Edward Cockran was born June 7, 1748, at Trinity Parish, Charles County, Maryland.  He moved to Bedford County, Virginia, after 1763.  He married Mary Edwards. 

During the Revolutionary War, Cockran as a private in the First Virginia, part of the Continental Army of the West, and the Illinois Campaign under General George Rogers Clark.  He was in Captain Isaac Taylor’s Company of Volunteers under Colonel John Montgomery from January 29, 1779 until August 22, 1780.  

In that time, he was marched to Fort Cahokia, Illinois, (across the river from present-day Saint Louis, Missouri).   Cockran and his outfit defended the fort against a combined British, French Canadian and Indian army under Jean-Marie Ducharme, May 26, 1780.  Colonel Montgomery proposed a combined Spanish-American defense, with the Spanish governor of Saint Louis, Missouri, against the 1,500 man army of Captain Emanuel Hesse.  This had been refused, and while Hesse attacked Saint Louis, Ducharme led 300 Indians from the main army against Fort Cahokia.  The battle at Fort Cahokia seemed hopeless for the Americans, until General Clark arrived with reinforcements, and the attack was repelled.  Saint Louis also was not taken.  This battle was the furthest west the Revolutionary War was waged.  It represented first contact of the American Colonies and Native American Indian tribes, such as the Sioux or Lakota of North and South Dakota, and the Chippewa of Minnesota.

Cockran was compensated for his service in the amount of 13 pounds, 14 shillings, and eight pence.  

The Last Will of Edward Cockran, of record at Franklin County, Virginia, names his ten children, to whom he devised his farm.  He died July 1, 1816, as a resident of Franklin County.  He was buried at the Cockran Cemetery at Rocky Mount, Franklin County.  His headstone is inscribed: “Edward Cockran  1 VA Regt. Revolutionary War (1748-1816).”