The Freedmen’s Bureau

The Freedmen's Bureau was the federal agency created to help formerly enslaved people and refugees in the aftermath of the Civil War. Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands in the War Department on March 3, 1865. It took over duties that military commanders and Treasury officials had been sharing.

Leadership and structure

In May 1865 President Andrew Johnson appointed Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard as Commissioner. The headquarters was in Washington, DC, and assistant commissioners and local agents ran daily operations in the former Confederate states, the border states and the District of Columbia. Congress extended the Bureau in 1866.

What the Bureau did

• Land: It supervised abandoned and confiscated property.
• Labor: It oversaw labor contracts between planters and freedpeople and handled apprenticeship disputes and complaints.
• Schools: It assisted benevolent societies in setting up schools.
• Marriages: It helped legalize marriages that had been made during slavery.
• Reuniting families: It provided transportation to people trying to rejoin family or relocate.
• Relief: It issued rations and clothing and ran hospitals and refugee camps.
• Soldiers and sailors: It later helped Black soldiers and sailors obtain back pay, bounties and pensions.

The end of the Bureau

The Bureau was not abolished until 1872, but most of its work took place between June 1865 and December 1868.

The records

The National Archives holds the Bureau's records as Record Group 105. They include headquarters letters and reports, state and field office records, labor contracts, censuses, relief rolls, land applications and hundreds of marriage records from 1861 to 1869. Digitized images are available through FamilySearch, though some may be restricted. Together they document families and communities at the point of emancipation.

References

1. The Freedmen's Bureau, National Archives.
2. Freedmen's Bureau Marriage Records, National Archives.