The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Major Herbert E. Farnsworth, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 11 June 1864, while serving with 10th New York Cavalry (Porter Guard), in action at Trevilian Station, Virginia. Sergeant Major Fransworth voluntarily carried a message which stopped the firing of a Union battery into his regiment, in which service he crossed a ridge in plain view and swept by the fire of both armies.