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== Early life ==
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|AB degree]] from [[University of Richmond|Richmond College]], where he had been a member of the [[Phi Gamma Delta]] fraternity. In 1908, at the age of 22, he earned a PhD in history at [[Johns Hopkins University]] in [[Baltimore]]. Unable to secure a position in academia, Freeman joined the staff of the ''[[Richmond Times-Dispatch]]'' 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.<ref name="johnson"/>
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In 1911, Freeman came into possession of a cache of long-lost wartime communications between Robert E. Lee and Confederate president [[Jefferson Davis]]. 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,<ref name="johnson"/> 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]]'s army in the [[Shenandoah Valley]] and embark on a vigorous offensive campaign against the North, even at the expense of defending Richmond.<ref>Freeman, Douglas Southall. Introduction in ''[https://books.google.com/books/about/Lee_s_dispatches.html?id=k4B66r_9VhcC Lee's Dispatches]''. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1915, pp. iii–xxxviii.</ref>
===''R. E. Lee: A Biography''===
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==Death and legacy==
Douglas Southall Freeman died of a heart attack on June 13, 1953, at his home in [[Richmond, Virginia]], 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 (Richmond, Virginia)|Hollywood Cemetery]] in Richmond.<ref name="johnson"/><ref>[[#malone|Freeman, Malone, 1954]], p. xi</ref>
Freeman's newspaper editorials and daily radio broadcasts made him one of the most influential Virginians of his day, his analysis of [[World War I]] and [[World War II]] military campaigns bringing him recognition throughout the country, especially in military circles. President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] thanked him for suggesting the use of the term "liberation," rather than "invasion," of Europe.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Virginians: Douglas Southall Freeman, Washington, and Lee |url=http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1948/1101481018_400.jpg |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |location=New York |date=1948-10-18 |access-date=2014-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111014234/http://dosomefink.com/phpbb2/index.php?topic=2453.0%3Bwap2 |archive-date=November 11, 2014 |author=Unknown |url-status=dead |df=mdy }}</ref>
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