Military Monday – Jesse Freeman

Jesse Freeman was born in 1839 a son of Jesse Freeman and Sarah Jane Davis. He married Ann and they had two children; Jesse Coleman and John Wesley Freeman.

It is reported that Jesse Freeman enlisted in Co. E. 21^st Reg;’t  SC Infantry and that he was killed in action (KIA) in June 1864 at Petersburg, Virginia. He did not return home and his Widow Ann Freeman married Joseph Hall.  

During my research of Jesse Freeman I found a lot of conflicting information. 

    

First, there is no Jesse Freeman listed in the 21^st Reg’t SC Volunteers.  There is a Jerry Freeman, age 19, from Chesterfield, South Carolina. He was taken prisoner June 16, 1864. No other information given on Jerry Freeman; shows no released from prison nor does it shows he died.            

                  

At http://www.fold3.com/image/#20|73570085 there is a listing for a J. FREEMAN from Chesterfield, SC. This J. FREEMAN is in Co. B, 2nd Batt'n South Carolina Sharp Shooters, appointed 2nd  Corporal  30 August 1862. Enlisted  Jan 8, 1862 by Capt. B. T. Davis for 3 years. There are 3 images for him and no indication that he died in the war. 

There is no Jesse Freeman listed in "Broken Fortunes" [1]SC Dead in CSA Service 1861-1865, Randolph W. Kirkland, Jr.  A book listing soldiers of South Carolina that died in the war.

Johnson Hagood [2]does not show Jesse Freeman as a member of Co. E. 21st SCVI in his book "Memoirs if the War of Secession" pages 402 and 403.

The National Park Service Civil War Soldier and Sailors Database [3]does show a Jesse Freeman in the 21st Regiment, South Carolina Infantry.

Freeman, Jesse

Regiment Name: 21st Regiment, South Carolina Infantry

Side: Confederate

Company: E

Soldier's Rank In: Corporal

Soldier's Rank Out: Corporal

Alternate name: J./Freeman

Film Number: M381 roll 11

Notes: See also J./Freeman

Plaque Number:

[http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.htm]

After an exhaustive search no record had been found for Jesse' death in the Civil War and while Ann Freeman and her son Jesse A. Freeman are enumerated in the 1870 Census;[4] there is no adult male in the household.

To resolve this issue, records at the National Archives needs to be reviewed.

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[1] Randolph W. Kirkland Jr., Broken Fortunes: South Carolina Soldiers, Sailors and Citizens Who Died in the Service of Their Country and State in the War for Southern Independence, 1861-1865 (Columbia, South Carolina: Univ of South Carolina, 1997), Jesse Freeman is Not Listed as a deceased soldier..

[2] Johnson Hagood, Memoirs of the War of Succession (Camden, SC 29020: Jim Fox Books, 1997 (Reprint)), page 402-403.

[3] National Park Service, "Soldiers" database, Civil War Soldiers & Sailor System (http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers.htm : accessed 12 June 2012), entry for Freeman, Jesse, Corporal; 21st Regiment, South Carolina Infantry; Confederate.

[4] 1870 U. S. Census, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, population schedule, Cole Hill, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Page 283A; Line 3,, Dwelling 101, Family 101, Household of Ann FREEMAN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 19 July 2012); citing National Archives Microfilm M593_1491.