James C. Freeman

James Crawford Freeman (April 1, 1820 – September 3, 1885) was a Georgia planter and slaveowner who after serving in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War received a pardon and became a banker, jeweler and politician who served one term in the U.S. Representative as a Republican.[1]

James Crawford Freeman
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 5th district
In office March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875
Preceded by	Dudley M. DuBose
Succeeded by	Milton A. Candler
Personal details
Born	April 1, 1820 Clinton, Jones County, Georgia, U.S.
Died	September 3, 1885 (aged 66) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Occupation	Banker, jeweler, politician, soldier
Military service
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Branch/service	Confederate States Army
Years of service	1862–1865 (CSA)
Rank	private, Company B, 42nd Georgia Infantry
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Early and family life

Born in Clinton, Jones County, Georgia, Freeman was the second son born to planter James Freeman and his first wife, the former Rebecca Rhymes. His younger brother Major John Rhymes Freeman (1821-1896) would later move to Rome, Floyd County, Georgia and become a major slaveowner then a Confederate officer, although this James Freeman never received a commission. Educated in private schools, the younger James Freeman married Amanda Malvania Neal (1825-1884) on May 9, 1843 in Pike County, Georgia. They had at least three sons--David Neal Freeman (1847-1911), Edmund Freeman (b.1849) and James Crawford Freeman Jr. (1860-1905), and daughters Mary Freeman (b.1851) and Frances Freeman Iverson (1863-1930).[2][3]

Career

As an adult, Freeman farmed using slave labor. In 1850, he and/or his father owned 82 slaves in Jones County, Georgia[4] and 10 slaves in adjoining Pike County.[5] By 1860 this James C. Freeman lived near Flat Shoals in Meriwether County, Georgia (adjacent to Pike County) and owned 16 slaves (8 of them noted as fugitives) as well as rented rooms to a local grocer and two clerks.[6][7]

His brother, the future Confederate Maj. John Rhymes Freeman, owned 60 slaves in Rome, Floyd County, Georgia by 1860.[8] J.R. Freeman volunteered to fight for the Confederacy, and received a commission as a lieutenant in the Floyd legion, a Georgia militia company in October 1861, and was promoted to at least Lt.Col.[9]

In May 1862 this Freeman either volunteered or was conscripted into Company B of the 42nd Georgia Infantry, known as the Echols Guards, a Confederate unit formed in Meriwether County. He was mustered out on March 19, 1865 in Salisbury, North Carolina.[10] President Andrew Johnson pardoned Freeman in 1865.[11] After the Confederacy's defeat and loss of his slaves, this James C. Freeman moved to Griffin, the county seat of Spalding County, Georgia adjacent to Meriwether County (and similarly near Atlanta) and resumed his business activities. Relatives may have lived there. A slaveowning, 36 year old Methodist preacher named James D. Freeman and his wife,[12] and another slaveowner named Adeline Freeman had been living in Spalding County in 1860, before the war began. This James Freeman also had business investments and was a banker.

In 1872, Georgia voters from the 5th Congressional district elected Freeman as a Republican to the Forty-third Congress (March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875). He succeeded former Confederate officer Dudley M. DuBose, a protege of fiery former U.S. Senator and unreconstructed Confederate general Robert Toombs, but who likewise only served a single term. As a congressman, Freeman appointed Henry Ossian Flipper to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, who became the first black person to graduate from that institution. After Freeman lost his bid for re-election to Democrat Milton A. Candler, he moved to nearby Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and youngest son and daughter. Freeman identified himself as a jeweler during the 1880 U.S. federal census.[13]

Death and legacy

Freeman survived his wife by less than two years, dying in Atlanta on September 3, 1885. He was interred beside her in the family plot at Oakland Cemetery, as their children would be.[14]

References

1. CongBio no.F000362
2. 1860 U.S. Federal Census for Meriwether County, Georgia, family no. 921
3. findagrave no. 9664
4. 1850 U.S. Federal Census, slave schedule for District 47, Jones County, Georgia
5. 1850 U.S. Federal Census for Slave Schedule District 68, Pike County, Georgia
6. 1860 U.S. Federal Census, slave schedule for Meriwether County, Georgia
7. 1860 U.S. Federal Census for Meriwether County, Georgia
8. 1860 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule for Rome, Floyd County, Georgia
9. Georgia correspondence during the Civil War and military records at ancestry.com
10. Roster of Confederate soldiers 1861-1865 on ancestry.com
11. U.S. Pardons under Amnesty Proclamation 1865-1869 on ancestry.com
12. 1860 U.S. Federal Census, slave schedule for District 2, Spalding County, Georgia
13. 1880 U.S. Federal census for district 92, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia family 332
14. James C. Freeman at Find a Grave

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.