Henry Rutherford was born in 1873 and raised in Arkansas, enrolling at the University of Missouri in Columbia and earning his medical degree in 1898.
He began his military career the same year being commissioned as an assistant regimental surgeon with the 2d Regiment of the Missouri Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American War. He was heroic in saving lives, treating diseases that impacted the troops.
Stationed in San Francisco during the Great San Francisco Earthquake he again dealt with death and destruction setting up and emergency medical treatment facility once again saving the lives of many. He remained in the US Army until retiring after forty years of service, being interred with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery 17 January, 1951