Guy V. Henry.

Guy V. Henry.

Birth: Mar. 9, 1839
Death: Oct. 27, 1899

Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General, Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. A graduate of the May 1861 United States Military Academy Class (placing 25th out of 45), his classmates included Civil War figures such as Henry A. Du Pont, Emory Upton, Adelbert Ames, H. Judson Kilpatrick, and Charles E. Hazlett. First detailed as a 1st Lieutenant in the 1st United States Regular Artillery, he was commissioned into the Volunteers as Colonel and commander of the 40th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He was awarded the CMOH for his bravery at the Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia on June 1, 1864. His citation reads "Led the assaults of his brigade upon the enemy's works, where he had 2 horses shot under him". His Medal was awarded to him on December 5, 1893. He was brevetted Brigadier General, US Volunteers on October 28, 1864 for "gallant and meritorious services during the present campaign before Petersburg, Va." He remained in the Regular Army after the war, rising to the rank of Brigadier General. During the Spanish-American War he was appointed as a Major General of Volunteers, and served as Governor-General of Puerto Rico from 1898 to 1899. He died while in active duty in New York City in October 1899.
Father: William Seton Henry (1816 - 1851)
Wife: Julia McNair Henry (____ - 1917)
Burial: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia. Plot: Section 2, Lot 990

The following was taken from the regimental history of the Twenty-First Connecticut Infantry

One of the brigade commanders, Colonel Guy V. Henry, an intrepid young West Pointer of magnetic presence and merciless discipline, reckless of himself, rode back and forth crowding on his men, and at last with a smile of cool defiance, leaped his horse over the enemy's works, and as the dying steed lay struggling on the parapet, its rider coolly standing in his stirrups emptied his revolver in the very faces of the awestruck foe.