Navasota, Texas, resident James W. Freeman served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, writing to his family from Brownsville; Bastrop; and Matamoros, Mexico. During this time, his wife Sophie remained at home and daughters Laura and Lula attended schools in Minden, Louisiana, and Marshall, Texas. Freeman’s son James M. Freeman also fought for the Confederacy and wrote to his family from Brownsville and Niblett’s Bluff, Louisiana.
From the guide to the Freeman, James. W, Family Papers 1935., 1860-1911, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)