Elon J. Farnsworth was born on July 30, 1837, at Green Oak, Michigan, the son of James Patten Farnsworth and Achsah Hudson. When he was seventeen years old, his father and mother, moved to Rockton, Illinois, where his mother died soon after arrival.
Young Farnsworth received his early education at Green Oak, Michigan.
In 1855, Farnsworth entered the University of Michigan, but in the winter of 1857 - 1858 left college to join General A. S. Johnston’s Utah Expedition against the Mormons, as a forage-master.
In 1861, Farnsworth hastened home to join the 8th Illinois Cavalry which his uncle, Colonel John Franklin Farnsworth, was organizing. He became first lieutenant and regimental adjutant, and on Christmas Day, 1861, a captain.
In the ensuing two years, which covered the Peninsular campaign, it has been said of Farnsworth that he never missed a battle or skirmish, forty-one in all, in which his regiment was engaged.
In the spring of 1863, he was commended in orders by General Pleasanton for gallant service in the field; and soon after, Pleasanton appointed him aide-de-camp on his staff, after efficient work as acting chief quartermaster of the IV Army Corps.
On June 29, 1863, Farnsworth was promoted from captain to brigadier-general, United States Volunteers, in Kilpatrick’s cavalry division.
In the Gettysburg campaign, Farnsworth’s brigade was sent in pursuit of General J. E. B. Stuart’s raiding force, and later on July 3, 1863, was in position near Little Round Top on the left flank of the Union army. Here, he received peremptory orders from Kilpatrick to charge the right flank of the Confederate lines. The ground was uneven and broken; the enemy was well posted behind fences and stone walls; everything was unfavorable for a charge. Farnsworth entered a dignified protest but was overruled. The cavalry charge which followed was one of the bravest as well as one of the most disastrous of the entire war; and by military writers has been compared to that of the Light Brigade at Balaclava.
Although the gallant movement penetrated the enemy’s lines for nearly two miles and resulted in the desired withdrawal from the front lines of several regiments of Confederate infantry, Farnsworth received five mortal wounds and his devoted command lost nearly one-fourth of its numbers. Buried not far from where he fell in battle, his remains were disinterred by his uncle, Colonel John F. Farnsworth, and transported to Rockton, Illinois, for permanent interment.
Elon John Farnsworth was an officer who experienced a meteoric rise to a general's star only to be killed five days later in a suicidal charge, at the Battle of Gettysburg. Battery Farnsworth, a coastal defense built between 1897 and 1899 near Fort Constitution at New Castle, New Hampshire, was named in his honor.
Quotes from others about the person
"Nature made him a general. " (Major General Alfred Pleasonton)
Elon J. Farnsworth never married.
