Douglas Southall Freeman

Douglas Southall Freeman (1886–1953) was an American historian, biographer, and newspaper editor best known for multivolume biographies of Robert E. Lee and George Washington.

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R. E. Lee: A Biography: A four-volume biography of Robert E. Lee by Douglas Southall Freeman, published from 1934 to 1935. This Pulitzer Prize-winning work established Freeman’s reputation as a biographer of the Confederacy’s leading general.
Robert E. Lee: A Confederate general who commanded the Army of Northern Virginia during much of the American Civil War. Freeman’s biography made Lee the central subject of his best-known historical work.
Archival research: The study of historical records preserved in archives to answer questions about the past. Freeman grounded his biographies in extensive documentary evidence.
Lost Cause of the Confederacy: A post–Civil War interpretation that romanticized the Confederacy and minimized slavery’s role in secession. Freeman’s sympathetic portrayal of Lee became influential within a broader Lost Cause tradition.
George Washington: A Biography: A seven-volume biography of George Washington by Douglas Southall Freeman, published from 1948 to 1957. Freeman’s final major project applied his documentary approach to the first U.S. president.
George Washington: The commander of the Continental Army and first president of the United States. Freeman devoted his later career to a documentary biography of Washington.
Historical biography: A nonfiction account of a person’s life based on historical research and interpretation. Freeman used biography to connect individual decisions with military and political events.
Civil War historiography: The study of how historians have interpreted the causes, events, and consequences of the American Civil War. Freeman’s Lee studies became enduring works within changing interpretations of the war.
Lee's Lieutenants: A three-volume history by Douglas Southall Freeman of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia’s senior commanders. This companion to his Lee biography widened his account from one general to his command network.
James Branch Cabell: An American novelist and essayist from Richmond, Virginia, known for the fantasy novel Jurgen. Cabell was Freeman’s close friend and a fellow member of Richmond’s literary community.