Henry Alonzo Edmundson (June 14, 1814 – December 16, 1890) was an American lawyer, congressman, farmer, slaveowner and Confederate officer.

[6] In 1848, voters from the vast western Virginia district comprising Alleghany, Bath, Boone, Botetourt, Floyd, Giles, Greenbrier, Logan, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Pocahontas, Pulaski and Roanoke counties elected Edmundson as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives.

During that term, he voted against abolishing the slave trade in the District of Columbia as well as against admitting California as a free state.

After Ohio representative Lewis D. Campbell addressed an increasingly bitter and violent House nearly thirty-six hours into the session, Edmundson reportedly began unbuttoning his vest as if reaching for a weapon and attempted to attack Campbell, but was restrained by other members and arrested.

[7][8] On January 18, 1856, during a debate to elect a speaker, Ohio Free-soiler Joshua Reed Giddings sarcastically quoted lines from Julius Caesar, "Go, show your slaves how choleric you are/ And make your bondsmen tremble".

[9] Later in the session, on May 22, 1856, Edmundson accompanied Preston Brooks when he brutally attacked Charles Sumner on the floor of the United States Senate with his cane.

As Virginia seceded, Edmundson resigned from Congress and served three months as a volunteer aide-de-camp to the governor.

On September 4, 1861, he accepted a commission as lieutenant colonel in the 54th Virginia Infantry and joined the newly formed Confederate States Army.

After General Lee's surrender, Edmundson returned to practicing law, but could not secure the position as counsel to the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad that he wanted.