Hamilton D. Coleman
Confederate Army soldier and American politician (1845-1926)

Hamilton Dudley Coleman (May 12, 1845 – March 16, 1926) was a businessman and politician who served one term between 1889 and 1891 in the United States House of Representatives representing Louisiana's 2nd congressional district (New Orleans).
Coleman served in the Washington Artillery in the Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War and was part of the Confederate Army that surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia.
He returned to New Orleans and became a manufacturer and dealer of farm equipment, and an organizer of New Orleans's first electric lighting company. He was elected as a Republican to Congress in 1888, but lost his bid for reelection in 1890 to Matthew D. Lagan, the previous holder of the seat. Coleman was the last Republican to represent Louisiana in Congress until David C. Treen in 1973. Coleman was the last Republican to represent New Orleans in the House until Joseph Cao was elected in 2008.
Coleman also ran for governor and lieutenant governor, losing both races. From 1899 to 1905, he was the melter and refiner for the New Orleans Mint. He died in Biloxi in 1926 and is interred at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.
United States Congress.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Hamilton D. Coleman” is confederate Army soldier and American politician (1845-1926). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Hamilton, Coleman and Confederate, not as a finished interpretation.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1682882. VIAF identifies the subject as 61411493. The Library of Congress control number is nr92036030. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1845, 1926, 1889 and 1891.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hamilton D. Coleman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.