New Yorker from Fishkill Was the First POW of the Civil War

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John Worden as a Vice Admiral ( Naval Historical Institute)

• Vice Admiral John Worden

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY (04/10/2011)(readMedia)-- John Lorimer Worden, a native of Westchester County who grew up in Fishkill became famous as the captain of the Union ironclad U.S.S. Monitor in the famous 1862 battle between his ship and the Confederate ironclad C.S.S. Virginia (often known as the Merrimac).

But before he earned that distinction and went on to serve as a Vice Admiral in the U.S. Navy, he was the first POW of the Civil War.

As tensions rose between the federal government and the states that were declaring themselves out of the Union and part of the Confederate States of America, Worden was dispatched on a secret mission 150 years ago.

On April 7, 1861 the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, ordered Worden to travel to Pensacola, Florida to pass on orders to the commander of a squadron anchored there. These orders directed the Navy ships to land Marines at Fort Pickens, Florida to prevent the Confederates from occupying that post. Worden executed his mission but on the way back north, with Fort Sumter under fire in Charleston harbor he was, stopped and arrested outside Montgomery Alabama.

Worden was held prisoner for seven months, when he was finally exchanged for a Confederate officer. Although his health suffered as a result of his time in prison, he was offered the command of a revolutionary new warship, the USS Monitor.

Built in Brooklyn of iron plates manufactured in Troy, the Monitor had no sails and was the first ship to carry guns in a revolving turret.

Worden commanded the ship in Norfolk, Virginia harbor on March 8, 1862 when it clashed with the Confederate Ironclad ship Virginia, which had been constructed on the hull of the USS Merrimac. Popularly known as the battle of the Monitor and the Merrimac, it was the first time armored ships fought each other.

The battle ended in a draw, although the Confederate vessel was forced to withdraw and did not break the union blockade of the port, Worden was blinded by shell fragments and gunpowder during the battle but recovered.

He retired from the Navy as a rear admiral and lived to be 79, dying in 1897 after a bought of pneumonia.

The monitor sunk off Cape Hatteras in a storm in December 1862.

More than 500,000 New Yorkers served in the Army and Navy during the four years of the Civil War and 53,114 New Yorkers died. Throughout the period of the Civil War Sesquicentennial observance, the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs will be producing short articles about New York's Civil War experience researched by the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs.

For more information go the NewYork State Miltiary Museum Civil War Timeline Website at http://dmna.state.ny.us/civilwar