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| spouse = Inez Virginia Goddin
| children = Mary Tyler Freeman<br/>Anne Ballard Freeman<br/>James Douglas Freeman
| education = [[University of Richmond|Richmond College]] ([[
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Douglas Southall Freeman was born May 16, 1886, in [[Lynchburg, Virginia]], to Bettie Allen Hamner and Walker Burford Freeman, an insurance agent who had served four years in [[Robert E. Lee]]'s [[Army of Northern Virginia]]. From childhood, Freeman exhibited an interest in Southern history. In Lynchburg, his family lived at 416 Main Street,<ref name="marker">{{cite web |title=Douglas Southall Freeman Marker Q-6-17 |publisher=Marker History |url=http://www.markerhistory.com/douglas-southall-freeman-marker-q-6-17/ |access-date=November 4, 2011 |archive-date=July 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718001349/http://www.markerhistory.com/douglas-southall-freeman-marker-q-6-17/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> near the home of [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] general [[Jubal Early]]. The family moved to the former Confederate capital of [[Richmond, Virginia]], in 1892 at the height of the [[Monument Avenue|monument commemoration movement]] that memorialized Virginia's Robert E. Lee, [[J.E.B. Stuart]], and [[Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson]].<ref name="johnson"/>
In 1904, Freeman was awarded an [[Bachelor of Arts|
== Writing career ==
[[File:Douglas Southall Freeman, elder.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|{{center|Douglas Southall Freeman}}]]▼
===''Lee's Dispatches''===
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''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]] for his four-volume biography.<ref name="johnson"/><ref name="taylor"/>
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 of the Confederacy|Lost Cause]]" historian, <ref name="johnson"/>
▲[[File:Douglas Southall Freeman, elder.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|
===''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
===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.<ref>[[#malone|Freeman, Malone, 1954]], pp. xi–xxxi</ref> Historian and George Washington biographer [[John E. Ferling]] maintains that no other biography
==Newspaper, radio, and teaching careers==
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Military commanders such as Admiral [[Chester W. Nimitz]] and Generals [[George C. Marshall]], [[Douglas MacArthur]], and [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] sought his friendship and advice. Eisenhower said Freeman first convinced him to think seriously about running for the presidency.<ref name="mullen">{{cite web|last=Mullen|first=Richard|title=America's Greatest Biographer: Douglas Southall Freeman |publisher=Contemporary Review (Resource Library)|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2242/is_1647_282/ai_100605231|access-date=November 4, 2011}}</ref> In 1958, Freeman was posthumously awarded his second [[Pulitzer Prize]] for his seven-volume biography of [[George Washington]]. In 1955, the Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters honored Freeman by creating the Douglas Southall Freeman Award for public service in radio journalism.<ref>{{cite news|title=Va. AP Honors WRNL, WSVS For Public Service in Radio|url=https://archive.org/stream/broadcastingtele49unse_0#page/n836/mode/1up|access-date=January 17, 2015|agency=Broadcasting|date=November 14, 1955}}</ref>
[[Eric Foner]] is more critical of Freeman, whose biography of Lee
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
==Honors and awards==
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[[Category:American male journalists]]
[[Category:American military writers]]
[[Category:Burials at Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)]]
[[Category:Historians of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Historians of the American Revolution]]
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