Dagsboro and George Washington - Who knew?

This post originally appeared on www.sussexcountyonline.com and I felt it was worth sharing for the Coastal Sussex historical significance…..who knew?

Dagsboro’s Founding Father
General John Dagworthy, commander of the Sussex County Militia during the Revolutionary War, is regarded as Dagsboro’s founding father after establishing industry in the area with grist and lumber mills, tanneries, and an export business shipping cypress lumber to Philadelphia and Trenton, New Jersey.

Because of his efforts, the town name was changed from Blackfoot Town to Dagsbury in the 1780s before becoming Dagsborough in the 1830s.

Dagworthy, who used land near Dagsboro to train his militia, had a long, distinguished and controversial military career that included service in the French and Indian War and a feud with George Washington after Dagworthy refused to take orders from the then 24-year-old Virginia militia colonel. Dagworthy felt that as a British Army Captain, he outranked Washington.

Dagworthy went on to serve admirably in the French and Indian War and received large tracts of land from the Maryland Assembly in the Dagsboro, Gumboro and Broad Creek Hundreds of Sussex County, which at the time were part of Maryland.

When the Revolutionary War began, however, Washington, now commander-in-chief, refused to assign Dagworthy a command post on the battlefield. Dagworthy was later commissioned a Brigadier General by the Continental Congress.

Reprinted from www.sussexcountyonline.com with much admiration and respect for the original author.