John E. Coffee (December 3, 1782 – September 25, 1836) was a military leader and a

Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

for the state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Early life

John E. Coffee was born in

Prince Edward County, Virginia Prince Edward County is located in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 21,849. Its county seat is Farmville, Virginia, Farmville. History Formation an ...

in 1782. He was a grandson of Peter Coffee, Sr. (1716 – November 1771) and Susannah Mathews (1701–1796). He is sometimes confused by researchers with his first cousin

John Coffee John R. Coffee (June 2, 1772 – July 7, 1833) was an American planter of English descent, and a state militia brigadier general in Tennessee. He commanded troops under General Andrew Jackson during the Creek Wars (1813–14) and the Battle ...

, who served as a general in the Tennessee

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

. John E. Coffee was 18 when he moved with his family to

Hancock County, Georgia Hancock County is a county located in the East Central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,735. The county seat is Sparta. The county was created on December 17, 1793, and named for John Hancock, a ...

, in 1800. His parents developed a cotton

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

near Powelton, based on the labor of enslaved African Americans. In 1807, the younger Coffee settled in

Telfair County, Georgia Telfair County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,477. The largest city and county seat is McRae-Helena. In 2009, researchers from the Fernbank Museum of N ...

, where he developed his own plantation.

Military career

As a general in the Georgia state militia, Coffee supervised construction in the 1820s of a supply road through the state of Georgia. It was called " Coffee Road" and enabled the transportation to the new

Florida Territory The Territory of Florida was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 30, 1822, until March 3, 1845, when it was admitted to the Union as the state of Florida. Originally the major portion of the Spanish ...

. It is now called the "Old Coffee Road".

Political career

John Coffee served as a member of the

Georgia Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The Georgia State Senate and the lower house of the General Assembly, the Georgia House of Representatives, comprise the bicameral leg ...

from 1819 to 1827. He was elected as a

Jacksonian Democrat Jacksonian democracy, also known as Jacksonianism, was a 19th-century political ideology in the United States that restructured a number of federal institutions. Originating with the seventh U.S. president, Andrew Jackson and his supporters, i ...

to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth U.S. Congresses and served from March 4, 1833, until his death on September 25, 1836. He was re-elected to the

Twenty-fifth United States Congress The 25th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 183 ...

on October 3, 1836, after his death, the news of his death not having been received. Coffee died on his plantation near

Jacksonville, Georgia Jacksonville is a city in Telfair County, Georgia, United States. The population was 111 in 2020. History Jacksonville was the original county seat of Telfair County. Land lot 340 in land district 8 was declared to be the permanent county seat ...

, on September 25, 1836, and was buried there. In 1921, his remains were reinterred in McRae Cemetery,

McRae, Georgia McRae was a city in and the county seat of Telfair County, Georgia, United States. It was designated as the seat in 1871, after being established the previous year as a station on the Macon and Brunswick Railroad. Upon the city's merger with ad ...

Legacy and honors

In addition to Old Coffee Road,

Coffee County, Georgia Coffee County is a County (United States), county located in the Southeast Georgia, southeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 43,092, up from 42,3 ...

, and

General Coffee State Park General Coffee State Park is a Georgia state park located near Douglas. The park is named after politician, farmer, and military leader General John E. Coffee. The park is host to many rare and endangered species, especially in the cypress swam ...

were named in honor of John E. Coffee.

References

External links