Charles Stewart Farnsworth (October 29, 1862 – December 19, 1955) was a United States Army officer and civic leader.

He worked for Western Union and the Bell Telephone company before being appointed to the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York in 1883.

[1] Among his classmates there included several general officers of the future, such as Charles Gerhardt, Mark L. Hersey, Nathaniel Fish McClure, Michael Joseph Lenihan, Herman Hall, William Weigel, Ernest Hinds, Ulysses G. McAlexander, James Theodore Dean, Frank Herman Albright, Marcus Daniel Cronin, George Owen Squier, Thomas Grafton Hanson, George Washington Gatchell, Alexander Lucian Dade and Edmund Wittenmyer.

Farnsworth was the commandant of the U.S. Army Infantry Training School at Fort Sill shortly after the American entry into World War I in April 1917.

In 1918, Farnsworth was promoted to major general and placed in command of the 37th Infantry Division of the Ohio Army National Guard.

The citation for his Army DSM reads: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Major General Charles Stewart Farnsworth, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I.

[3]While the Silver Star citation reads as follows: By direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 9, 1918 (Bul.

Major General Farnsworth distinguished himself by gallantry in action while serving as Commanding General, 37th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, in action near Montfaucon, France, 28 September 1918, in coming up to within four hundred yards of the front lines on horseback under an intense artillery bombardment.

He also reviewed reports by junior officers George S. Patton and Dwight D. Eisenhower on infantry tactics and the use of armor.

[4] Farnsworth and his wife moved to Altadena, California after his retirement and lived on Las Flores Drive, close to his son.

[5] In 1931, Farnsworth was Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses and was one of a few to ride a horse down the parade route in modern times.