Thomas R. Freeman
Thomas Roe Freeman was a Missouri lawyer, judge, and Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. During the war Freeman led "Freeman's Brigade", a cavalry brigade under the command of John S. Marmaduke's 1st Division.
Early life
Thomas Roe Freeman was born on February 22, 1829 in Benton, Missouri. He was the son of Reverend James R. Freeman and Rebecca Roberts. Freeman worked in a variety of trades growing up including as a blacksmith and livestock trader. Shortly before the American Civil War Freeman worked as a lawyer in Dent County, Missouri and Phelps County, Missouri where he was the Associate Justice of the Phelps County court.American Civil War
At the outbreak of the American Civil War Freeman enlisted into the ranks of Wingo's Cavalry from Dent County which was part of the Missouri State Guard under the command of Captain Edmund Thomas Wingo. Freeman was later elected as the Colonel of the 6th Regiment of the 7th Division of the Missouri State Guard. Freeman was captured and held as a prisoner of war on February 14, 1862 following the Battle of Crane Creek, a small skirmish during the broader Pea Ridge Campaign. Freeman was held as a POW at the Alton Military Prison in Alton, Illinois until he was paroled in a prisoner exchange later on September 23, 1862.Freeman later joined the 12th [Missouri Cavalry Battalion] where he patrolled and skirmished with Union forces in Independence County, Arkansas, as well as Carroll County, Marion County, and Searcy County under the command of Sterling Price. On December 25, 1863 Colonel Robert Ramsey Livingston of the 1st Nebraska Cavalry Regiment was eventually tasked with capturing Freeman and his cavalry raiders in a punitive expedition from Batesville, Arkansas. Livingston was successful in capturing several of Freeman's men, but not Freeman himself. In the meantime, Freeman eluded capture by the 1st Nebraska Cavalry until his unit confronted the 1st Nebraska near Pocahontas, Missouri and engaged in a skirmish which the Union units lost 8 men killed, 1 wounded, and 31 captured.