Douglas Southall Freeman (May 16, 1886 – June 13, 1953) was an American historian, biographer, newspaper editor, radio commentator, and author. He is best known for his multi-volume biographies of

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

and

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

, for both of which he was awarded

Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

Early life

Douglas Southall Freeman was born May 16, 1886, in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...

, to Bettie Allen Hamner and Walker Burford Freeman, an insurance agent who had served four years in

Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was a field army of the Confederate States Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed agains ...

. From childhood, Freeman exhibited an interest in Southern history. In Lynchburg, his family lived at 416 Main Street, near the home of Confederate general

Jubal Early Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was an American lawyer, politician and military officer who served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. Trained at the United States Military Academy, Early resigned his ...

. The family moved to the former Confederate capital of

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, in 1892 at the height of the monument commemoration movement that memorialized Virginia's Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, and

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general and military officer who served during the American Civil War. He played a prominent role in nearly all military engagements in the eastern the ...

. In 1904, Freeman was awarded an A.B. from Richmond College, where he had been a member of the

Phi Gamma Delta Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Phi Gam and sometimes written as FIJI, is a North American social fraternity with 139 active chapters and 13 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania ...

fraternity. In 1908, at the age of 22, he earned a Ph.D. in

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. Unable to secure a position in academia, Freeman joined the staff of the ''

Richmond Times-Dispatch The ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' (''RTD'' or ''TD'' for short) is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, and the primary newspaper of record for the state of Virginia. Circulation The ''Times-Dispatch'' has the second-highest circul ...

'' in 1909, and, in 1915, at the age of 29, he became editor of '' The Richmond News Leader''—a position he held for 34 years.

Writing career

''Lee's Dispatches''

In 1911, when Freeman was 25 years old, he came into possession of a cache of long-lost wartime communications between Robert E. Lee and Confederate president

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

. Freeman spent four years working on the documents, and in 1915, he published ''Lee's Dispatches''. The book was received enthusiastically by Civil War historians, and it became an important primary source for Civil War scholars. Written between June 2, 1862, and April 1, 1865, Lee's letters to Davis revealed the general's strategy with clearer perspective, shed new light on some of Lee's decisions, and underscored his close and always co-operative relationship with Davis. In his Introduction, Freeman summarized seven major revelations contained in the letters. For example, the letters reveal that the Confederate high command in 1862 considered but rejected a bold proposal to strengthen

Stonewall Jackson Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general and military officer who served during the American Civil War. He played a prominent role in nearly all military engagements in the eastern the ...

's army in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the east ...

and embark on a vigorous offensive campaign against the North, even at the expense of defending Richmond.

''R. E. Lee: A Biography''

Following the immediate critical success of ''Lee's Dispatches'', Freeman was approached by New York publisher

Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City that has published several notable American authors, including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjori ...

and invited to write a biography of Robert E. Lee. Freeman accepted but chose to retain his position at ''The Richmond News Leader'' and work longer days to work on the biography. Freeman's research of Lee was exhaustive. He evaluated and cataloged every item about Lee, and he reviewed records at West Point and the War Department and material in private collections.Taylor, John M. "Lee's biographer is a story himself; Richmond News Leader editor's books extensively documented" in ''The Washington Times'', July 2, 1927
Goliath
Retrieved November 5, 2011. In narrating the general's Civil War years, he used what came to be known as the "

fog of war The fog of war is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, and adversary Intent (Military), inten ...

" technique, providing readers only the limited information that Lee himself had at a given moment. That helped convey the confusion of war that Lee experienced as well as the processes by which Lee grappled with problems and made decisions. ''R. E. Lee: A Biography'' was published in four volumes in 1934 and 1935. In its book review, ''The New York Times'' declared it "Lee complete for all time." Historian Dumas Malone wrote, "Great as my personal expectations were, the realization far surpassed them." In 1935, Freeman was awarded the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

for his four-volume biography. Freeman's ''R. E. Lee: A Biography'' established the Virginia School of Civil War scholarship, an approach to writing Civil War history that concentrated on the Eastern Theater of the war, focused the narrative on generals over the common soldier, centered the analysis on military campaigns over social and political events, and treated his Confederate subjects with sympathy. This approach to writing Civil War history would lead some critics to label Freeman a " Lost Cause" historian, a pejorative reference to a pseudohistorical apologist interpretation of the cause of the Civil War that deprecates the central role of slavery. Freeman began work on his biography of Lee in 1926; by the time he had completed his four volume work in 1933, he had committed some 6,100 hours to the effort. Freeman, Malone, 1954, p. xviii

''Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command''

Following the critical success of ''R. E. Lee: A Biography'', Freeman expanded his study of the Confederacy with the three-volume '' Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command'', published in 1942, 1943, and 1944. It presents a unique combination of military strategy, biography, and Civil War history, and it shows how armies actually work. Published during World War II, it had a great influence on American military leaders and strategists. A few months after the conclusion of the war, Freeman was asked to join an official tour of American forces in Europe and Japan. ''Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command'' established Freeman as the preeminent military historian in the country, and led to close friendships with United States generals George C. Marshall and

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

Biography of George Washington

After completing his exhaustive studies of Lee, his generals, and the Confederate war effort, Freeman started work on a seven-volume biography of George Washington. Applying the same approach of exhaustive research and writing narrative based on objective fact, Freeman completed the first two volumes, titled ''Young Washington'', in 1948. The following year, he retired from journalism in order to complete his monumental work on Washington. ''George Washington Volume 3: Planter and Patriot'' and ''George Washington Volume 4: Leader of the Revolution'' were published in 1951. The following year, he published ''George Washington Volume 5: Victory with the Help of France'' (1952). Freeman completed work on ''George Washington Volume 6: Patriot and President'' just before he died; it was published after his death in 1954. The concluding book, ''George Washington Volume 7: First in Peace'', was written by Freeman's associates, John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth, based on Freeman's original research and was published in 1957. Historian and George Washington biographer John E. Ferling maintains that no other biography of Washington compares to that of Freeman's work.

Newspaper, radio, and teaching careers

Freeman's considerable literary achievements have overshadowed his career as editor of ''The Richmond News Leader''. Between 1915 and 1949, he wrote an estimated 600,000 words of editorial copy every year. He earned a national reputation among military scholars for his analyses of operations during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. His editorials expressed a moderate approach to race relations, and in his editorials opposed the

Byrd Organization The Byrd machine, or Byrd Organization, was a political machine of the Democratic Party led by former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd (1887–1966) that dominated Virginia politics for much of the 20th century. From the 1890s until the ...

—a powerful statewide Democratic political machine run by United States Senator Harry F. Byrd. Freeman retired as editor of ''The Richmond News Leader'' on June 25, 1949. Years later, his obituary published in his former newspaper captured the scope of his editorial interests. In addition to his forty-year career in journalism, Freeman became one of the first radio analysts, in 1925. His twice-daily radio broadcasts helped make him one of the most influential men in Virginia. From 1934 to 1941, he commuted weekly by air to New York City to teach journalism at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He also taught as a lecturer at the

United States Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army staff college in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, with a Carlisle postal address, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instru ...

for seven years, and served as Rector of the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

Personal life

Freeman's work ethic was legendary. Throughout his life, he kept a demanding schedule that allowed him to accomplish a great deal in his two full-time careers, as a journalist and as a historian. When at home, he rose at three every morning and drove to his newspaper office, saluting Robert E. Lee's monument on Monument Avenue as he passed. Twice daily, he walked to a nearby radio studio, where he gave news broadcasts and discussed the day's news. After his second broadcast, he would drive home for a short nap and lunch and then worked another five or six hours on his current historical project, with classical music, frequently the work of

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

, playing in the background.Johnson, David. ''Douglas Southall Freeman''. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Co., 2002. Freeman was a devout Baptist who prayed daily in the small chapel he built in his home. He acknowledged that his Christian faith played a central role throughout his life. Freeman was also a Virginian, and described himself as "deeply rooted in the soil of old Virginia." He believed in the importance of continuity, even in personal geography, once writing, "I think the American people lose a large part of the joy of life because they do not live for generations in the same place." Freeman believed in the importance of a character. His definition of leadership was, "Know your stuff, be a man, look after your men." Freeman married Inez Virginia Goddin on February 5, 1914. They had three children: Mary Tyler, Anne Ballard, and James Douglas. Mary Tyler Freeman married Leslie Cheek, Jr., longtime director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and became a founder or influential officer of several important community organizations, as well as president of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation. The family lived (and Freeman died) in a mansion he named Westbourne in Richmond's west end, a house listed (in 2000) in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Death and legacy

Douglas Southall Freeman died of a heart attack on June 13, 1953, at his home in

, at the age of 67. On the morning of his death he had delivered his usual radio broadcast from Richmond. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. Freeman's newspaper editorials and daily radio broadcasts made him one of the most influential Virginians of his day, his analysis of

and

military campaigns bringing him recognition throughout the country, especially in military circles. President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

thanked him for suggesting the use of the term "liberation," rather than "invasion," of Europe. Military commanders such as Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Generals George C. Marshall,

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

, and

sought his friendship and advice. Eisenhower said Freeman first convinced him to think seriously about running for the presidency. In 1958, Freeman was posthumously awarded his second

for his seven-volume biography of

. In 1955, the Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters honored Freeman by creating the Douglas Southall Freeman Award for public service in radio journalism.

Eric Foner Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstr ...

is more critical of Freeman, whose biography of Lee Foner calls a "

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

," criticizing its lack of nuance and the limited attention paid to Lee's relationship to slavery. Charles B. Dew wrote that Freeman's "magisterial" ''Lee's Lieutenants'', United Daughters of the Confederacy magazine, and '' Facts the Historians Leave Out: A Youth's Confederate Primer'' by John S. Tilley were crucial titles in his adolescent indoctrination into the mainstream white Southern worldview of the 1950s. In 2021, some students and faculty at the University of Richmond, where Freeman served as Rector for seven years, criticized the University board of trustees for refusing to remove Freeman's name from a campus building, although he had "supported racial segregation, opposed interracial marriage and promoted racist concepts underlying the eugenics movement." The "greatest inheritance," Freeman once said, was "clean blood, right-thinking ancestry."

Honors and awards

* 1935

for ''R. E. Lee: A Biography'' (4 volumes) * 1951 best news commentary over larger radio stations from Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters * 1958 Pulitzer Prize (posthumous) for ''George Washington: A Biography'' (6 volumes) *

Douglas S. Freeman High School Douglas S. Freeman High School is a public high school located in the West End of Henrico County, Virginia. It is operated by Henrico County Public Schools. History Part of Henrico County Public Schools,Henrico County Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico Coun ...

named in his honor *

Freeman Hall named in his honor
Virginia Historical Marker Q-6-17
, located on Rivermont Avenue in

, commemorates Freeman's life and work

Bibliography

* ''A Calendar of Confederate Papers'' (1908)
''Lee's Dispatches to Jefferson Davis, 1862–1865'' (1915)
* ''R. E. Lee: A Biography'' (4 volumes) (1934–1935)

an

* ''The Cornerstones of Stratford: Address at the Dedication of Stratford, October 12, 1935'' (1935)

!-- ISBN needed --> * [https://books.google.com/books/about/Lee_s_Lieutenants_Manassas_to_Malvern_Hi.html?id=rqbWAAAAMAAJ ''Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command Volume 1: Manassas to Malvern Hill'' (abridged ed. by Stephen W. Sears)] (1942)
''Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command Volume 2: Cedar Mountain to Chancellorsville''
(1943)

(1944) * ttps://books.google.com/books/about/Washington.html?id=7hWBcg2iLooC ''George Washington Volume 1: Young Washington'' (1948)* ''George Washington Volume 2: Young Washington'' (1948) * ''George Washington Volume 3: Planter and Patriot'' (1951) * ''George Washington Volume 4: Leader of the Revolution'' (1951)
''George Washington Volume 5: Victory with the Help of France'' (1952)
* * ''George Washington Volume 7: First in Peace'' (1957, by John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth, based on Freeman's original research) *

References

External links

Douglas Southall Freeman in ''Encyclopedia Virginia''
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20101204054731/http://www.henrico.k12.va.us/hs/freeman/ Douglas Southall Freeman High School webpage* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Douglas S. 1886 births 1953 deaths Writers from Lynchburg, Virginia 20th-century American biographers American male biographers American male journalists American military writers Burials at Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia) Historians of the American Civil War Historians of the American Revolution Historians of the United States Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners Writers from Richmond, Virginia History of Richmond, Virginia American military historians University of Richmond alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Journalists from Virginia 20th-century American male writers Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters