Civil War’s youngest soldier was from Gilmer County

When General Joe Johnston was holed up in Dalton with his Army of Tennessee and heard that General Sherman’s Union troops were trying to outflank him on their march to Atlanta, he retreated just over a dozen miles south. There the two armies collided, with the bloody three-day Battle of Resaca ending on May 15, 1864 — 160 years ago — and the youngest soldier of the Civil War was engaged in it. David Bailey Freeman of Gilmer County was just 10 years old, a month shy of his 11th birthday, when he “enlisted” in the army of the Confederate States of America in 1862. A historical marker on the square in Ellijay, next to the courthouse, details his story.

An older brother of Freeman by a dozen years, Madison Freeman, raised a cavalry company in Gilmer County but worried about his fitness to serve because he suffered from “white swelling” (phlebitis) in his lower legs, according to the marker. He was almost crippled at times, and amazingly, talked his mother into allowing David to accompany him to a Confederate camp as his aide.

“His fellow Confederates called him ‘Little Dave,’” the marker reads. “He was the smallest soldier in his unit (Company D, 6th Georgia Cavalry), and he rode a spotted pony. He later recalled that when his unit rode into a town, ‘By the diminutive size of myself and my steed, I attracted much attention.’”

Along with thousands of his fellow gray-clad rebels toward the end of the war, the diminutive soldier was resisting Sherman’s Campaign for Atlanta that included the bloody fighting at Chickamauga and saw action not just at Resaca but Cassville and Kennesaw Mountain. He was under the ultimate command of General Joseph E. Johnston, the erstwhile hero of Dalton whose statue was moved from the downtown area to around a mile north.

‘Ought to be at home’

The youngest soldier became a “marker” with the company’s survey team. In an online post, Mike Wennin wrote that it appears a marker may also have carried the troop “guidon” (a staff with a colored banner to signify unit) to mark rally points.

“Since the early days of warfare, flags, standards and guidons have served as talismans of unit identity,” he said. “The flag was symbolic. It helped units develop a sense of pride and ‘esprit de corps,’ as well as serving the more practical purpose of providing a rally point for soldiers during the heat of battle.”

If so, Little Dave may also have been the bravest man in his outfit since such a standout banner would certainly draw enemy fire. 

Steve Hall, whose great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Griffith Charles, was in Smith’s Legion of the 65th Georgia Infantry, noted in the noise of rifle fire when troops could not hear orders, they would look to the marker or “color bearer” for orientation and commands according to where the flag moved. Also, when messages were sent, the messenger on foot or horseback would look for a unit’s flag since the unit commander would likely be there.

So Little Dave had a big job and yet survived the war. The Georgia Civil War Commission (GCWC) shared a post that quoted him as saying, “I hadn’t lost any war and wasn’t hunting any ... I attracted much attention. Some would give me presents ... and some would observe that I ought to be at home with my mother.”

Journalist and mayor

Research by Ellijay native Angela Pierce Groenhout on the Find A Grave website and Ancestry.com revealed Little Dave had other brothers who served in the Confederate Army: Sgt. Jasper Henry Freeman (killed in the Battle of Manassas), Lieutenant William Cantrell Freeman and Captain Wesley Newell Vance Freeman Sr. (the oldest brother). 

Later, David Bailey Freeman became a writer, editor and newspaper publisher, and eventually co-authored the book, “General Nathan Bedford Forrest — The Wizard of the Saddle.” Incredibly, he served as the mayor of three Northwest Georgia towns: Calhoun, Cartersville and Cedartown. He became “general” of the Confederate Veterans Association, and was also the father of the Rev. Bailey M. Freeman, according to Find A Grave.

From the historical marker: “Late on the evening of June 18, 1929, at the age of 78, General David Bailey Freeman, the Civil War’s youngest Confederate soldier, quietly and peacefully died of a heart attack in his apartment in Atlanta ... He had been ill for several days and had returned from a Confederate Veterans Reunion in North Carolina just 10 days earlier ... Several obituaries and eulogies were published in area newspapers around Calhoun, Atlanta and Cartersville, as many in David’s family were in the newspaper business. Many of the obituaries named David as ‘General Freeman’ and all pointed to his youthful service to the Confederate States of America.”

By the way, the youngest Civil War soldier in the Union Army was 12 years old, according to Find A Grave.