Jacob R. Freese

author

Jacob R. Freese

1826–1885

A Civil War officer and 19th-century travel writer, he wrote with the eye of someone who had seen both conflict and far-off places up close. His books range from wartime exposé to richly detailed journeys through Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor.

1 Audiobook

Secrets of the Late Rebellion, Now Revealed for the First Time

Secrets of the Late Rebellion, Now Revealed for the First Time

by Jacob R. Freese

About the author

Jacob R. Freese (1826–1885) was an American author best known for combining firsthand experience with a strong documentary style. Records from the Internet Archive identify him as the author of The Old World: Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor, published in Philadelphia in 1869, a substantial travel book covering history, description, and personal observation.

He is also associated with Secrets of the Late Rebellion, Now Revealed for the First Time, a work that points to his interest in the Civil War and its inner workings. A New Jersey State Archives image listing identifies him as Captain Jacob R. Freese, serving as an Assistant Adjutant General in the Adjutant General Department, which helps explain the military perspective behind some of his writing.

Taken together, his surviving works suggest a writer drawn to large subjects—war, travel, religion, and history—and interested in making them vivid and accessible for general readers. Even today, his books offer a window into how a 19th-century American observer tried to record both the drama of public events and the texture of distant places.