Fort Worth, Texas, is named for U.S. Army Gen. William Jenkins Worth. He came from humble beginnings in Hudson, New York, where he was born in 1794. After rudimentary schooling he worked as a merchant until he was 18, when he applied for a commission in the Army so he could fight in the War of 1812.
He distinguished himself during the war and went onto an illustrious career in the Army. He fought against the Seminole Indians in Florida and was second in command to General Zachary Taylor during the Mexican War. After the Mexican War, in January of 1849, he was placed in command of the Department of Texas. In that post, he proposed building 10 forts to mark where the west Texas frontier began from Eagle Pass to the confluence of the West Fork and Clear Fork of the Trinity River.
He never lived to see the forts completed, dieing of cholera in May of 1849. His remains were reinterred in a 51-foot granite monument on Worth Square on a traffic island between Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 25th Street in New York City and the Army Fort and consequently the city of Fort Worth were named for him.
This photograph of him was taken by the famous photographer, Matthew Brady.