Face was recognized in the official report of the battle by Franklin Buchanan, Flag Officer, Confederate States Navy.

Almost a year before the battle, in April 1861, as Virginia moved toward secession, the Federals laid torch to the Gosport Navy Yard to prevent its huge store of munitions from falling into Southern hands.

Just as the fire was set, Face (commanding the steamer Raney) completed the first successful transfer of gunpowder from the Navy Yard to the future Confederate capital of Richmond.

According to reports in newspapers North and South, Face was a "Virginia pilot, who was very prompt and energetic in the performance of the important duties assigned him, when men of nerve and action were in demand for special service.

In late April 1885, at the height of the diplomatic crisis between England and Russia known as the Panjdeh incident, Face was forced by Captain Nicholas Skrydloff of the Russian corvette Strelok to assist in that ship's stealthy exit from the Norfolk, Virginia harbor in order to evade the English man-of-war Garnet, which had been assigned to keep tabs on it.

[6] After a night on the town in Norfolk, including attending a concert with three of his officers, Skrydloff returned to his ship and summoned Face, indicating his intention to set sail in a few hours, at 2:00 the next morning.

The Richmond Dispatch reported that Skrydloff suggested in broken English, "You sleep late pelot " – adding with a shrug of the shoulders – "Come on board to-night."

Making his way to the pilot house, Face observed that Strelok's lights were out, and before long she was proceeding at full speed with all sails deployed and her engines "doing their best."

[6] The Strelok incident was headline news in major newspapers, as journalists relished reporting Captain Skrydloff's clever evasion of Garnet.

Edward Face and four hands serving on his sloop John spent 70 days "for the use of the troops at the Seege of York Town under the Command of his Excellency Gen'l Washington."

Both forts would later provide great vantage points for the Battle of Hampton Roads but neither played an important part in the action.