Worth was commissioned as a first lieutenant in March 1813,[1] serving as an aide to (then brigadier general) Winfield Scott during the war, and developing a friendship with him.

Also as a brevet Major Worth uttered his most famous words that are now inscribed in West Point's "Bugle Notes", a book of knowledge all cadets must know by heart.

Look at him who winks at and overlooks offences in one, which he causes to be punished in another, and contrast him with the inflexible soldier who does his duty faithfully, notwithstanding it occasionally wars with his private feelings.

[2] When the Mexican–American War began, Worth was serving under Zachary Taylor in Texas and negotiated the surrender of the Mexican city of Matamoros.

When U.S. forces entered Mexico City, Worth personally climbed to the roof of the National Palace and took down the Mexican flag replacing it with the Stars and Stripes.

In 1848, Worth was approached by a group of Cuban Freemasons known as the Havana Club, composed of sugar plantation owners and aristocrats, who advocated the overthrow of the Spanish colonial government in Cuba.

The Havana Club sent a college professor Ambrosio José Gonzales to entreat Worth to lead an invasion of Cuba.

The north side fence was removed around 1940 to accommodate an above-ground utility shed which services the water supply system pipes beneath the monument.