He was Brevetted Captain, December 31, 1862 for "gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee;" Brevetted Major, September 20, 1863, for same at the battle of Chickamauga, Georgia; he was awarded the Medal of Honor on February 17, 1894 for "distinguished gallantry in the battle of Stone River" during the Civil War. He was taken prisoner at Chickamauga and escaped from Libby Prison in Richmond, was re-captured and again escaped.

He was acting Adjutant General, 17th Corps and served on the Western Frontier during the Sioux War, 1867-68, at Powder River and at Fort Phil Kearny in the Cheyenne War in Kansas, 1868-69; in the Sioux War in 1873; in the Ute War in Colorado and then served in Cuba and in the Philippines during the Insurrection there.

He died at Douglas, Wyoming, on October 16, 1915 and was buried in Section 2 of Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Sarah Darlington Freeman (1837-1927), is buried with him.

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 18th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Stone River, Tennessee., 31 December 1862. Entered service at: Mount Vernon, Ohio. Birth: Mount Vernon, Ohio. Date of issue: 17 February 1894. 

Citation:

Voluntarily went to the front and picked up and carried to a place of safety, under a heavy fire from the enemy, an acting field officer who had been wounded, and was about to fall into enemy hands.

DOUGLAS, Wyoming, October 16, 1915 – Brigadier General Henry Blanchard Freeman, who rose from the ranks and served fifty-one years in the United States Army, died here today in his eightieth year.  He served with distinction during both the Indian and Civil Wars, and was one of the party of prisoners who tunneled out of Libby Prison.  His funeral will be held in Washington, D.C.

General Freeman was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and enlisted in the Eighteenth Infantry at the age of eighteen.  At the outbreak of the Civil War he was a First Sergeant in the Eighteenth Infantry, being promoted to a Second Lieutenancy a few months later. In 1866 he reached the grade of Captain, and in 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, was Colonel of the Twenty-fourth Infantry.  On January 16, 1901, he was promoted to be a Brigadier General, and was retired the next day under the age law.

General Freeman was twice brevet; once as a Captain for “gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee,” and lastly as Major for the same in the battle of Chickamauga, where he was taken prisoner and sent to Libby Prison.  After his escape from this prison he was again captured and again escaped.

In 1894 he received the Congressional Medal of Honor “for distinguished gallantry in the battle of Stone River.”

General Freeman’s Indian services commenced in the Sioux War of 1867-8, when he was detailed to the frontier and took part in several campaigns.  During the Cheyenne Indian war he served at Powder River at Fort Phil Kearny.  During 1869-9 General Freeman took part in the campaign which resulted in the death of General Custer.  Finally in 1879, he assisted in subduing the Ute Indians in Colorado.  His last active service was in Cuba and the Philippine Islands.

General Freeman married Miss Sarah E. Darlington of Zanesville, Ohio, in 1866.

Photos By Michael Robert Patterson, 1999

FREEMAN, HENRY B
BRIG GEN USA RETD
DATE OF DEATH: 10/16/1915
BURIED AT: SECTION E.D W  SITE 937
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

FREEMAN, SARAH A WIDOW OF H B
DATE OF DEATH: 11/13/1927
BURIED AT: SECTION E E  SITE LOT 937
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Webmaster: Michael Robert Patterson