Col. Edward E. Cross (1832 - 1863)
Born at Lancaster (NH); died at Gettysburg (PA).
Newspaper man and adventurer.
Portrait by U.D. Tenney, 1892.
Presented to the State by the family, 1893.

Edward Cross was educated at Lancaster schools and began his career as a newspaper printer for the Coos County Democrat, a newspaper still in operation at Lancaster.

Cross headed west as a young man, serving as a newspaper illustrator, reporter, and editor for newspapers in Ohio and Arizona, the latter a new part of the United States thanks to the 1853 Gadsden Purchase. In 1858 Cross accompanied the first printing press to cross the Rocky Mountains by rail, at a time when the Colorado gold fields were just beginning to be explored and before the Indian Wars of 1861 - 1869.

In 1860/61 Cross served as a battalion commander in the Mexican Liberal army. The Army had overthrown the dictator Santa Anna in the Revolution of Ayutla (1855), an event second only to Mexican independence in modern Mexican history. Cross returned to New Hampshire in the fall of 1861 to accept a colonel's commission from Governor Nathaniel Berry. Colonel Cross was to raise, equip, and organize the Fifth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers, and by Spring 1862 the Regiment was on its way to join the Army of the Potomac. At the head of the Fighting Fifth, Colonel Cross was wounded at Fair Oaks (June 1862), Antietam (September 1862), and Fredericksburg (December 1862) before losing his life at Gettysburg (July 1863). In recognition of his bravery and leadership in the field the officers and men of the Fifth New Hampshire had subscribed to purchase a gold presentation sword, watch, and spurs for their colonel; these arrived after Colonel Cross' death and they were presented to his family. Most of these items were given to the New Hampshire State Library in 1937; they were put on display at the State House on Memorial Day 1998.

Location: First Floor, State House