James Eakins was an American plantation owner from Mississippi. He was a slaveowner during the American Civil War, and his plantation was taken from him by the Free State of Jones following the Battle of Ellisville in March 1864; his slave Rachel went on to marry rebel leader Newton Knight. After the war, Eakins was allowed to regain his lands after swearing allegiance to the United States, and he was bribed with $70 by Knight to release Moses Washington's son from his "apprenticeship".