Henry Archer Edmondson (October 20, 1833 – December 28, 1918) was an American Democratic politician who served as a member of the

Virginia Senate The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...

and

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

, representing his native Halifax County. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, he was a major in the 53rd Virginia Infantry of the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. He was wounded in the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

, where he was shot in the chin during Pickett's Charge. He always wore a goatee to hide the scars following this injury. After the war, Major Edmondson owned a tobacco warehouse in South Boston, Virginia and became a successful businessman and community leader. He worked for reconciliation and stated that the Civil War was "all a big mistake", according to those who knew him in his later years. Major Edmondson also supported Isaac Edmundson's successful campaign for state office. Isaac Edmundson had been Major Edmondson's enslaved "body servant" during the Civil War, and worked as a barber in Halifax, Virginia after the war. He was one of the first Black representatives to serve in the Virginia legislature. Major Edmondson and his wife Sally Ann Poindexter were the parents of twelve children. They and some of their children are buried in St. John's Episcopal Church Cemetery in Halifax, Virginia.

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* * 1833 births 1918 deaths Democratic Party Virginia state senators 20th-century American legislators People from Halifax, Virginia People of Virginia in the American Civil War 20th-century Virginia politicians {{Virginia-VASenate-stub