at Worthingtons home, and his death was followed shortly thereafter by the death of his wife.) The Colonel commanding, L.A. Sheldon, approved the request and submitted it to the chief of staff , noting that Lt. Col. Worthington is a gentleman and a worthy officer. January 11- c. March 11 Worthington was absent from the regiment with leave by order of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks to attend to the settlement of his father-in-laws estate in Kentucky.

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February 26 While Worthington was on leave in Kentucky, he purchased a 162-acre tract of land on the Little Sandy River in Greenup County from Henry Hardwick for the sum of $2,754, with $2,500 down and the balance to be paid by February 26, 1866. March The 22nd Kentucky Infantry Regiment re-enlisted as Veteran Volunteers and were consolidated with the 7th Kentucky Veteran Infantry Regiment at Baton Rouge, Louisiana to serve as part of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 13th Army Corps. At the same time, Worthington was confirmed as Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. April The following month, the regiment was ordered to Alexandria, Louisiana, where they reported for duty on April 26th. April 26-May 22 During this period, Worthington served with the 22nd during the Red River campaign under the command of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks. The Red River Campaign (also known as the Red River Expedition) was a Union initiative, fought between the 30,000 Union troops under the command of Banks, and Confederate troops under the command of Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor, whose strength varied from 6,000 to 12,000. The campaign centered around a plan to surround the main Confederate forces by using the soldiers in Banks's Army of the Gulf to capture Mobile, Alabama. It was a dismal Union failure, characterized by poor planning and mismanagement, in which not a single objective was fully accomplished, while Taylor's successful defense of the Red River Valley with a smaller force is considered one of the most brilliant Confederate military feats of the war. During the campaign, the 22nd was involved in action at Grahams Plantation on May 5th; the retreat to Morganza, Louisiana from May 13th to the 20th; and at Mansura on May 16th. June The 22nd was assigned to the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 19th Army Corps, Dept. of the Gulf, where they remained until the end of the year. September-October By this period, the 22nd was stationed along the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana, where regimental returns stated that since the [last] muster (August 31) this regiment has made no marches worthy of note. Have been encamped at Morganza Bend, Louisiana until within the last few days, when we [were] ordered to this point, distance nine miles. By November, the regiment moved on to Baton Rouge, and by the end of the year, was stationed at Olive Branch, Louisiana. November 28 Meanwhile, in Lawrence, Ohio, John Worthington, Williams father, died at the age of 63 years, 5 months, and 17 days.

1865 January 20 Lieutenant Colonel Worthington, now age 32, was honorably mustered out of the U.S. army along with the rest of the 22nd Kentucky Infantry with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel 16

at Louisville, Kentucky on this date. He was later said to have been offered a commission as Brigadier General of Volunteers, but declined the appointment. During its three years in service, the regiment lost a total of 199 men, including 3 officers and 48 enlisted men who were killed or mortally wounded, and 3 officers and 145 enlisted men who died of disease. At the expiration of his term of service, Worthington returned to his home in Greenup, where he resumed the operation of his stock farm, and moved his family to his new land holdings at Raccoon Furnace in Greenup County, where on returning home, he was thereafter known as Col. Bill. April 9 Confederate Gen. in Chief Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to U.S. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Lees surrender was followed on April 26 by the surrender of the Confederate Army of the Tennessee at Durham Station, North Carolina and the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department Army on June 2 at Galveston, Texas. With the surrender of these forces--except for some minor skirmishing and guerrilla activity in the West--the bloodiest war in American history drew to a close. April 14 In Washington, President Lincoln was shot while attending the play Our American Cousin at Fords Theater by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. He died the next morning, and was succeeded in office by Vice President Andrew Johnson In Kentucky, Democratic Governor Thomas E. Bramlette- who had frequently been at odds with Lincoln- proclaimed a day of fasting and prayer upon receiving news of the Presidents assassination. The Kentucky General Assembly then petitioned the new president, Andrew Johnson, to call an end to martial law in the state. The tension between the state and federal governments remained however, leading Governor Bramlette to declare that every white male citizen twenty-one years of age who had resided in the Commonwealth for at least two years would be eligible to vote.

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Chapter IV: Legislator & Judge (1865-1895)

1865 August 7 In state elections in Kentucky, Worthington was elected as a member of the commonwealths Union (Republican) Party to serve a four-year term from Senatorial District No. 32 (Greenup County) in the State Senate. Statewide, spurred on by the Democratic governors actions, Kentucky gave control of both houses of the General Assembly and five of its nine congressional seats to Democrats. Republican President Johnson received the message, and then ended martial law and restoring habeas corpus in Kentucky. December 4 The Kentucky General Assembly convened at the State Capitol in Frankfort and on that day Worthington took his seat as a Senator from the 32nd District. In the subsequent assignment of committees for this session on December 8th, Senator Worthington was appointed to the Senates Standing Committee on the Sinking Fund, and to the Joint Committee on Public Offices.

1866 February 19 The Legislature adjourned sine die (without a day, or indefinitely). During this session, Worthington, while no Radical, proved himself to be a dependable member of the Republican majority, voting for ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, while supporting Republican policies in dealing with former Confederate and Southern sympathizers, voting against repeal of the states Expatriation Act, which barred restoring citizenship rights to former Confederates. But when the General Assembly convened in December 1865, Governor Bramlette issued pardons to most ex-Confederates in the stae, and he and the majority of the General Assembly opposed passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, all of which were rejected by the Democratic majority in the Assembly. October 19 Birth of William and Catherines fifth child and their third son, William Daniel Worthington, in Greenup County. Named after both his father and his paternal grandfather, Dr. Daniel Steele, he died in Greenup on September 4, 1867 at the age of 10 months and 16 days. He was buried in the Worthington Family Cemetery in Greenup County.

1867 January 4 In Frankfort, the Kentucky Legislature convened at the Capitol. During this session, Worthington was appointed to serve on the Senates Standing Committees on County Courts, the Sinking Fund, and on the Joint Committee on Enrollments. 18

February 26 During this year also, Senator Worthington attended Kentuckys State Republican Party (then known as the National Loyal Union Party) Convention as one of two delegates from Greenup County. The Convention was held at the Hall of the House of Representatives in Frankfort, and nominated Sidney Barnes for the Governorship. (Barnes was subsequently defeated in the general election by Democrat John L. Helm, who promptly died just five days after his inauguration. December 2 At a new session in the States General Assembly, Worthington took his seat, and two days later, was appointed to serve on the Senate Standing Committees on Agriculture and Manufactures and on the Penitentiary.

October 7

1868 According to an article which appeared in the New York Times on this date,

Lieut.-Col. W. J. WORTHINGTON, formerly of the Twenty-third [sic] Kentucky infantry, was nominated for Congress by the Republicans of the Ninth District of that State, on the 1st inst. He was a member of the State Senate in 1865, and the nomination is said by a local Democratic paper to be the best that could have been made by the Republicans of the district. In the subsequent general election for the seat, Worthington was defeated by Democrat John McConnell Rice. Rice (1831-1895), a native of Prestonsburg, Kentucky, graduated from a Louisville, Kentucky law school in 1852, was admitted to the bar in 1853, and commenced practice in Pikeville, Kentucky. He was the superintendent of schools of Pike County, Kentucky in 1854 and was then elected prosecuting attorney of Pike County in 1856, and then served as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1858 before moving to Louisa, Kentucky in 1860. He was again a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1861. Rice would go on to serve two terms in the House, but was not a candidate for renomination in 1872. Rice and John T. Zeigler disputed the November 1868 election, and the seat was vacant while in dispute. After leaving Congress, he resumed the practice of law in Louisa, Kentucky and was appointed judge of the Lawrence County, Kentucky criminal court in 1883 and was elected to the same office in 1884. He was reelected in 1890 and served until his death in Louisa, Kentucky in 1895.

1869 January 21-March 16 Senator Worthington served in the General Assembly as a member of the State Senate. February 22 William and Catherines fourth son and their sixth and youngest child, William, was born in Greenup County. William Worthington later became one of the leading members of the legal profession in Kentucky, and served as a referee of the 1st District Court in Bankruptcy 19

for the Commonwealths Eastern District from 1900 to 1921, and then as Circuit Judge of the 22nd Judicial Circuit from 1921 until his death in Lexington on May 29, 1922 at the age of 53.

1870 June 21 U. S. census records for Greenup County, Kentucky listed Wm. J. Worthington, 37, as residing in Precinct No. 1 of the county with his wife Catherine, 37, their five children Agnes and Annie, age 13; Finley, 11; John Thomas, 9; and William, 1. Agnes, Annie and Finley were listed as Attending School, while John Thomas and William were still At Home. In addition to his family members, a female Seamstress and two male Farm Laborer[s] were also listed as residing in the household. Worthingtons occupation was still recorded as Farmer, while his wife Catherine was recorded as House Keeping. Values on his real estate were given as $10,000 and his personal estate was valued at $2,000.00--evidence of his return to a greater degree of prosperity since the wars end.

1873 During this year, Worthington became a part owner and manager of an iron furnace in Greenup County, located in the Hanging Rock Iron Field. He then discontinued his farming operations to devote all of his time to this enterprise, which he apparently engaged in until 1883. [He also managed Raccoon Furnace from 1875-1878 and was the last man to operate it., returning to his law practice after closing this operation]. However, in the subsequent financial panic of this year, Worthington was said to have lost his property.

1879-1883 (or 1880-1884) Probable date of Worthingtons service as Judge of the Greenup County Court in Greenup. He served for one four-year term in this office.

1880 June 5 U.S. census returns for Greenup County William Worthington, 47, as residing in Precinct No. 1 with his wife, Catherine, 46, who Keeps House, and their sons Finley, 20; Thomas [John Thomas], 18; and William, 11. Worthingtons occupation was listed as County Judge & Farmer; while his two older sons Finley and Thomas were listed as Farmer(s). No values were recorded on either his real or personal estates. July 10 Williams mother, Ann Sarah (Luther) Worthington, died in Greenup, where she had been living with her son John, Williams younger brother. She was 79 years old at the time of her death

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1881 December 12 With conditions now much improved for himself and his family financially, Worthington and his wife purchased a two-story brick home in Greenup [or near Riverton?] from Charles Corum. The house is now an historic landmark located on U.S. Highway 23 in Greenup.

1885 August 3 Worthington was elected to a two-year term as a Republican in Kentuckys House of Representatives from Greenup County, defeating Democrat [James P.?] Winters in a closely fought contest. According to a local newspaper account of the election, Winter was leading by 50 votes as of 10 p.m. that night, but Worthington eventually pulled ahead in late returns to eventually defeat him for the seat. December 30 Representative Worthington took his eat in the Kentucky House of Representatives from Greenup County in the opening of the session of the General Assembly in Frankfort. On January 6th, he was subsequently appointed to serve on four House Standing Committees: on State Prisons, Revenue and Taxation, Public Offices and Library.

1887 December 26 Catherine Steele Worthington, Williams wife of more than 29 years, died in Greenup County. She was 54 years, 6 months and 23 days old at the time of her death, and is buried in the Worthington Family Cemetery in Greenup.

1889 July 18 In Greenup, Worthington, now 56, married for a second time, this time to Miss Lucy Belle York of Hunnewell in Greenup County. Miss York, 20, was the daughter of Stephen C. York and his wife Hannah H. (Powers) York of Lawrence County in Kentucky. The marriage was her first.

1890 Special census schedules for Surviving Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, and Widows, etc. of the Civil War listed Worthington, 57, as residing in Greenup Precinct in Greenup County as a veteran of the 22nd Kentucky. His length of service with the regiment was listed as 3 years, 2 months, and 15 days. No disabilities from his service were reported. September A daughter, Nancy Helen Worthington, was born to William and his second wife Lucy in Greenup. Worthingtons seventh child (sixth surviving) and his third daughter, she was the first child of his second marriage. She later married Patterson Williams of Russell in Greenup County, and died in Greenup sometime after 1951.

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1891 March The Worthingtons second and youngest child, Sarah Lucy Worthington, was born to the couple in Greenup. Williams eighth child (seventh surviving) and his fourth daughter, she was the last child of his second marriage. Sarah later married James Collins of Greenup and lived in the county until her death sometime after 1951.

1892 During this year, Worthington formed a law partnership in Greenup with Robert Curtis Myers. Myers, born in 1866 in Pennsylvania, was an 1889 graduate of the Ohio Normal University in Ada, Ohio. In 1890, he moved to Greenup, where he served as the superintendent of the schools for three years, and was also County School Examiner for the same time. In 1892, Myers was admitted to the bar in Kentucky in 1892, and then went into partnership with Worthington. In 1897, he was elected to the Legislature from Greenup as a Republican, by a majority of 160 votes. He served only one term, but was chairman of the Republican House Caucus, and served on the committee of Judiciary, Kentucky Statutes, Court of Appeals, State Prisons, House of Reform, and the Circuit Court. (The partnership of Worthington & Myers apparently lasted until 1898, when Myers moved to Portsmouth, Ohio.)

1895 June 5-7 At Kentuckys State Republican Convention in Louisville, William OConnell Bradley of Garrard County was nominated for Governor. In deliberations for Lieutenant Governor on June 6th, Worthingtons name was placed in nomination. The first ballot proved to be inconclusive, but on the 2nd ballot, Worthington won the nomination:
TABLE 1 BALLOTING RESULTS KENTUCKY STATE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION NOMINATION FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (2ND BALLOT)

Candidates William J. Worthington (Greenup County) Dr. William Bowman (Lewis County) Judge O.S. Deming (Robertson County) L.J. Crawford (Newport County) W.J. Hurst (Wolfe County) Maj. D.J. Burchett (Lawrence County)

Total Votes Cast

Percentage of Total Votes Cast

658 176 113 107 105 69

53.6 14.3 9.2 8.7 8.6 5.6

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Following this ballot, Worthingtons nomination was made unanimous. His nomination was due to his reputation as a staunch Republican who was well known throughout the state, and to the control of the delegates from Kentuckys eastern region, who wanted to balance the ticket with a favorite son from their own region. November 5 In statewide elections, Bradley and Worthington won election to become the first Republicans in Kentucky history ever to be elected Governor and Lieutenant Governor.
TABLE 2 OFFICIAL ELECTION RESULTS COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR GENERAL ELECTION Total Votes Cast Percentage of Total Votes Cast

Candidates William J. Worthington (Republican Party) R.T. Tyler (Democratic Party) John G. Blair (Peoples Party) Crit G. Hughes (Prohibition Party)

164,990 156,045 15,957 3,872

48.4 45.8 4.7 1.1

During the campaign, Bradley split the Democratic party over the issue of Free Silver, and carried the vote of many Gold Democrats. Both he and Worthington were further aided by the presence of Populist (Peoples Party) candidates, who drew many votes from Democrats in western Kentucky. The combination of these factors saw both men elected as the first Republicans governor and lieutenant governor of the commonwealth.

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Chapter V: Lieutenant Governor (1895-1899)

1895 December 10 In inauguration ceremonies held in front of the east entrance to the State Capitol in Frankfort, William J. Worthington, now age 63, took the oath of office to become the 25th Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The oath was administered by Chief Justice William S. Pryor of the State Court of Appeals.

1896 January 7-March 17 As part of his constitutional duties as Lieutenant Governor, Worthington presided over the State Senate as President of that body. During Worthingtons term, Republicans controlled the Kentucky House of Representatives, while Democrats controlled the Kentucky Senate. This led to infighting between the two houses of the General Assembly and between the General Assembly and the governor. A prominent example of this deadlock played out in the election of a U.S. Senator for Kentucky, which at that time was determined by balloting in the state legislatures in accordance with the U.S. constitution. Republican legislators nominated W. Godfrey Hunter; the Democrats chose J. C. S. Blackburn. The Republicans were joined by Gold Democrats who refused to back Blackburn, a free silver supporter. Attempts were made to unseat several legislators in the General Assembly, leading to threats of violence. In response, Governor Bradley called out nearly 400 militia to guard and occupy the Capitola decision quickly attacked by Democrats, who, under the leadership of State Sen. William Goebel, attempted to put the blame for the riot squarely on the Republicans. The session then adjourned with no decision. March 17 As the session drew to a close, Lieutenant Governor Worthington was called before a Senate subcommittee investigating riots which broke out in the Statehouse as a consequence of the botched senatorial election. During the rioting, Worthington had requested that the Governor call out the militia and had supported the measures, in Worthingtons words, to preserve the peace. While testifying before the subcommittee, Worthington denied allegations that he supported the Governors actions in order to further the cause of the Republican Party in the balloting for U.S. Senator. Also during this year, while Governor Bradley was out of the state, Worthington served in a temporary capacity as Acting Governor. Notably during this time, Worthington issued a pardon to John Bylew, the subject of a famous Kentucky criminal case. According to one history by the University of Kentucky: In Lewis County, KY, during the summer of 1868, five members of the Foster family were attacked by John Blyew and George Kennard, who used a carpenter's ax and some other bladed tool to hack at the bodies of the family members. Jack, his wife Sallie, and his grandmother Lucy Armstrong, who was blind, were killed 24

outright. Richard, the Foster's 16 year old son, took shelter under his father's body. He later regained consciousness and crawled 300 yards to a neighbor's house for help. Richard died two days later. The two youngest children were the only survivors: Laura Foster, 8 years old, hid and was unharmed, while her 6 year old sister, Amelia, was hacked about the head but lived. A posse was formed and Blyew and Kennard were arrested and indicted on four counts of murder. The court hearings began October 26, 1868, with the following evidence presented: Richard Foster's dying statements, Laura Foster's written testimony [it was illegal in Kentucky for African Americans to give testimony against whites during criminal proceedings], and the testimony of those who investigated the crimes. One of the reasons given for the murders was retaliation for the Civil War and the potential for another war about African Americans. The trial was held in U.S. Court for the District of Kentucky before Judge Bland Ballard. The prosecuting attorney was Benjamin H. Bristow, who would later become the first U.S. Solicitor General and serve as Secretary of the Treasury in the Grant Administration before becoming a Republican presidential nominee in 1876. Two years prior to the Foster family murders, Congress had passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which gave jurisdiction to federal courts for all causes, civil and criminal, affecting persons who are denied or cannot enforce any of the rights secured to them in the courts or judicial tribunals of the state or locality, where they may be. The understanding of the provisions of the act was the reason Blyew and Kennard were tried in a federal court. Their case was presented to an allwhite jury [it was still illegal to have African American jurors in such cases in Kentucky]. None of the jury members were from Lewis County. Blyew and Kennard were found guilty and sentenced to hang. The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court as a Writ of Error. Blyew v United States was one of the first cases for the full court to analyze the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Kentucky Governor J. W. Stevenson called for a special legislative session, and funds were appropriated for use in the Blyew v United States case to hire the distinguished lawyer, Judge Jeremiah S. Black, to represent Kentucky's sovereign rights as a challenge to the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. It was determined by the governor and many of the Kentucky legislators that the 1866 Act exceeded the authority of Congress and was an unconstitutional intrusion of authority. The U.S. Supreme Court deliberated for more than a year before rendering a judgment on April 1, 1872, that reversed the convictions of Blyew and Kennard with a 5-2 majority. Prior to the decision, the Negro testimony law in Kentucky was repealed, and Blyew and Kennard were indicted and to be tried in the Lewis County Circuit Court in 1873. In Blyew's case, there was a hung jury, and the case was then to be prosecuted in federal court. But before the retrial could take place, Blyew escaped. In George Kennard's case, he was convicted and sentenced to hard labor for his natural life. He was pardoned by Governor Blackburn in 1885 due to his health. Kennard died of senility on April 5, 1923 in Carter County, KY, according to his death certificate. John Blyew was recaptured in 1890, and the Lewis County Circuit Court convicted and sentenced him to life in prison. Governor W. J. Worthington pardoned Blyew in 1896, and Blyew, his 25

wife Emma, and granddaughter Mary, were residing in Cincinnati, OH in 1900, according to the U.S. Federal Census. The surviving Foster sisters, Laura and Amelia, were taken in by a white family named Ruggles. It has been written that Laura, who was born around 1860, died of measles after living with the Ruggles for a few years, but according the U. S. Census, she was with the Ruggles' family as a servant up to 1880. Amelia (1862-1936), who was described as having horrendous scars on her head, was single and remained in Lewis County doing housework up until 1934 when she became ill, according to her death certificate.

1897 March 13-May 21 Worthington presided over a second, special session of the Senate held at the State Capitol in Frankfort. At this session, which had been called by the Governor to decide the senatoral election, Republicans withdrew their nomination of Hunter and put forth William Joseph Deboe in his place. Finally, after 112 ballots and after spending more than two months in session, Deboe was elected on the 112th ballot, becoming the first Republican senator from the Commonwealth. At the adjournment of this session, the Lieutenant Governor was given the thanks of the Senate for the faithful, impartial and courageous manner in which he has discharged the trying duties of Senate presidenta highly unusual gesture given the highly charged partisan political environment of that time.

1898 January 4-March 15 Lieutenant Governor Worthington presided over his third and last session of the State Senate as President. During this session, the Democratic majority of the Senate, led by President Pro Tempore William J. Goebel, succeeded in stripping virtually all of Worthingtons appointive powers as President by a vote which ran along strict party lines, and which left Goebel and the Democrats in nearly total control of the Senate. (The following year, Goebel won the Democratic nomination for governor of the commonwealth, but split the party due to his controversial tactics in winning the nomination. In a close contest between Goebel and Republican nominee William S. Taylor in the general election, Taylor narrowly defeated Goebel, and was declared the winner by the Kentucky Board of elections. Days later however, the Democratically-controlled General Assembly convened in Frankfort. They now claimed the power to decide disputed elections, and invalidated enough of the votes to give the election to Goebel. On the morning of January 30, 1900, as Goebel walked flanked by two bodyguards to the Old State Capitol, he was shot and wounded. The next day after being shot, the dying Goebel was sworn in as governor. He died only 3 days later, on February 3, 1900. Most historians agree that the assassin of Governor Goebel will never be conclusively identified.)

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Chapter VI: Elder Statesman (1899-1914)

1899 December 12 Worthingtons tern of office as Lieutenant Governor expired. On leaving office, he returned home to Greenup and resumed farming while also continuing the practice of law.

1900 January In Greenup, Worthington entered into a partnership with James B. Wilhoit. Wilhoit, born in Carter County, Kentucky in 1857, was the 10th of twelve children of a farm family. After teaching school for 12 years, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in Greenup in 1880. After practicing in Willard, Kentucky and at Grayson in Carter County, in 1898 he was appointed U.S. Supervisor of Forestry by President William McKinley, and spent two years in New Mexico in this office before returning to Greenup. Wilhoit was, according to a contemporary account, . . . a versatile and skilled trial lawyer and a well fortified counselor and has figured prominently in many important cases in both state and federal courts who was recognized as a man of broad learning and great capacity and in all his dealings he is recognized as a man of fair and honorable methods and as a man of unquestioned integrity. Like Worthington, Wilhoit was a staunch Republican, and in 1896 served as a presidential elector in Kentucky for McKinley. In 1903 he ran for Lieutenant Governor of the commonwealth but was defeated by Democrat William P. Thorne. From 1907-1915, Wilhoit served as Commonwealth Attorney for the Twentieth Judicial District of Kentucky comprising Boyd, Greenup and Lewis counties. The firm of Worthington & Wilhoit continued until October of 1902, when Wilhoit moved to Ashland. Wilhoit died in 1919.

June 17 Census returns for Greenup County listed William j. Worthington, age 68 as residing in Greenup Precinct No. 1 Mag[isterial]. District No. 1 with his second wife Lucy 32, and their two daughters Sarah [Susan], 9, and Nancy, 9. His occupation was listed as Lawyer. And his home was listed as free. A young African American male was also listed as residing with the family as a Gardener.

1901 November 5 Now just shy of his 69 birthday, Worthington was once again elected as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from Greenup county.
th

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TABLE 3 PARTIAL ELECTION RESULTS COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES-GREENUP COUNTY GENERAL ELECTION Total Votes Cast Percentage of Total Votes Cast

Candidates William J. Worthington (Republican Party) [William A.?] Briggs [Jr.?] (Democratic Party)

1,822

56.9

1,382

41.1

(Forty contested ballots were not included in the tally, and official returns are no longer extant.)

1902 January 7 Worthington took his seat as a member of the State House of Representatives from Greenup county in Kentucky General Assembly in Frankfort. This was Worthingtons second term in the House, having served 1 term from Greenup some 17 years earlier. By this time, Worthington had gained a reputation as an elder statesman within the states Republican Party, and on the opening of this session, he was nominated by his Republican colleagues to serve as Speaker of the House, but lost to Democrat Gerald T. Finn of Simpson by a vote of 74 to 26 along strict party lines. Worthington himself, however, modestly voted for his opponent in the balloting. During the session, he served on the House Standing Committees on Corporate Institutions, Circuit Courts, County and City Courts, and Criminal Law. May 25 Probable date of the death of Worthingtons daughter Agnes (Mrs. George or William H. Callihan) in Greenup county. She is buried in the Worthington family cemetery in Greenup.

1903 November 3 Re-elected to a third term in the state House of Representatives representing Greenup County:

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TABLE 4 PARTIAL ELECTION RESULTS COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES-GREENUP COUNTY GENERAL ELECTION Total Votes Cast Percentage of Total Votes Cast

Candidates William J. Worthington (Republican Party) [?] Walker (Democratic Party)

1,753 1,327

56.9 43.1

1904 January 5 On again taking his seat in the house, Representative Worthington was appointed to serve on the House Standing Committees on Kentucky Statutes, A&M College, and Codes of Practice.

1910 April 21 Census returns for Greenup County listed Wm. J. Worthington, 78, as residing in magisterial district no. 1, precinct 1 in Greenup County with his wife Lucy B., 41, and two younger daughters, Sally, 20 and Nancy, 19. An African American 35-year-old male, Lee Leathers, was also listed as residing in the household as servant. Worthingtons occupation was listed as a farmer with a farm owned free (i.e., with no mortgages on the property).

1911 June 29 Lucy York Worthington, Williams second wife, died at the age of 42 years, 6 months and 15 days in Greenup county. According to her death certificate, the cause of death was listed as Carcinoma [cancer] of the Uterus.

1914 March 14 Worthington executed his last will and testament. In his will, he divided his estate to be given in equal shares to his surviving children and grandchildren from both his first and second marriages. His son William was appointed as executor to settle the estate. May 22 (7:45 A.M.) William J. Worthington died in Greenup county at the age of 81 years, 6 months and 13 days. The cause of death was listed as Acute indigestion with a contributory (secondary) cause recorded as Senility. According to one local newspaper account of Worthingtons death, a brief but sudden onset of the hiccoughs apparently contributed to his death.

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May 24 Buried in the Worthington family cemetery overlooking his home in Greenup, next to his first and second wives. A very large number of friends and family were reported to have been in attendance at the funeral services, which were conducted by the Rev. C.B. Plummer of the Louisa Methodist Episcopal Church in Greenup.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Public Documents A. United States United States. National Archives. Military Branch. Military service records of William J. Worthington, Capt., Co. B-Lieutenant Colonel, Field & Staff, 22nd Kentucky Infantry (Union). Record Group 109, National Archives, Washington, D.C. United States. National Archives. Civil Branch. United States Census Records. Eighth United States Census, 1860. Greenup County, Kentucky, Series M653, Roll 370, page 845. ________. Ninth United States Census, 1870. Greenup County, Kentucky, Series M593, Roll 466, page 27. ________. Seventh United States Census, 1850. Carter County, Kentucky, Series M432, Roll 195, page 228 and Scioto County, Ohio, Series M432, Roll 727, page 150. ________. Tenth United States Census, 1880. Greenup County, Kentucky, Series T9, Roll 417, page 17. ________. Thirteenth United States Census, 1910. Greenup County, Kentucky, Series T624, Roll 476, page 80. ________. Twelfth United States Census, 1900. Greenup County, Kentucky, Series T623, Roll 524, page 14. United States War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 4 ser., 128 vols. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901. B. Commonwealth of Kentucky Day, M.B.R. Official Manual for the Use of the Courts, State Officials, and General Assembly of the State of Kentucky. Louisville, KY: John P. Morton Company, 1895. Kentucky. House of Representatives. Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Frankfort, KY: Capitol Office, John D. woods, Public Printer and Binder, 1886; Louisville, KY: Geo. G. Fetter Printing Co., 1902, 1904, 1905. Kentucky. Senate. Journal of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Frankfort, KY: State Printing Office, 1865; Frankfort, KY: Kentucky Yeoman Office, 1867, 1869; Louisville, 31

KY: Geo. G. Fetter Printing Co., 1896, 1897; Louisville, KY: Sowle Printing & Engraving Co., 1898. Kentucky. Office of Vital Statistics. Certified Copies of Death Certificates of William Jackson Worthington (1914) and Lucy Worthington (19[]). C. Local Records Greenup County. Clerk of the Circuit Court. Local Greenup County Land and Probate records. Greenup, Kentucky.

II. Books Biggs, Nina Mitchell and Mabel Lee Mackay. History of Greenup County, Kentucky. Evansville, IN: Whipporwill Publications, 1951. Clift, G. Glenn. Governors of Kentucky 1792-1942. Cynthiana, KY: The Hobson Press, 1942. Connelly, William Elsey and G. Robert Coulter. History of Kentucky. Ed. By Judge Charles Kerr. 5 vols. Chicago: American Historical Society, 1922. Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. New York: T. Yoseloff, 1959. Ely, William. The Big Sandy Valley. Catlettsburg, KY: Central Methodist, 1887. Evans, Nelson W. A History of Scioto County Ohio. Portsmouth, OH: By the Author, 1903. Griffith, Dorothy K., comp. Come With Us & Rediscover Historic, Old Greenup, Kentucky. Greenup, KY: Greenup Womans Club, 1982-1983. Hewett, Janet B., ed. Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Part II, Vol. 22, Serial No. 34. Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot, 1996. Kentucky Records Research Committee, comp. and ed. Kentucky Cemetery Records. 4 vols. Lexington, KY: The Keystone Printery, 1960. Klotter, James C. William Goebel: The Politics of Wrath. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1977. Kozee, William C. Early Families of Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky and Their Descendants. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1979. Linton, Calvin D., ed. The Bicentennial Almanac. Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1975. 32

Long, E.B. and Long, Barbara. The Civil War Day By Day. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971. McAdams, Mrs. Harry Kennett, comp. Kentucky Pioneer and Court Records. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1967. Speed, Thomas, R.M. Kelly and Alfred Pirtle. The Union Regiments of Kentucky. Louisville, KY: Courier-Journal Job Printing Company, 1897. Stevenson, B.F. Letters from the Army. Cincinnati, W. E. Dibble & Co., 1884.

III. Encyclopedias and Dictionaries The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 63 vols. New York: James T. White, 1907. [s.v., Brown, John Young; and Bradley, William OConnell]

IV. Periodicals A. Newspapers Louisville Courier-Journal, 6, 7 June, 11 November and 11 December 1895; 23 May 1914. Nominations for Congress, New York Times, 7 October 1868, p. 4. These Three in Our Hall of Fame. The Russell (KY) Times, September 1942, p. 2.

IV. Unpublished Materials Letter from Rev. W.J. Gammon to Mrs. James Collins, 6 January 1949, Eldon, MO. In the possession of Mr. Ralph Worthington.

V. Websites Biography: John Abrams, Company C, 7th KY Vet. Volunteers. http://www.7thkentucky.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=5 [18 September 2009] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Family Search. Family Group Record of John and Ann Sarah Luther Worthington. http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/AF/family_group_record.asp?familyid=7135620&from page=99 [26 August 2009] 33

________. Family Group Record of William Jackson and Catherine Ann Steele Worthington http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/AF/family_group_record.asp?familyid=7135621&from page=99 [26 August 2009] Daniel Weisiger Lindsey, U.S.V., http://battleofchampionhill.org/22kentucky.htm [18 September 2009] Lt. Col. George W. Monroe of the 22nd Kentucky Infantry. http://www.geocities.com/rlperry.geo/ColonelGeorgeWMonroePage.html [18 September 2009] Rootsweb. Bowers/T. Masons Family History Records. http://worldconnectrootsweb.ancestry,com/ [26 August 2009] University of Kentucky Libraries. Notable Kentucky african Americans Database. http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/NKAA/subject.php?sub_id=162 [17 September 2009]
Wikipedia. 22nd Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22nd_Regiment_Kentucky_Volunteer_Infantry [18 September 2009] ________. William Goebel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Goebel [18 September 2009] ________. William OConnell Bradley. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_O'Connell_Bradley [18 September 2009]

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APPENDIX: BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD Name: William Jackson Worthington

Birth: Near Johnstown, West Moreland County, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 9 November 1832

Ancestry: English.

Father: John Worthington; born: Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 11 June 1801; married: Ann Sarah Luther, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, 29 December 1823; died: Lawrence, Ohio, 28 November 1864.

Fathers Occupation: Collier; farmer; ironmaster

Mother: Ann Sarah (Luther) Worthington; born: Westmoreland, West Moreland County, Pennsylvania, 7 May 1801; married: John Worthington, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, 29 December 1823; died: Greenup, Greenup County, Kentucky, 10 July 1880.

Brothers and Sisters: Nancy Worthington; born: West Moreland County, Pennsylvania, 31 July 1824; married: Joseph T. Burdett, 3 May 1854; died: Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky, 23 July 1901. Rachel Worthington; born: West Moreland County, Pennsylvania, 26 July 1826; Jackson Allen Wade, Greenup County, Kentucky, 1 January 1851; died: after 1880. married:

James Buckley Worthington; born: West Moreland County, Pennsylvania, 10 May 1828; married: (i) Naomi Wilson; (ii) Elizabeth [?]; died: Greenup County, Kentucky, before 1911. David Luther Worthington; born: West Moreland County, Pennsylvania, 29 January 1830; married: Elizabeth Guilkerson, Greenup County, Kentucky, 10 December 1855; died: Boyd County, Kentucky, 11 February 1911. Finley Worthington; born: West Moreland County, Pennsylvania, 12 February 1834; married: (i) Sarah Jane Failor; (ii) Mary Ellen Savage, Greenup County, Kentucky, 17 December [or September] 1858; (iii) Martha E. Van Bibber; died: Kehoe, Greenup County, Kentucky [or Scioto County, Ohio], 26 August 1911. 35

John (Jack) Luther Worthington; born: West Moreland County, Pennsylvania, 7 July 1836; married: (i) Sarah Brown Fitzer, Greenup County, Kentucky, 8 November 1858; (ii)Sarah Richard; died: Greenup, Greenup County, Kentucky, 28 June 1898 OR 4 August 1914. Sarah Jane Worthington; born: West Moreland County, Pennsylvania, 3 November 1838; married: unknown; died: Boyd County, Kentucky, 1 January 1864. Mary Hannah Worthington; born: Scioto County, Ohio, 9 November 1841; married: George R. Guilkerson, Boyd County, Kentucky, 15 February 1866; died: Boyd County, Kentucky, 4 March 1866. Charles S. Worthington; born: Lawrence [or Scioto County], Ohio, 17 September 1843; married: Nancy A. Holbrook, Greenup County, Kentucky, 17 October 1867; died: Greenup County, Kentucky, 12 July 1915.

Wives: (i) Catherine Ann Steele; born: Washington County, Virginia, 3 June 1833; died: Greenup County, Kentucky, 26 December 1887 (ii) Lucy Belle York; born: Lawrence County, Kentucky, 14 December 1868; died: Greenup County, Kentucky, 29 June 1911

Marriage: (i) Greenup, Greenup County, Kentucky, 9 September 1856 (ii) Hunnewell, Greenup County, Kentucky, 18 July 1889.

Children: (Children of William Jackson Worthington by his first wife, Catherine Ann (Steele) Worthington): Anna (Annie) Worthington; born: Greenup County, Kentucky, 14 November 1858; married: (i) Charles H. Dickey; (ii) W.B. Strader; died: Boise, Idaho, 31 July 1930. Agnes Worthington; born: Greenup County, Kentucky, 14 November 1858; married: George Callahan or Callihan; died: Greenup County, Kentucky, 25 May 1902. Finley Worthington; born: Greenup County, Kentucky, 1 December 1859; married: unknown; died: [Alabama?], before 1889. John Thomas Worthington; born: Greenup County, Kentucky, 17 October 1861; married: unknown; died: [Alabama?], 5 February 1923. William Daniel Worthington; born: Greenup County, Kentucky, 19 October 1866; married: unknown; died: Greenup County, Kentucky, 4 September 1867.

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William Worthington; born: Greenup County, Kentucky, 22 February 1869; married: Addie Swift Norwood, 4 May 1898; died: Lexington, Kentucky, 29 May 1922. (Children of William Jackson Worthington by his second wife, Lucy Belle (York) Worthington): Nancy Helen Worthington; born: Greenup County, Kentucky, September 1890; married: Patterson Anderson Williams, Greenup County, Kentucky, 15 March 1911; died: after 1951. Sarah (Sallie) Lucy Worthington; born: Greenup County, Kentucky, March 1891; married: James W. Collins; died: after 1951.

Death Greenup County, Kentucky, 22 May 1914.

Burial: Worthington Family Cemetery, Greenup County, Kentucky, 24 May 1914.

Physical Features: Height: unknown Weight: unknown, but he appears from photographs to have been of average weight Eye Color: light Hair Color: dark (later, white); by c. 1862, wore a full beard from adulthood into old age.

Distinguishing Marks/Features: From surviving photographs, Worthington appears to have been a handsome man, with dark, thick hair, a full beard and even, pleasant features.

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