Place

Interpretive Panel: Through A Child's Eyes

A informational panel in front of a grassy field and a house. — Interpretive Panel: Through A Child's Eyes
NPS / Claire Hassler

Audio Description, Cellular Signal, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Picnic Table, Scenic View/Photo Spot, Trailhead, Wheelchair Accessible

Two waysides near the Worthington House highlight the important events that occurred at the farm on July 9, 1864. The "Ambush" wayside details the first Confederate attack after they succeeded in crossing the Monocacy River at the nearby ford. The "Through the Eyes of Child" wayside addresses Glenn Worthington's experience as he watched the battle from a basement window.

As the opening shots of the battle were fired over near the Best Farm and the Georgetown Pike, the Worthington family was busy preparing for the battle they knew would come to them eventually. John Worthington and his enslaved laborers rushed to salvage the wheat crop in the fields. As the boom of cannons began in the distance, John Worthington sent two of his enslaved laborers, John Ephraim Tyler Butler and Thomas Palm, to take the horses to nearby Sugar Loaf Mountain and hide them in the “darkest and loneliest place you can find.”

After salvaging as much of the wheat harvest as possible, Worthington prepared the house and family for the battle. Worthington had two-inch thick oak boards put across the cellar windows. Tubs and a barrel of water were placed in the cellar. As the fighting drew nearer, the Worthington family and their enslaved laborers took refuge in the cellar. Around 11 am they were joined by the wife of the B&O Railroad station manager and her four children.

Mid-morning the Confederates found the nearby ford and began crossing the river. Worthington and his family took refuge in the cellar, and through the boarded-up windows, six-year-old Glenn Worthington watched intently as the fighting raged in front of the house. In his account of the battle, Fighting For Time, Glenn Worthington recalls that, “Glimpses of blue could be seen as they passed windows. More than one received his death wound close to the house and fell there to die, in Worthington yard.”

After the battle, John Worthington and his family assisted with the care of the wounded soldiers. Glenn and his seven-year-old brother Harry were sent into the nearby fields to gather sheaves of wheat for use as a bed for a wounded Confederate soldier.

While the wounded were being cared for, other Confederate soldiers gathered the muskets that had been thrown away by the retreating Union soldiers. The muskets were placed in a pile in Worthington’s back yard and set on fire, leaving only the gun barrels and bayonets. Glenn desired one of these bayonets as a souvenir. He procured a stick and began to drag the bayonet from the embers, and as he stooped to retrieve his prize, an ember touched a discarded paper cartridge which exploded in his face. A Confederate soldier carried him, blinded and yelling, into the house. Luckily Glenn’s eyesight was not damaged by the explosion and he made a full recovery.

The Worthington Farm

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Duration:: 6 minutes, 55 seconds

Confederate cavalry crossed at a ford along the Monocacy River, moved across the fields of the Worthington House and moved to attack the Union line at the Thomas Farm. This was all occurring under the watchful eye of 6-year-old Glenn Worthington.

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Worthington Farm

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Worthington Farm (Clifton) cultural landscape, part of Monocacy National Battlefield in Maryland

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Worthington House - 360° photo...

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360° photos of the historic Worthington House at Monocacy National Battlefield. The house is closed to public access, so this is a rare look at the house's interior.