Henry Sturgis Russell (June 21, 1838 – February 16, 1905) was an American military and government official who served as commander of the 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry[1] and as the first commissioner of the Boston Fire Department.

[3][4] When the regiment reached Washington D.C., Russell was briefly assigned command of a brigade at Camp Casey.

[5] Russell was credited with creating the harbor police, reorganizing the force on a semi-military basis (the first reorganization of the department since its founding in 1854), proposing new rules for conduct and definitions of duties, arranging for merit-based promotions, and instituting physical examinations for officers under the rank of captain.

[2] In January 1895, he was appointed by Mayor Edwin Upton Curtis to succeed John R. Murphy on the Boston Fire commission.

[6] During his tenure as commissioner, Russell hired and promoted based on merit rather than political considerations and worked to improve living conditions in the city's firehouses.

[7] In 1909, a drinking fountain in memory of Russell was erected in Milton, Massachusetts, where he had been a summer resident for many years.