User:NelsonKC/Sandbox/Freedmen's Bureau

Introduction

 * Civil War and Reconstruction 1859-1875 Wiki Article

 Reconstruction
 * Hans L. Trefousse, Historical dictionary of reconstruction New York, New York : Greenwood Press, c1991 FHL 973 N26t
 * Richard Zuczek, ed. Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction Era 2 volumes. Westport, Connecticut : Greenwood Press, ©2006 FHL 973 N26z
 * Edward McPherson, The political history of the United States of America during the period of reconstruction (from April 15, 1865 to July 15, 1870) : including a classified summary of the legislation of the thirty-ninth, fortieth, and forty-first congresses, with the votes thereon... Washington, D.C. : Solomons & Chapman, 1875

Civil War - Pre-Bureau Operations 1861 -1865
During the Civil War when the Union forces moved South, many enslave African-Americans left their farms and plantations for the nearest Union Army camp. As more came within Union lines, army commanders appointed Superintendents of Freedmen, in Louisiana, Mississippi Valley, Virginia, etc. to manage the relief efforts. Contraband Camps were established and many worked in support Union forces, enlisted in the United States Colored Troops and worked on abandoned plantations managed by treasury agents. Relief associations like the American Missionary Association and the Western Sanitary Commission assisted in these relief efforts.

Contraband Camps Provost Marshall Contraband Lists
 * Department of the Gulf: Bureau of Free Labor
 * Home Colonies:
 * McHatton Home Colony, Baton Rouge; Rost and McCutcheon Home Colony, Parish of St. Charles
 * Gen Bragg Home Colony, Parish of Lafourche
 * Sparks Home Colony, Parish of Jefferson
 * Contraband (American Civil War) Wikipedia
 * Interactive Map of Contraband Camps - University of Pennsylvania
 * CRGIS Contraband Slave Camp Mapping Project - National Park Service
 * The Forgotten: The Contraband of America and the Road to Freedom - National Trust for Historic Preservation
 * Contrabands of War - African American Fugitives to Union Lines - Library of Congress
 * Slaves Declared Contrabands of War - American Antiquarian Society
 * Refugee Crisis in Civil War American - PBS
 * Contraband Camps - Tennessee
 * Tennessee Civil War Trails - Contrband Camps
 * Contraband Camps - North Carolina History Project
 * Last Road to Freedom
 * African American Contraband Records The lists will be located in the Union Provost Marshall records published on FamilySearch

 Publications
 * Louis S. Gerteis. '' From Contraband to Freedmen. Federal Policy toward Southern Blacks, 1861-1865. (1973)
 * Henry Lee Swint, ed. Dear Ones at Home: Letters from Contraband Camps. (Nashville, 1966)
 * Amy Murrell Taylor. Embattled Freedom. Journeys through the Civil War Slave Refugee Camps. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018. FHL 973 H6ta
 * Chandra Manning. ''Troubled Refuge. Struggling for Freedom in the Civil War. ALfred A. Knopf, 2017. FHL 973 H6mc
 * Patricia Click. Time Full of Trial: The Roanoke Island Freemen's Colony, 1862-1867. (Chapel Hill, 2001) FHL 975.6175 F2c
 * john Eaton, Grant, Lincoln and the Freedmen, Reminiscences of the Civil War, with Special Reference to, The Workd for the Contrabands and Freedmen of the Mississippi Valley, New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1907.

Articles
 * Chandra Manning. Working for Citizenship in Civil War Contraband Camps. The Journal of the Civil War Era. 4 #2 (June 2014): 172-204.
 * Martha A. Bigelow.  Freedmen of the Mississippi Valley, 1861-1865. Civil War History 8 #1 (March 1862): 38-47.
 * Paul Finkleman, The Revolutionary Summer of 1862: How Congress Abolished Slavery and Created a Modern America Prologue: Journal of the National Archives Winter 2017–18, Vol. 49, no. 4

Government Reports  Publications
 * Rev Horace James. Annual Report of the Superintendent of Negro Affairs in North Carolina. 1864. with an Appendix. Containing the History and Management of the Freedmen in this Department up to June 1st, 1865. Boston: W.F. Brown & Co., Printers, 1865.
 * Thomas W. Conway. The Freedmen of Louisiana. Final Report of the Bureau of Free Labor, Department of the Gulf. Major General E.R.S. Canby, Commanding. Printed at the New Orleans, Times Book and Job Office, 1865.
 * L. Pierce. The Freedmen of Port Royal, South Carolina. Official Reports of Edward L. Pierce. New York: Rebellion Record, 1863.
 * John Eaton, United States Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Dept. of the Tennessee and State of Arkansas Report of the General Superintendent of Freedmen, Department of the Tennessee and State of ... Memphis, Tenn.: 1865
 * James E. Yeatman. A Report on the Condition of the Freedmen of the Mississippi, presented to The Western Sanitary Commission, December 17, 1863. Saint Louis, 1864
 * James E. Yeatman.Suggestions of a Plan of Organization for free Labor, and the Leasing of Plantations along the Mississippi River, ... Saint Louis, 1864
 * James E. Yeatman. A Report on the Condition of the Freedmen of the Mississippi, presented to The Western Sanitary Commission, December 17, 1863. Saint Louis, 1864
 * James E. Yeatman.Suggestions of a Plan of Organization for free Labor, and the Leasing of Plantations along the Mississippi River, ... Saint Louis, 1864
 * S.G. Howe. The Refugees from Slavery in Canada West. Report of the Freedmen's Inquiry Commission. Boston: Wright & Potter, printers, 1864
 * John Eaton. Grant, Lincoln, and the Freedmen. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1907 Work for the Contrabands and Freedmen of the Mississippi Valley.


 *  Freedmen Relief Associations, Selected 
 * Freedmen aid societies were civilian benevolent associations that assisted Union forces during the war providing food, clothing, and teachers who taught in the freedmen schools. These societies continued their relief efforts with the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau.
 * The American Freedmen's Aid Commission, New York City
 * Inventory of the Friends Freedmen's Association Records, 1863-1982. Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.
 * New England Freedmen's Aid Society Records, 1862-1878. Guide to the Collection. Massachusetts Historical Society
 * Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association
 * Guide to the Southern Famine Relief Commission Records, 1867-1868. MS 2430. New York Historical Society Museum Library
 * Southern Famine Relief Commission records, 1867. ArchiveGrid. New York Historical Society
 * United States Sanitary Commission Records, 1861-1878. MssCol 3101. New York Public Library.

Publications
 * Clifton H. Johnson, American Missionary Association archives as a source for the study of American history New York : American Missionary Association and the Division of Higher Education of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries,1964?
 * Report by the Committee of the Contraband's Relief Commission of Cincinnati, Ohio
 * Extracts from Letters of Teachers and Superintendents of the New-England Educational Commission for Freedmen. Fourth Series. January 1, 1864. Boston: David Clapp, Printer, 1864
 * Report of the Pittsburgh Relief Committee : having in charge the collection and distribution of funds, provisions, and other supplies for the sufferers by yellow fever in the South-Western States, in the summer and fall of 1878.
 * First Annual Report of the Port Royal Relief Committee...
 * A report on the condition of the freedmen of the Mississippi: presented to the Western Sanitary Commission, December 17th, 1863.
 * Report of the Committee in Charge of Friends Mission in Washington, for the Relief of the Freed People of Color. Printed for the Information of Friends of New England Yearly Meetings. (New Bedford, 1865)
 * Report to the Executive Committee of New England yearly Meeting of Friends, Upon the Condition and needs of the freed People of Color in Washington and Virginia.'' New Bedford: E. Anthony & Sons, 1864
 * Brief History of the New York National Freedmen's Relief Association (New York, 1866)

Established within the Treasury Department July 13, 1861. It supervised the trade and commerce in areas occupied by the Union Army. This included property that was abandoned, and confiscated and the establishment of "freedmen home colonies' for African-Americans providing employment and relief assistance.
 * Civil War Special Agencies of the Treasury Department, 1861-1868, Record Group 366 
 * National Archives Catalog
 * First Special Agency. 9.11.1863-1866. Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Arkansas
 * Second Special Agency. 9.11.1863-7.29.1864. Virginia, North Carolina
 * Second Special Agency. Natchez District. 7.30.1864-ca.1866.
 * Second Special Agency. Helena District. 7.30.1864-1866.
 * Third Special Agency. 9.11.1863-7.29.1864. North Carolina
 * Third Special Agency. Office of the Special Agent at Vicksburg, Mississippi. 7.28.1864-1866.
 * Fourth Special Agency. 7.29.1864-1866. Texas
 * Fourth Special Agency. Office of the Special Agent for Louisiana, and Texas. ca. 7.28.1865-ca. 10.3.1865
 * Fifth Special Agency. 9.11.1863-7.29.1864. Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas
 * Sixth Special Agency. 7.29.1864-1866. North Carolina
 * Seventh Special Agency. 7.29.1864-ca. 1868. Virginia, North Carolina
 * Eighth Special Agency. 4.25.1865-1866. Georgia, South Carolina, Savannah, Ga.
 * Ninth Special Agency. 4.25.1865-1866. Alabama, Florida


 * Office of the Supervising Special Agent at New Orleans, Louisiana. Plantation Bureau. 7.29.1864-ca. 1865
 * Division of West Mississippi, Department of the Gulf. Northern Division of Louisiana. 2.9.1865-5.17.1865

'''Department of the Treasury. Division of Captured Property, Claims and Lands. Record Group 56'''
 * United States, National Archives, Department of the Treasury. Division of Captured Property, Claims and Lands
 * Letters relating to claims received in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, 1864-1887 NARA pub., M503

 Publications William P. Mellen,  Report Relative to Leasing Abandoned Plantations and Affairs of the Freed People in First Special Agency. Washington, DC: McGill & Witherow, Printers and Sterotypes, 1864. - Includes Rules and Regulations for Leasing Abandoned Plantations and Freedmen

Bureau Creation
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau) was created by Congress on March 3, 1865 at the end of the American Civil War to aid the newly-freed enslaved (freedmen) and refugees. It was created to supervise relief efforts, begun during the Civil War by military commanders, special agents of the Treasury Department, and religious and benevolent societies (relief associations) including education (4,300 schools were established), health care (100 hospitals were established), food and clothing, refugee camps, legalization of marriages, employment, labor contracts, and securing back pay, bounty payments, and pensions for soldiers and sailors. The Bureau also helped reunite families. The Bureau operations were terminated June 30, 1872. It's worked continued in the Freedmen's Branch in the Adjutant General's Office.

The Bureau's records (Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands), kept from 1865-1872, contain a wide range of data about the African American experience during slavery and freedom. Therefore, they are a valuable source for the black family historian. Refugees include many in the local white population. The Collection is located in the National Archives in Record Group 105, Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1861-1880. National Archives Catalog NAID 434.

 Government Reports of Bureau Operations
 * Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. Annual Report of the Assistant Commissioner. For the District of Columbia and West Virginia. For the Year Ending October 22, 1867. (Washington, 1867)
 * John Watson Alvord. 1807-1880; United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands Fifth semi-annual report on schools for freedmen: January 1, 1868. Washington: Government Printing Office,1868.
 * John Watson Alvord 1807-1880. United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands Ninth semi-annual report on schools for freedmen: January 1, 1870. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1870.
 * J. W. Alvord. Letters from the South, Relating to the Condition of Freedmen Addressed to Major General O.O. Howard. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1870.

Administrative Histories of the Bureau
 * George R. Bentley. A History of the Freedmen's Bureau. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1955. reprint University of Pennsylvania Press. FHL 973.714 F875b
 * Paul Skeels Peirce. The Freedmen's Bureau. A Chapter in the History of Reconstruction (Iowa City, Iowa, 1904) reprint Kessinger Publishing

National Archives Sources
 * NARA African American Records: Freedmen's Bureau
 * NARA Freedmen's Bureau Administrative History Note.
 * Links to Freedmen's Bureau Resources
 * Citations to Record Group 105, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Archives Library Information Center (ALIC) NARA

Mapping the Freedmen's Bureau
Mapping the Freedman's Bureau is a website helping researchers place their ancestors in the historical landscape.

Mapping includes:
 * Where Freedman's Bureau offices were located
 * Branch of the Freedman's Saving Bank
 * Freedmen's Bureau Hospitals
 * Freedmen's Schools
 * Contraband Camps
 * Battle sites where men who were in the US colored Troops fought

Mapping Occupation

 * Force, Freedom, and the Army in Reconstruction - University of Georgia

Organization
The Freedmen’s Bureau was created by an act of Congress March 3, 1865 and was headed by a Commissioner with headquarters at Washington, DC. The Commissioner appointed Assistant Commissioners who oversaw bureau operations in each Southern State and local field offices.

Bureau Headquarters was located in Washington, D.C.
The Assistant Adjutant General was responsible for record keeping of the Bureau.

Offices and Divisions The following Inventory will provide collection titles to Washington Headquarter collections providing inventory entry numbers and links to the National Archives Catalog NAID Identifier.
 * Division of Records: "embracing official acts of the Commissioner, including labor, schools, quartermaster and commissary supplies"
 * Finance Division, 1865-72- Chief Disbursing Officer: "...responsible for disbursing an accounting for all Bureau funds." Some records relate to the payment of claims soldiers and sailors. See also records of the Claims Division.
 * Land Division, 1865-70- Records of the disposition of abandoned or confiscated lands including those managed by Treasury Agents and military commanders during the war. The land division issued polices managing the lands while Assistant Commissioners issued orders restoring lands to owners.
 * Medical Division, 1865-71- Chief Medical Officer: Managed medical services provided in the states.
 * Claims Division,1866-72- The division was divided into three branches: Prosecution, certificate and Complaint. Most of the division concerned individual cases. Check and Treasury certificates for claims were issued in the name of the Commissioner who paid the legal and the claimant upon request. The status of claims and complaints were handled by the Complaint Branch.
 * Education Division-
 * Chief Quartermaster- The quartermaster was responsible for Bureau property and also issued transportation orders for refugees, freedmen and teachers. It also assisted with the movement of goods from benevolent societies.
 * Assistant Inspector General, 1867-68: Was charged with distributing supplies to destitute people in the South and Southwestern States following a crop failure.
 * Archives Division, 1869-71:
 * Freedmen's Bureau, Washington Headquarters, Records of the Commissioner, Inventory

State Organization
At the state level bureau organization generally resembled that of Bureau Headquarters in Washington. Bureau operations in the field were managed by an Assistant Commissioner. Some commissioners were also military district commanders.

Alabama [https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10452470 War Department. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Office of the Assistant Commissioner for Alabama. 1865-ca. 1872 Organization Authority Record]


 * Offices of Staff Officers
 * Superintendent of Education
 * Commissary of Subsistence
 * Inspector General and Disbursing Officer
 * Quartermaster and Disbursing Officer
 * Surgeon
 * Notes: August 30 the state was divided into five districts headquartered at Mobile, Selma, Montgomery, Troy, Demopolis. Center of operations included Huntsville, Greenville, Tuscaloosa, Talladega.

 Arkansas [https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10470645 War Department. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Office of the Assistant Commissioner for Arkansas. 1865-ca. 1872 Organization Authority Record]'''
 * Offices of Staff Officers
 * Superintendent of Education
 * Claim Division
 * Chief Disbursing Officer and Claims Agent
 * Notes:

Notes: Freedmen affairs in the state were first handled by the assistant Commissioner at Beaufort, South Carolina until September 19, 1865 when a Assistant Commissioner was assigned to Florida headquartered at Tallahassee. Each sub-district was composed of several counties supervised by an Army Officer assisted by a civil agent who attended to the detailed business. Agents were judges, justices of the peace, former volunteer -officers, or local citizens. The state judicial system handled all freedmen's cases. Boards of arbitration by agents to settled disputes "for matters especially subject to the decision of the Bureau."
 * District of Columbia
 * Offices of Staff Officer
 * Superintendent of Education
 * Assistant Inspector General
 * Assistant Quartermaster an disbursing officer
 * Superintendent of Marriages
 * Surgeon in Chief
 * Notes: Jurisdiction first included the District of Columbia, Price Georges, St. Mary's, Charles, Calvert, and part of Anne Arundel; the Virginia counties of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Loudoun. Loudoun was latter detached August 16, 1866. Alexandria and Fairfax were detached in March 1867. Bureau affairs for Maryland and Delaware were assigned August 15, 1868 to the Assistant Commissioner of the District of Columbia.
 * Florida
 * Officers of Staff Officers
 * Superintendent of Education
 * Claims Agent
 * Disbursing Officer
 * Surgeon in Chief


 * Georgia
 * Offices of Staff Officers
 * Superintendent of Education
 * Chief Quartermaster and disbursing officer
 * Surgeon in Chief
 * Notes: Freedmen affairs in the state were first handled by the assistant Commissioner at Beaufort, South Carolina until September 22, 1865 when a Assistant Commissioner was assigned to Georgia headquartered at Augusta. Civil Agents (244) were appointed based on recommendations of the state convention serving without pay. It was later changed to salaried agents in February 1867 and the organization of eleven districts with each including a number of contiguous counties.

[https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10474301 War Department. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Office of the Assistant Commissioner for Kentucky. 1865-ca. 1872 Organization Authority Record]
 * Kentucky
 * Offices of Staff Officers
 * Disbursing Officer
 * Chief Medical Officer
 * Notes:

[https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10452304 War Department. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Office of the Assistant Commissioner for Louisiana 1865-ca. 1872 Organization Authority Record]
 * Louisiana
 * Offices of Staff Officers
 * Superintendent of education
 * Bounty Agent
 * Commissary of subsistence
 * Provost marshal of freedmen
 * Quartermaster
 * Surgeon in chief
 * Subordinate office
 * Planation Department
 * Notes:


 *  Maryland and Delaware
 * Offices of Staff Officers
 * Chief quartermaster and disbursing officer
 * Subordinate Offices
 * Claim Division
 * Complaint Division
 * Notes:

[https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10472437 War Department. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Office of the Assistant Commissioner for Mississippi 1865-ca. 1872 Organization Authority Record]
 * Mississippi
 * Offices of Staff Officers
 * Superintendent of Education
 * Assistant inspector general
 * Disbursing officer and quartermaster
 * Surgeon in chief
 * Notes:


 *  Missouri
 * Office of the disbursing officer

[https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10452305 War Department. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Office of the Assistant Commissioner for North Carolina, 1865-ca. 1872 Organization Authority Record]
 * North Carolina
 * Offices of Staff Officers
 * Superintendent of education
 * Inspector
 * Chief quartermaster and disbursing officer
 * Surgeon
 * Notes:

[https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10471937 War Department. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Office of the Assistant Commissioner for South Carolina, 1865-ca. 1872 Organization Authority Record]
 * South Carolina
 * Offices of Staff Officers
 * Superintendent of education
 * Commissary of subsistence
 * Inspector
 * Medical officer
 * Quartermaster and disbursing officer
 * Subordinate Offices
 * Claim Division
 * General collecting agent
 * Notes:


 * Tennessee and Kentucky,1865-1866
 * Tennessee, 1866-1870
 * Offices of Staff Officers
 * Superintendent of education
 * Claims agent
 * Disbursing officer
 * Surgeon
 * Notes:


 * Texas
 * Offices of Staff Offices
 * Superintendent of education
 * Quartermaster and disbursing officer
 * Notes: Headquarters of the Assistant Commissioner was established at Galveston on September 21, 1865. Sub-assistant commissioners were announced on December 5, 1865 with headquarters at Marshall, Houston, Victoria, Austin, Brenham, Columbus, Hempstead, Anderson, Courtney, Woodville, Millican, and Leona. May 31, 1867 the state had fifty-seven sub-districts.

[https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10469399 War Department. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Office of the Assistant Commissioner for Virginia, 1865-ca. 1872 Organization Authority Record]
 * Virginia
 * Offices of Staff Officer
 * Superintendent of education
 * Quartermaster and disbursing officer
 * Notes: The state was first organized into eight districts with sub-districts corresponding to county boundaries. The counties of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Loudoun were first under the jurisdiction of the Assistant Commissioner of the District of Columbia. June 1866, six counties in Virginia were transferred to the Assistant Commissioner of Maryland. September 1, 1866, these counties and the West Virginia counties were the Bureau operated were transferred to the assistant Commissioner of Virginia. March, 1867, Alexandria and Fairfax counties were transferred to the Assistant Commissioner of Virginia and West Virginia counties were transferred from Virginia to the District of Columbia Assistant Commissioner.
 * Source of Notes: Munden and Beers. Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War.

Field Offices (Local)

Inventories to Field Office Collections: Each Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office Historical Record Browse publication will include a link "Collection Inventory Table." The link to the table is located in the Historical Record article (see the link How to Use This Collection) the inventory is arranged by the preliminary inventory entry number and a link to the NAID (National Archives Identifier) in the National Archives Catalog. Collection descriptions can be located in either the published preliminary inventory with the "Entry No." or the National Archives Catalog with the National Archives Identifier "NAID' number. The inventories are also listed in this artile.


 * Alabama, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * Arkansas, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * District of Columbia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * Georgia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * Kentucky, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * Louisiana, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory


 * Maryland and Delaware, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * Mississippi, Freedmen's Department, Pre-Bureau Records, Inventory
 * Mississippi Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * Missouri, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * North Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * South Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * Tennessee, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * Texas, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory
 * Virginia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory

Field Office Bureau Personnel Coverage Tables: The following state field office personnel coverage tables identify by field office location the names of employees, what office they held, and the dates they served. The lists are from the preliminary inventory and microfilm pamphlets for Record Group 105. Additional rosters may be found in the records of the state Assistant Commissioners.


 * Alabama
 * Arkansas
 * Florida
 * Georgia
 * Kentucky
 * Louisiana


 * Mississippi
 * North Carolina
 * South Carolina
 * Tennessee
 * Texas
 * Virginia

Record Types
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau) created many different record types necessary to supervise relief efforts including education, health care, food and clothing, refugee camps, legalization of marriages, employment, labor contracts, and securing back pay, bounty payments and pensions. These records include letters and endorsements sent and received, account books, applications for rations, applications for relief, court records, labor contracts, registers of bounty claimants, registers of complaints, registers of contracts, registers of disbursements, registers of freedmen issued rations, registers of patients, reports, rosters of officers and employees, special and general orders and circulars received, special orders and circulars issued, records relating to claims, court trials, property restoration, and homesteads. Because the Bureau's records 1865-1872 contain a wide range of data about the African American experience during slavery and freedom, they are a valuable source for African American genealogy. See Freedmen's Bureau Record Types for a detailed listing of records created by the Freedmen's Bureau records.
 * Here are some examples of records:
 * NARA Selected Images of Records
 * Mapping the Freedmen's Bureau Sample Documents

A manual was published by the War Department to instruct officers of the bureau in the records that were to be created by each office in managing the day to day business of the Bureau.
 * Officer's Manual. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Washington. 1866. Digital Images

 Challenges in Using the Records 

There are some challenges to using these records:


 * Records are limited in scope and time period they cover.
 * Not all of the records are indexed. Some record collections can only be searched image by image.
 * The record type and quality vary with each state and field office.
 * Individuals may have changed their names.
 * Not all records survived or are available in searchable formats.

National Archives Preliminary Inventory
The by Elaine Everly and Willna Pacheli of the National Archives describes the Bureau’s records. The volumes are arranged alphabetically by state. The records of the states are arranged and described in the following order: "Office of the Assistant Commissioner" then by "Offices of Staff Officers including the "Superintendent of Education" and by "Subordinate Field Offices."


 * Pt 1 Alabama-Louisiana
 * Pt 2 Maryland-South Carolina
 * Pt 3 Tennessee-Virginia and Freedmen's Branch

National Archives Catalog
 * Individual collections of the Bureau are also described in the National Archives online catalog.
 * Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, RG 105 NAID 434

Collections on FamilySearch
Most of the Freedmen's Bureau records have been digitized and/or indexed on FamilySearch with the exception of some records from the Washington Headquarters. Index and Image Collections:
 * By Record Type
 * 1865 - 1872 -
 * 1865 - 1872 -
 * 1865 - 1872 -
 * 1865 - 1872 -
 * 1865 - 1872 -
 * 1865 - 1872 -
 * 1861 - 1872 -
 * 1865 - 1872 - - index and images
 * 1865 - 1872 -
 * 1865 - 1872 - index and images
 * By Locality
 * 1863 - 1872 -
 * 1865 - 1872 -
 * 1862 - 1870 -
 * Other
 * 1865 - 1874 -
 * 1872 - 1878 - United States, Freedmen's Branch Records, 1872-1878

Coverage Tables to Indexed Collections:
 * The following coverage tables will identify individual collections that have been indexed and the Historical Record publication that includes the searchable content.
 * NARA Freedmen's Bureau Records - Coverage Tables

Image Browse Collections:

 Commissioner Assistant Commissioner Superintendent of Education and Division of Education
 * 1865-1872 -
 * 1865-1872 - Note: The North Carolina records have been indexed and published as a separate Historical Record Publication.
 * 1865-1872 - United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of the Superintendent of Education and of the Division of Education, 1865-1872

Field Offices Freedman's Branch
 * 1865-1872 -
 * 1864-1872 -
 * 1865-1872 -
 * 1865-1872 -
 * 1865-1872 -
 * 1865-1872 -
 * 1863-1866 -
 * 1865-1872 -
 * 1865-1872 -
 * 1863-1872 -
 * 1865-1872 -
 * 1865-1872 -
 * 1865-1870 -
 * 1872-1878 -

Collection Inventories to Browse Collections:
 * The following coverage tables will identify individual collections that have browsable images and the Historical Record publication that includes those images.
 * NARA Freedmen's Bureau Records - Inventories

Freedmen's Branch
The Freedmen Branch was established in 1872 and was part the Adjutant General's Office. It continued the work of the Freedmen's Bureau of receiving and paying claims to veterans of the United States Colored Troops and sailors. In 1879 the Colored Troops Division succeeded the Branch in paying claims.

Military Districts
On March 2, 1867 Congress created five military districts in the Southern States. Some of the records of these military districts found in Record Group 98 are related to records of the Freedmen's Bureau. The links below to the National Archives Catalog will provide histories of districts and links to record descriptions.
 * War Department. First Military District. 3/11/1867-3/16/1869	Virginia
 * Lists of Destitute and Able Bodied Men in the South Ward of Petersburg, Virginia, ca. 1867 - ca. 1868 NAID 4748000
 * Records of Persons Registering and Voting in Virginia, ca. 1867 - ca. 1869 NAID 4763153
 * War Department. Second Military District. 3/11/1867-7/28/1868 North Carolina, South Carolina
 * War Department. Third Military District. 3/11/1867-7/28/1868	Alabama, Florida, Georgia
 * War Department. Fourth Military District. 3/11/1867-3/16/1869 Arkansas, Mississippi
 * War Department. Fifth Military District. 3/11/1867-3/31/1870	Texas, Louisiana

 Related Sources
 * James E. Sefton, The United States Army and Reconstruction, 1865-1877 Louisiana State University Press, 1967, reprint, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1980
 * Edith Greisser, District No. 2, military rule in South Carolina Newberry, South Carolina : Old Newberry District Chapter, SCGS, 200-? FHL 975 M2ge

Library of Congress

 * The Freedmen's Bureau

United States Congressional Committees

 * U.S. Senate. Committee on Slavery and Freedmen. 1.13.1864-3.3.1965
 * U.S. House of Representatives. Select Committee on Reconstruction. 7.31.1867-3.2.1871
 * Guide to House Records - Records of the Judiciary Committee and Related Committees - Committee on Freedmen Affairs
 * S.G. Howe. Report to the Freedmen's Inquiry Commission, 1864 : the refugees from slavery in Canada West. (1864) reprint, New York, New York : Arno Press, c1969 FHL 973 U3ho The commission was established in March, 1863 "... to investigate the condition of the colored people emancipated by acts of Congress & the President's Proclamation of January 1, 1863 ..."

Resources
African American research articles in the research wiki:
 * African American Genealogy
 * Quick Guide to African American Records
 * Researching African American Genealogy See also African American Resources for (State) pages
 * African American Migration
 * African American Slavery and Bondage
 * Southern States Slavery and Bondage Collections Family History Library
 * African Americans in the 1867 Voter Registration Lists (National Institute)

For more information:
 * Washington, Reginald. Black Family Research; Records of Post-Civil War Federal Agencies at the National Archives Reference Information Paper 108. National Archives and Records Administration Washington, D.C. Revised 2010.
 * Davis, Robert Scott Jr.,Freedmen's Bureau and Other Reconstruction Sources for Research in African-American Families, 1865-1874. Journal of the Afro-American Historical And Genealogical Societyy. Volume 9 No. 4.pg 171-176.
 * George R. Bentley,A History of the Freedmen's Bureau. Philadelphia: Octagon Books, 1970.WorldCat
 * Paul Skeels Pierce. The Freedmen's Bureau: A Chapter in the History of Reconstruction.
 * NARA Citations to Record Group 105, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands

Online Resources

 * 1865 - 1878 - U.S., Freedmen's Bureau Records, 1865-1878 at Ancestry.com - index & images, ($)
 * U.S., Freedmen's Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878 ($) Ancestry
 * U.S., Freedmen’s Bureau Marriage Records, 1846-1867 ($) Ancestry
 * U.S., Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1871 ($) Ancestry
 * NARA Links to Freedmen's Bureau Resources National Archives

The Freedmen’s Bureau Online website includes numerous online database indexes. Select among the variety of databases mostly based on locality or by topic such as marriages, labor contracts, or murders. However, this online site does not include all the available records from the Freedmen's Bureau.
 * Freedmen's Bureau Online

Content

 * Records Relating to Murders
 * Records Relating to Freedmen's Labor
 * Marriage Records: Most of these records are divided up by the state, then by the area, and then by the marriage date, month, or year of marriage. (These records can be found on the homepage under the contents heading at the left of the screen.)
 * To find state-specific collections, go to the homepage and there is a list of states under the contents heading at the middle left of the screen. (Examples of some of these collections are: Alabama: Petition of Colored Citizens from Mobile, Alabama; Mississippi: Registers of Indentures of Colored Orphans, Aug. 1865 - May 1866; Tennessee: Index to Freedman's Labor Contracts between Tennessee Freedmen and employers in Kentucky.)


 * This site lists many other search sites for African American histories and genealogy websites.
 * Their on-line bookstore carries many useful books of interest.

Using the site
Type a surname or name or term in question in the search site box. (Examples: Jones, Smith, etc. for surname searches OR land, marriages, etc. for keyword searches)


 * 1) Documents which seem a “best” match appears.
 * 2) Click on desired match.

Discover Freedmen - FamilySearch Indexing and Browsable Images
On Discoverfreedmen.org all of the Freedmen's Bureau collections on FamilySearch can be searched with one click.
 * NARA Notes for freedmen's Bureau Project Celebration

National Museum of African American History & Culture - Record Transcription

 * Freedmen's Bureau Transcription Project.
 * Freedmen's Bureau Digital Collection

Freedmen and Southern Society Project - University of Maryland
Freedom : a documentary history of emancipation, 1861-1867 : selected from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States Publications
 * Freedmen and Southern Society Project - Home Page
 * Ira Berlin ... et al., The destruction of slavery New York, New York : Cambridge University Press, c1985, Ser, 1 v. 1 FHL 973 B4fr ser. 1 v. 1
 * edited by Ira Berlin ... et al., The war time genesis of free labor : the upper southNew York, New York : Cambridge University Press, c1993 Ser.1, v.2 FHL973 B4fr ser. 1 v. 2
 * edited by Ira Berlin ... et al., The war time genesis of free labor : the lower South New York, New York : Cambridge University Press, c1990, 1991 Ser. 1 v. 3 FHL 973 B4fr ser. 1 v. 3