Career
Coleman served in 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 to Matthew Doctorate. Lagan, the previous holder of the seat.
Coleman ran twice for Congress and governor and once for lieutenant governor, having lost all of those races.
From 1899 to 1905, he was the melter and refiner for the since defunct United States Mint in New Orleans. He died in Biloxi in 1926 and is interred at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.
