b. 21/06/1838 Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. d. 26/10/1912 Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 01/04/1865 Five Forks, Virginia.
Henry G Bonebrake MOH
Lieutenant Henry G. Bonebrake was born near Waynesboro, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, June 21, 1838. His early life was spent on the farm with his father in the vicinity of Waynesboro, Pa. On September 8, 1862, he went to the office of Michael H. Stoner, a justice of the peace in Waynesboro, and signed the muster roll of the Waynesboro Cavalry, then being recruited in Franklin county, and later became one of the chief promoters of the company. When the company was permanently organized he was elected first sergeant of the company and served in that capacity until December 15, 1864, when he was commissioned second lieutenant.
On January 14, 1865, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the company. From the day the company was mustered into the United States service, September 26, 1862, until the day of his muster out of the service, June 21, 1865, he had a continuous service record with the company. On October, 1863, during the engagement at Stephensburg, Virginia, his horse was shot on the skirmish line. He, with Comrade Aaron Harman who was also dismounted at the time, was cut off from the company and experienced great difficulty in crossing a swollen stream in their rear.
While emerging from the stream on the opposite side, they were greeted with a volley of Rebel bullets and he received a slight wound. On December 23, 1864, in the mounted charge near Gordonsville, Virginia, his horse was again shot from under him, receiving two bullet wounds, and was killed.
On April 1, 1865, at the battle of Five Forks, Virginia, while charging the enemy’s breastworks, Lieutenant Bonebrake and Comrade William Cummings were the first to leap over the breastworks. Seeing a Rebel battery flag, he made a dash for it, but failed in the attempt to capture it. A short distance to the right was another Confederate color-bearer who was enthusiastically waving his flag and urging his comrades to stand by the colors. While the color bearer s attention was principally directed to the assault in his immediate front, Lieutenant Bonebrake rushed to his side, grasped his colors and demanded his surrender. A hand to hand struggle followed and he succeeded in capturing the flag.
For this distinguished and meritorious act he was one of fifty-one who, having captured Confederate flags, presented in person their trophies to the Secretary of War, the Honorable Edwin M. Stanton, receiving his warm personal congratulations on May 3, 1865. All who presented Confederate flags on that occasion were granted a thirty days furlough. He mustered out of the army on 21 June 1865, along with the rest of his company.
Following the war Bonebrake continued in teaching. He later got into farming, then owned a grocery store and was an assistant postmaster in 1898. He married twice, first to Cora Walters and then, after her death in 1899, to Clara Palm, who also died before him in 1909.
MOH CITATION:
As 1 of the first of Devin’s Division to enter the works, he fought in a hand-to-hand struggle with a Confederate to capture his flag by superior physical strength.
BURIAL LOCATION; GREEN HILL CEMETERY, WAYNESBORO, PENNSYLVANIA.
SECTION J, LOT 165
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
