Worthington House

Fields of wheat and corn surrounded John T. Worthington's hilltop farmhouse, where few trees blocked views of the meandering Monocacy River and the Thomas farm to the east. In the two years since buying the 300-acre farm, Worthington had seen Federal and Confederate forces come and go, but this time both sides were gathering troops. As the family sheltered in the cellar, he had slaves take his horses to Sugarloaf Mountain. At one point, while greeting Confederate Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge in the yard, a Union minie ball knocked the cane from Worthington's hand. Glenn H. Worthington, watching the battle as a 6-year-old by peeking between boards covering the cellar windows, later became a Frederick County judge and in his 70s wrote Fighting for Time, the only book-length account of the Battle of Monocacy for 130 years.

Maryland · United States