Edward Hatch was born in Bangor, Maine, on December 22, 1832. In April of 1861, he was a member of the District of Columbia volunteers who were enlisted to defend the national capital, and subsequently had charge of the camp of instruction at Davenport, Iowa. He was commissioned as a Captain in the 2nd Iowa cavalry on August 12, 1861. He was promoted to major on September 5 and to Lieutenant Colonel on December 11 of the same year. He commanded his regiment at New Madrid, Island No. 10, the Battle of Corinth, the raid on Booneville, and the battle of Iuka. He was promoted Colonel on June 13, 1862, and commanded a brigade of cavalry. He was afterward placed at the head of the cavalry division of the Army of the Tennessee, and was present at the various engagements in which it took part. He was disabled by wounds in December of 1863, and was made Brigadier-General on April 27, 1864. Under General A. J. Smith, and still in command of a cavalry division, he was engaged in the battles of Franklin (for bravery in which he was brevetted Brigadier-General in the regular service) and Nashville, and in the pursuit of Hood's Confederate army. For gallantry at Nashville he was, in 1864, brevetted Major-General of volunteers, and three years later promoted to the same rank by brevet in the United States army. On January 15, 1866, he was honorably mustered out of the volunteer service. Hatch died in 1889 in Fort Robinson, Tenn.