William Henry Edwards (March 15, 1822 Hunter, Greene County, New York – April 4, 1909 Coalburgh, West Virginia) was an important entomologist in the United States. He is remembered for his trip to the Amazon in 1846, that he recorded in his book "A Voyage Up the River Amazon, with a residency at Pará" (1847), that inspired Wallace and Bates to make their famous trip to the region. Edwards published the first major study of "The Butterflies of North America" (finished in 1897). He was an observer of the American Civil War and a correspondent of Darwin..