| John Caldwell Calhoun II | |
| Birth Name: | John Caldwell Calhoun II |
| Birth Date: | July 9, 1843 |
| Birth Place: | Demopolis, Alabama |
| Death Place: | Manhattan, New York City |
| Occupation: | Planter, businessman |
| Spouse: | Lennie Adams |
| Parents: | Andrew Pickens Calhoun Margaret Green Calhoun |
| Children: | 3 sons, 1 daughter |
| Relatives: | Patrick Calhoun (brother) John C. Calhoun (paternal grandfather) |
John Caldwell Calhoun II (1843–1918) was an American planter and businessman. He was a large landowner in Chicot County, Arkansas, and a director of railroad companies. He was a prominent financier and developer of the "New South".
He was born on July 9, 1843, in Demopolis, Alabama.[1] His father, Andrew Pickens Calhoun, was a planter.[1] He had a brother, Patrick Calhoun.[1] His paternal grandfather, John C. Calhoun, served as the Vice President of the United States from 1825 to 1832.[2] [3]
He was educated in Demopolis, Alabama.[1] He graduated from South Carolina College in 1863.[4]
During the American Civil War of 1861–1865, he served in the Confederate States Army (CSA).[1] [2]
In 1866, Calhoun entered in a partnership with James R. Powell, a businessman from Montgomery, Alabama, whereby he moved freedmen from the Southeast to Yazoo County, Mississippi, where they worked on new plantations.[1] [2] A year later, he decided to do this on his own, and on a larger scale.[1] [2] Over the years, he moved over 5,000 freedmen from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama to the Yazoo Valley of Mississippi.[1]
By 1869, Calhoun moved to the Florence Plantation in Chicot County, Arkansas, which was inherited by his wife through her mother.[2] By 1881–1882, he acquired a few more plantations in Chicot County: Harwood, Hebron, Luna, Fawnwood, Patria, Hyner's, and Latrobe.[2] He also acquired the Sunnyside Plantation from the Starling family for US$90,000.[2] He also acquired the Lakeport Plantation from his mother-in-law.[2] He established the Calhoun Land Company, the Florence Planting Company, and the Chicot Planting Company.[2] He teamed up with investors J. Baxter Upham of Boston and Austin Corbin of New York City.[2] However, due to heavy debt, by 1885, he let his brother divest of their Arkansas landholdings.[2]
Meanwhile, Calhoun moved to New York City, where he invested in the construction of Southern railways.[2] He served as on the Board of Directors of railroad companies.[3] He became the majority proprietor of the Baltimore Coal Mining and Railway Company.[1] He sued the United States Shipbuilding Company.[3]
He married Linnie Adams on December 8, 1870, in Marengo County, Alabama.[2] She was the daughter of Betsy Johnson and grandniece of Richard Johnson, who served as the Vice President of the United States from 1837 to 1841.[2] They had three sons and one daughter.[1]
He died on December 18, 1918, at his home 200 West Fifty-eighth Street, in Manhattan.[1] [3] He was buried at the Saint Philips Episcopal Church Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina.