From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (PIONEERS & PATRIOTS: Anderson County Military Servicemen, Revolutionary War - WWI)
Smith, Edmond
(born: c. 1843) Edmond Smith was born a slave somewhere in Kentucky about 1843. He remained a slave into adulthood; President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states openly hostile toward the Union. Late in the war, however, the government called for the enlistment of colored regiments, and all who answered the call were granted immediate freedom.Edmond Smith therefore made his way to Camp Nelson to enlist as a soldier during the Civil War as a Private in Company K of the 6th Regiment of the U.S. Colored Cavalry, which was organized at Camp Nelson on October 24, 1864.
The Regiment was then attached to the 1st Division, District of Kentucky, Department of Ohio until February 1865; the Military District, Department of Kentucky until December 1865; then the Department of Arkansas until April 1866.
Smith was involved in Stoneman's Raid into southwestern Virginia December 10-29, 1864, in which the Union soldiers captured and destroyed lead mines on December 17. Company K was also involved in The Battle of Marion, Virginia on December 17-18 and The Second Battle of Saltville December 20-21.
Returning to Kentucky, the regiment was stationed at Camp Nelson and Paducah until March, 1865; then LaGrange, Tennessee until May; at Camp Nelson, Wildcat, and Danville until July; New Haven and Catlettsburg until October; Covington until December; and Louisville.
The regiment then traveled to Helena, Arkansas, staying there until January, 1866, when it moved to Duvall's Bluff, Arkansas until April 15, 1866, then was mustered out.
Edmond Smith was married in Anderson County to Sarah Gudgel on January 4, 1872. He appears on the 1880 Anderson County Census as a 37-year old distiller with wife Nancy, age 35; two sons and two daughters; and two stepsons and two stepdaughters.