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| Mr. Harold Kenneth (H.K.) Edgerton
February 18, 1948 - January 18, 2026 |
Harold Kenneth (H.K.) Edgerton passed over the river to rest beneath the shade of the trees with our Lord on Sunday, January 18, 2026 at the Asheville Veterans Administration Medical Center in his native Asheville, North Carolina.
He was born on February 18, 1948, to Asheville residents Roland Roger Edgerton and Anna B. Edgerton.
He passed away peacefully in his sleep after a prolonged illness arising from the COVID vaccine. Mr. Edgerton was 77 years old.
Mr. Edgerton is survived by his brothers, Rashad Hasan of Stone Mountain, Georgia and Terry Lee Edgerton, sister Obra Elaine Hall, niece Danielle Hall, niece Shykita Hill, nephews Corey Edgerton and Darius Edgerton, and a host of great nieces and Nephews of Asheville, North Carolina.
Mr. Edgerton graduated Asheville High School in 1967 and served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War as Signal Corp Instructor at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey between 1969-1972.
He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1976 with a Batchelor of Science (B.S.) degree.
While in college, he was Chairman of the Board of the United Way Agency that was responsible for running the Sabathani Community Center in south Minneapolis. He founded the University of Minnesota Black Student Center and served on the Student Regent Board of Directors.
He served as an intern for the Green Giant Company, Customer Service Engineer for International Business Machines (IBM), and later he and his brother Terry Lee owned and operated Edgerton and Edgerton Office Products in Fullerton, California from 1981-1989. He later consulted with APAC, a Fortune 500 company.
He returned to Asheville to serve his hometown in various roles after his retirement including serving as Chairman of the Program Planning and Implementation Committee for the Asheville-Buncombe County Drug Commission, first as Vice President and later as President of the Asheville Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and conducted an unsuccessful bid for mayor of Asheville. He received the Citizen of the Year Award. He was a supporter and leader of youth sports and education, including being a volunteer and founder of the Boys and Girls Golf Team at Shiloh Community Center in Asheville and volunteer coach at Oakley Middle School for girl’s and boys’ basketball. He also served as a teacher’s aide at Ira B. Jones Elementary School in Asheville.
Mr. Edgerton was probably best known for his civil rights activism and moral defense of our shared Southern identity and historical heritage in regards to the memories of the Confederate dead -- particularly Confederate veterans of color. He saw the peoples of the South being discriminated against and he fought vigorously to support them.
He gained international recognition during his historical 1,300 mile March Across Dixie in 2002 which began in Asheville in early October of 2002 and culminated on January 26, 2003 in Austin, Texas, walking solo across seven Southern states wearing a gray Confederate soldiers uniform and carrying the historical Confederate battle flag Army of Northern Virginia (Dixie Cross).
The March Across Dixie brought attention to the decision by then Governor George W. Bush to remove historic plaques from the Texas Supreme Court Building and the ongoing destruction and removal of Southern and Confederate symbols and names by radical anti-Southern heritage reactionary ideologues. Hundreds of Southern heritage activists walked with him for a few miles along his trek, and he was warmly greeted by Southern men, women, and children of all creeds -- particularly school children and teachers interested in his story.
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| Mr. Edgerton in Confederate uniform bearing the Dixie Cross banner in 2003 during his historic 3 month 1,300 mile March Across Dixie. |
Mr. Edgerton was a plaintiff in several lawsuits including against the U.S. Army to prevent the removal of the Reconciliation Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. He authored an Open Letter and Report on his activities for two decades and was a frequent public speaker on Southern history and served as an expert witness in two lawsuits.
These actions earned him the respect and admiration of fellow Confederate heritage defenders.
He was widely acclaimed for his efforts on behalf of Southern heritage defense and received the Key to the City of Carthage, Texas and the Key to the City of Toccoa, Georgia, the Horace L. Hunley Award from the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), the General Robert E. Lee Medal from The Virginia Division, SCV, the Jefferson Davis Medal from the Texas Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), SC Division SCV, Lifetime Achievement Award, North Carolina Order of Confederate Rose (OCR), John F. Harris Award, Mississippi Division, SCV and others.
In addition, H.K. Edgerton earned his stripes as an unofficial color sergeant among Confederate heritage defenders and helped lead the historic funeral procession through downtown Charleston, South Carolina in honor of the burial of the last 8-man crew of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley on Saturday, April 17, 2004.
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| Mr. H.K. Edgerton standing as color sergeant with Confederate living history reenactors as color guards during a Southern Heritage Youth Day event in York County, SC in September of 2017. Photo courtesy of this blog and taken by C.W. Roden. |
He was a member of numerous organizations including Chairman Board of Advisors Emeritus Southern Legal Resource Center (SLRC); Save Southern Heritage Florida; Founder, Veterans Defending Arlington; Honorary Scots of Austin; Honorary Life Member of the North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia Orders of the Confederate Rose (OCR); Honorary Life Member Jackson Rangers Camp #1917 SCV; Associate Member Abner Baker Chapter #2614 United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), Honorary Member of Augusta Jane Evans Wilson, Chapter #2640 UDC and the Judah P. Benjamin Camp #2210, SCV; Honorary Life Member, Longstreet Zollicoffer Camp #87 SCV; Honorary Member Simonton-Wilcox Camp #257 SCV; Honorary Life Member, Zebulon Baird Vance Camp #15, SCV; Honorary Member Maria Baker Lemmon, TN OCR #25; Honorary Life Member, Forest Orphans Camp #1744, SCV; Honorary Camp Commander, Granbury, Texas Brigade Camp #1479 SCV; and Honorary Life Member Bradford Rose Camp #1638, SCV.
Those who knew the man that Southern heritage advocates affectionately called "Brother H.K." or "Sergeant H.K." have found him to be a man of great conviction and honor, who earned the admiration and respect of those who spoke in defense of the memory of the Confederate soldier and American veterans as a whole.
I have been honored to have met Mr. Edgerton on several occasions and deeply respected him for being a voice for the defense of our shared Southern-Confederate ancestry and heritage; as well as being a fellow Southerner of great compassion and warmth.
When a color bearer falls in the face of the enemy, another picks up the standard and continues forwards them. I know that there will be many others who will continue to carry forward as H.K. Edgerton did -- I will be one of them.
Till the day we meet again in the presence of our Lord in paradise on the other side of the river, God Bless you, Brother H.K....you will never be forgotten!
"Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord."
~Romans 8:38-39 NIV
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