July 31, 1861 (Wednesday): Lieutenant Worden's Imprisonment

Lieutenant John L. Worden

EXECUTIVE MANSION, July 30, 1861.

To the SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES:
In answer to the resolution of the Senate* of the 23rd instant requesting information concerning the imprisonment of Lieutenant John J. Worden [John L. Worden], of the U. S. Navy, I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Navy.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
[Inclosure.]

NAVY DEPARTMENT, July 29, 1861.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:

The Secretary of the Navy, to whom was referred the resolution of the Senate of the 23rd instant requesting the President of the United States to inform the Senate "under what circumstances Lieutenant John J. Worden [John L. Worden], of the U. S. Navy, has been imprisoned at Montgomery, Ala., whether he is still in prison, and whether any and if any what measures have been taken by the Government of the United States for his release," has the honor to report that it is believed the communication of the information called for would not at this time comport with the public interest.
Respectfully submitted.

GIDEON WELLES.


Official Records, Series II, Vol.3, Part 1, Page 23

In April Worden had been sent to Florida to communicate with the fleet instructions to reinforce Fort Pickens.  Secretary of War Walker learned he was carrying dispatches and ordered him arrested.  Before the message got through to General Braxton Bragg he permitted Worden to go out to the fleet on the assurance he carried no messages of a military nature.  Believing the orders would be intercepted, Worden had committed them to memory, and was able to get the message through.  On his way back north he was arrested on a train in Montgomery and held until exchanged, arriving back in Washington on November 29th.  Another big assignment awaited him, command of the U.S.S. Monitor.