JWVil CIVIL WAR HERO - COMMUNITY BUILDER Edward Edwin Dodds was just 14 and had little choice in life when he emigrated with his father Thomas, mother Sarah, and three siblings. Arriving from: Cheshire, England, in 1859, the family settled in Hope Township, Ontario, and ten years later Thomas purchased a 100 acre farm at Lot 12, Concession 5. But by the time he was 19, Edward was man enough to make a major choice of his own. It was the choice made by some 33,000 - 50,000 other men from British North America, to join the Union Army in the American Civil War - to fight for the liberation of slaves, for adventure or just for curiosity. LenKLoTl2Conor Con a Graver Roan. CAN SST Edward took a steamer across Lake Ontario to Rochester, New York. Here he enlisted on July 31, 1863 with the Union Army, then was officially mustered in as a private with Company C of the 21st New York Volunteer Cavalry (also known as the Griswold Light Cavalry). The 21st Cavalry saw action at multiple battles in the Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1864, and on May 1 of that year Edward was promoted to the rank of sergeant. Shortly after, he was wounded in action at Bolivar Heights near Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Within. six weeks, Edward had rejoined his regiment in the fighting at Ashby Gap, Virginia. During the minor engagement known.as the Battle of Ashby's Gap, with a small group of Union cavalrymen, including members of the 21st New York, he attempted to cross the Gap. Their plan was to disrupt the movement of Confederate Lieutenant-General Jubal Early's army by attacking supply trains bringing up the rear of Early's forces. COBOURG MUSEUM FOUNDATION