Guy Vernor Henry (1839–1899)

Guy Vernor Henry was a career officer in the U.S. Army who fought in the Civil War, Indian Wars, and Spanish-American War. He received a Medal of Honor for his actions in the 1864 Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia.

Guy Vernor Henry was born in Fort Smith (Sebastian County) on March 9, 1839. His parents were William Seton Henry, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, who was serving as a lieutenant in the Third U.S. Infantry, and Arietta Livingston Thompson Henry, whose ancestors included a U.S. Supreme Court justice and a vice president of the United States. The family moved with the army, and as a child Henry witnessed two battles during the Mexican War.

Henry entered West Point in 1856 and graduated in 1861 as the Civil War loomed. He served as an aide-de-camp to General Irvin McDowell in the 1861 Battle of Bull Run, Virginia, and later commanded Battery B, First U.S. Artillery, participating in the attack on Confederate-held Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and the siege of Fort Wagner, South Carolina, in 1863 before being appointed colonel of the Fortieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on November 9, 1863.

Henry trained the Fortieth to serve as mounted infantry before he commanded a brigade in a Federal expedition against Confederates in Florida in early 1864, earning a brevet for “gallant and meritorious services” in the February 20, 1864, Battle of Olustee. He and his regiment moved to Virginia in April 1864, serving with the Army of the James before transferring to the Army of the Potomac, where he led a brigade of Union troops in the June 1, 1864, Battle of Cold Harbor. A later New York Times article stated that he exhibited “noteworthy and conspicuous gallantry…when leading the assaults of his brigade on the enemy’s works at Cold Harbor…where he had two horses shot under him, one while in the act of leaping over the breastworks of the enemy.” He received a brevet promotion to brigadier general of volunteers on October 28, 1864, for “gallant and meritorious services during the Petersburg campaign.” While brevet promotions were usually honorary in nature, Henry was granted the full duties of a brigadier on December 27, 1864.

Henry took a leave of absence in early 1865 and married Frances Wharton of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They had two sons and a daughter.

Henry transferred to the Department of Missouri in March 1865, where he commanded a region that was essentially all of the Colorado Territory. He returned to the regular army in October 1865. He received a brevet promotion to colonel in the U.S. Army and on December 1 was promoted to captain in the First U.S. Artillery, where he would serve at coastal forts before transferring to the Third U.S. Cavalry on December 15, 1870.

Henry fought Apache in Arizona before serving in Wyoming and Nebraska. When leading a force of cavalry and infantry in late 1864 to investigate a report of illegal mining operations on Native American lands, they were caught in a fierce blizzard. Henry managed to get all of his men safely back to base, though many suffered from frostbite and he himself lost a finger and would no longer have full use of his left hand. Henry’s biographer noted that “‘Henry’s March’ became one of the most popular legends of the frontier Army, and earned for Henry the lasting admiration of his colleagues.”

Frances Henry died in 1873. Henry married Julia McNair in 1874, and they had a daughter and two sons, one of whom would go to West Point and pursue a career in the army.

Henry was involved in most of the campaigns against the Plains Indians. During the June 17, 1876, Battle of the Rosebud against the Lakota and Cheyenne, he was shot in the face, with the bullet severing the optic nerve of his left eye. His troops panicked when he lost consciousness, and only the arrival of Crow and Shoshoni allies saved him from being killed. He endured a nearly 300-mile journey back to Fort Russell, Wyoming, and recovered enough to be able to take part in the final campaign against the Sioux in 1877.

In 1881, Henry wrote Army Catechism, which was essentially a manual for soldiers fighting Native Americans. It received praise in the New York Herald, and the Army and Navy Journal wrote that “no man in the army is more competent for such a work.” On June 26, 1881, Henry was promoted to major and assigned to the Ninth U.S. Cavalry Regiment, a unit with Black troopers and white officers. He served with the Ninth in New Mexico and at Fort Sill in the Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma), where his troops were acclaimed for their marksmanship.

Henry requested work as a staff officer in 1883, and while serving in various capacities he wrote Target Practice, or Practical Information for the Rifle Range and Practical Information for Non-Commissioned Officers on Field Duty, a tactics handbook. He returned to field duty in September 1889, assuming command of Fort McKinney, Wyoming.

When the Indian Wars effectively ended in 1891, Henry took command of Fort Myer, Virginia, bringing Troop K of the Ninth Cavalry with him. The marked one of the first instances in which white and Black troops served together in the same facility. On February 8, 1892, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assigned to the Seventh Cavalry.

Henry received the Medal of Honor on December 5, 1893, for his actions in the Civil War Battle of Cold Harbor, where, the citation reads, he “led the assault upon the enemy’s works, where he had 2 horses shot under him.”

He transferred to the Fifth Cavalry in the fall of 1894, the same year he received a brevet promotion to brigadier general in recognition of his performance in the fighting in the Battle of the Rosebud, and then to the Third Cavalry at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri.

When the war with Spain began in 1898, Henry commanded a division of the Seventh Corps at Tampa, Florida, and then a division of the Second Corps when it departed for Cuba. He arrived there on July 10, and the Spanish surrendered the island a week later. He then took command of a division serving in Puerto Rico. On October 11, 1898, he was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army, and on December 4, he was named governor general of Puerto Rico; he was made a major general of volunteers three days later.

Henry served on the island until May 9, 1899, when he returned to the United States. He was preparing to take command of the Department of Missouri when he caught a cold that developed into pneumonia. He died at his New York City home on October 27, 1899. President William McKinley attended the ceremony when Henry was buried in Section 2 at Arlington National Cemetery.

For additional information:
Erlandson, Marcus R. “Guy V. Henry: A Study in Military Leadership.” MA thesis, U.S. Army Command and Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, 1985. Online at https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA164528.pdf (accessed June 18, 2025).

“Gen. Guy V. Henry Is Dead.” New York Times, October 28, 1899.

“Guy Vernor Henry.” Find a Grave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7837313/guy_vernor-henry (accessed June 18, 2025).

White, Virgil D., trans. Index to Medal of Honor Recipients 1863–1978. Waynesboro, TN: National Historical Publishing Co., 2000, p. 151.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas