William Henry Barnes (c. 1840 or 1845-December 24, 1866) was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War and a recipient of the Medal of Honor, America's highest military decoration.
Barnes was born and raised in St. Mary's County Maryland and worked as a free tenant farmer there before enlisting in the Army from Norfolk, Virginia, on February 11, 1864.
[1] At the Battle of Chaffin's Farm, on September 29, 1864, Barnes' regiment was among a division of black troops assigned to attack the center of the Confederate defenses at New Market Heights.
The attack was met with intense Confederate fire; over fifty percent of the black troops were killed, captured, or wounded.
[2] Barnes was awarded the Medal of Honor for being "[a]mong the first to enter the enemy's works; although wounded.