Mary Lee Brady, Ph.D. 
| | Edwards Generations Edwards Patriots included thirty-eight young men who enlisted in the Union Navy and 631 enlistments in the U.S. Colored Troops. The below listing of sailor enlistment origins confirms our observation that many young men who served in the Union cause in the elimination of chattel slavery came from outside the continental United States. Most young men who joined in the great war against evil were already living free in America or abroad. The war against slavery had indeed began in 1807 when the British Navy was given the mandate to find and stop slave ships off the coast of Africa loading and leaving for slave markets in the Caribbean and Americas. | Name | Age | Complexion | Occupation | Home | | Edwards, Charles | 16 | Negro | Waiter | Barbados |
| | Edwards, Charles | 21 | Mulatto | Sailor | Antigua, West Indies |
| | Edwards, Charles | 22 | Negro | Shoemaker | Keyport, New Jersey |
| | Edwards, Dennis | 32 | Negro | Mariner/Farmer | Isle of Wight, Virginia |
| | Edwards, Drover | 19 | Negro | Boatman | Nassau, New Providence |
| | Edwards, Ephraim | 19 | Colored | Slave | Drew Co., Arkansas |
| | Edwards, George | 17 | Mulatto | None | New York, New York |
| | Edwards, George | 20 | Negro | Farmer | Florida |
| | Edwards, George | 49 | Mulatto | Cook | Kentucky |
| | Edwards, George | 21 | Black | Farmer | Lauderdale, Alabama |
| | Edwards, Handy | 19 | Black | | North Carolina |
| | Edwards, Henry | 17 | Negro | None | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| | Edwards, Henry | 18 | Mulatto | Steward/Waiter | Montgomery, Alabama |
| | Edwards, Isham | 45 | Contraband | Laborer | Nelson Co., Virginia |
| | Edwards, James | 26 | Negro | Laborer | Georgia |
| | Edwards, James | 20 | Mulatto | Servant | Lancaster Co., Virginia |
| | Edwards, James | 23 | Black | Laborer | Tensas Par., Louisiana |
| | Edwards, James | 48 | Black | Laborer | Lancaster Co., Virginia |
| | Edwards, James H. | 19 | Yellow | None | Lancaster Co., Virginia |
| | Edwards, John | 19 | Negro | Fieldhand/Laborer | Charlottesville, Virginia |
| | Edwards, Joseph | 21 | Black | Cook | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| | Edwards, Joseph | 21 | Colored | Seaman/Laborer | West Indies |
| | Edwards, Joseph | 27 | Negro | None | Louisiana |
| | Edwards, Lewis | 35 | Black | Farmer/Fireman | Virginia |
| | Edwards, Nathan | 19 | Colored | Laborer | Drew Co., Arkansas |
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| Edwards, Richard | 18 | Negro | Waiter | Washington, District of Columbia |
| | Edwards, Richard | 24 | Negro | Laborer | Allawaite, Virginia |
| | Edwards, Richard | 50 | Negro | Laborer | Bayou Sally, Louisiana |
| | Edwards, Robert | | | | |
| | Edwards, Samuel | 23 | Negro | Barber/Mariner | Norfolk, Virginia |
| | Edwards, Samuel | 22 | Negro | | Virginia |
| | Edwards, Solomon | 20 | Negro | None | Allawait, Virginia |
| | Edwards, Thomas | 21 | Negro | Cook | St. Thomas |
| | Edwards, Thomas J. | 20 | Mulatto | Waiter | Baltimore, Maryland |
| | Edwards, William | 25 | Negro | Laborer | New Jersey |
| | Edwards, William | 16 | Black | Waiter/Laborer | Washington, District of Columbia |
| | Edwards, William | 17 | Black | Fieldhand | |
| | Edwards, William | 14 | Colored | Slave | North Carolina |
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Below is one of several Union Army regiments that had men enlisted using the surname of Edwards. 2nd Regiment, United States Colored Cavalry Organized at Fort Monroe, Va., December 22, 1863. Attached to Fort Monroe, Va., Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, to April, 1864. Unattached Williamsburg, Va, Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, to June, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 18th Corps, Army of the James, to August, 1864. Unattached 3rd Division, 18th Corps, to December, 1864. Unattached 25th Corps, Dept. of Virginia, to May, 1865. Cavalry Brigade, 25th Corps, Dept. of Virginia and Dept. of Texas, to February, 1866.
SERVICE.-Duty at Fort Monroe, Portsmouth and Williamsburg, Va., till May, 1864. Demonstration on Portsmouth March 4-5. Action near Suffolk March 10. Reconnoissance from Portsmouth to the Blackwater April 13-15. Butler's operations on the south side of James River and against Petersburg and Richmond May 4-28. Capture of Bermuda Hundred and City Point May 5. Swift Creek May 8-10. Operations against Fort Darling May 10-16. Actions at Drury's Bluff May 10-13-14-15 and 16. Near Drury's Bluff May 20. Duty in trenches at Bermuda Hundred till June 13. Point of Rocks June 10. Richmond Campaign June 13-July 31. Baylor's Farm June 15. Assaults on Petersburg June 16-19. Siege of Petersburg and Richmond June 16, 1864, to February 18, 1865. Duty before Petersburg till July, 1864. Moved to Deep Bottom July 25. Action at Deep Bottom July 27-28. Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14-18. Actions at Deep Bottom September 2 and 6. Chaffin's Farm September 29-30. Darbytown Road October 7. Battle of Fair Oaks, Darbytown Road October 27-28. Near Richmond October 28-29. Duty in trenches north of James River till February, 1865. Ordered to Norfolk February 18. Duty in District of Eastern Virginia at Norfolk, Suffolk, etc., till May. Ordered to City Point, Va.; thence sailed for Texas June 10. Duty on the Rio Grande and at various points in Texas till February, 1866. Mustered out February 12, 1866.
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