Edward Crossland

Edward Crossland (June 30, 1827 – September 11, 1881) was a Confederate army officer in the American Civil War and later a United States Representative from Kentucky. Over the course of his public life he served as a county sheriff, state legislator, judge of both the court of common pleas and the circuit court, and a two-term member of Congress. During the Civil War he commanded a brigade of cavalry in the Western Theater and took part in several notable engagements.

Crossland was born on June 30, 1827, in Hickman County, Kentucky, to Samuel Crossland and his wife, Elizabeth Harry. Raised in western Kentucky, he read law as a young man and prepared for a legal career. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1852, beginning his practice at Clinton, the county seat of Hickman County. Even before entering the bar, he held local office; he served as sheriff of Hickman County in 1851 and 1852, gaining early experience in public administration and law enforcement in a frontier region of the state.

Crossland’s political career began in the antebellum period. A Democrat, he was elected a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives and served in that body in 1857 and 1858. His legislative service placed him among the rising political figures of western Kentucky on the eve of the sectional crisis. After his term in the state legislature, he returned to his legal practice, but the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 soon drew him into military service on the Confederate side.

At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, Crossland became a captain in the Confederate Army’s 1st Kentucky Infantry Regiment. With this regiment he went to northern Virginia, where in December 1861 the unit fought in the Battle of Dranesville under the command of Confederate cavalry leader J. E. B. Stuart. The 1st Kentucky Infantry was then assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia, in which it served until its one-year enlistment expired. During this period Crossland rose in rank and, by the time the regiment’s term ended, he had become a lieutenant colonel.

Following his discharge from the 1st Kentucky Infantry, Crossland was elected colonel of the 7th Kentucky Infantry Regiment and served with that unit in Mississippi. In 1864 the 7th Kentucky Infantry was mounted and converted to mounted infantry or cavalry, and it was assigned to the brigade of Maj. Gen. Hylan B. Lyon within Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Cavalry Corps in the Western Theater. As a brigade commander under Forrest, Crossland participated in a series of cavalry operations in the closing phase of the war. He served under Forrest until the Confederate surrender in May 1865, his last major engagement being the Battle of Selma, Alabama, on April 2, 1865.

After the war, Crossland resumed his legal and judicial career in Kentucky. In August 1867 he was elected judge of the court of common pleas of the first judicial district of Kentucky for a six-year term, reflecting the confidence of his community in his legal abilities despite his Confederate service. He did not complete the full term, however, resigning the office on November 1, 1870, as he prepared to seek national office.

Crossland was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses, serving as a United States Representative from Kentucky from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1875. Representing a district in western Kentucky during the Reconstruction era, he aligned with the Democratic Party’s efforts to restore local control and limit federal intervention in Southern affairs. After serving two consecutive terms, he declined or failed to secure renomination and left Congress at the expiration of his second term, returning once more to private legal practice.

Following his congressional service, Crossland practiced law in Mayfield, Kentucky, an important town in the Jackson Purchase region. His prominence at the bar and in Democratic politics led to his return to the judiciary. In August 1880 he was again elected judge, this time of the circuit court for the first judicial district of Kentucky. He held this position until his death the following year, presiding over a broad range of civil and criminal matters in western Kentucky.

Edward Crossland died in office on September 11, 1881, at the age of 54. He was survived by his wife and five of their thirteen children, reflecting the large family typical of his time and region. Crossland was buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Mayfield, Kentucky, where his grave remains a local historical site. His regional influence was commemorated geographically as well; the community of Crossland, Kentucky, was named in his honor, marking his lasting association with the western part of the state he served in war, law, and politics.