The Placer herald., 1866-05-19
A Damaging Report Against the Agents
of the Freedmen's Bureau.

reau has long been obnoxious to the sever
est criticism, 1t has been repeatedly charged
in the Northern press that many of the
agents used their positions to further their
private fortunes, by the grossest exactions
upon the negroes committed to their care, as
we'll as upon their former masters, who were
endeavoring to conform to the new relations
Of labor brough, about by emancipation
| The Southern people have also contended
that the general effect Of the power and
management Of the agents was mschievious;
as from that sourcet he negroes had received
their idea that the lands and property Of
their former masters would be divided among
them, and that their new found liberty was
to bring them ease and comparative i'm
muni,y from labor. The frequent interfer
| ence Of the agents between the planters and
the negroes, in the labor contracts made,
and the unlimited powers they have assum.
cd, in all questions arising between the two
classes, has been a constant source of annoy.
ance, and hndrance to the industrial in.
terests Of the section. 1t has been demon,
strated, too, that some Of the agents have
been the most exacting task,masters, and
have controlled the actions and labors Of
freedmen, with as little regard to their wants
and wishes. as if they were their own chat.
tells. Negroes have been taken by the score
from prisons, and transported to different
parts Of the South, and set to work at such
places and upon such terms as the agents dic'
tated, aud most generally for the direct or in-
direct benefit Of the agents themselves. While
il has been admitted that some Of the agents
have been prudent and conscientious men,
who bave endeavored to benefit the cond
tion Of the negroes, and at the same time or.
ganize harmonious system Of labor, The
mass Of them have been noted for bad judg'
ment, greed and rapacity-and among the
latter class aae generally to be found the
clerical demagogues who followed in the
wake Of the armies.
As sample of the workings Of the Freedl
mems Bureau, we append the following off
cial report made by Generals Stedman and
Fullerton, OF their Investigations in Virginia
and North Carolina. 1t shows an outrage.
ors state Of affairs existing there, in which
Reverend thieves occupy cospicuous part.
These officers will pursue their inq ,ries in
South Carolina and perhaps othsr States,
and the public may not be surprised to hear
that the condition of affairs in the rice and
cotton regions of the South is infinitely
worse than in the States of Virginia and
North Carolina:
Gems. Stedman and Fullerton, appointed April
18th. to inspect and report upon the Freedmen's
Bureau in the Southern States, have completed
the tour of Virginia and North Carolina, and re-
port to the Secretary of War under date Of May
Sth, giving their expressions at length. and clos.
ing with a recommendation that the services of
agents of the Bureau in Virginia and North
Carolina be dispensed with, and their duties be
performed by the officers commanding the troops
in that Department. They say there are ia
military officers and 290 civilians employed as
agents of the Bureau in these States, and that
neither the services rendered nor that rcqnired,
from the character Of very muny or most OF the
agents. warrant the continuance of their services.
In those districts where the AFFAIR." of the Bureau
have been faithfully and impartally admininis-
tered by General of sound judgment and dis
cretiOn, there has been no conflict between the
agents and citizens. In all such the agents are
acting in harmony with the civil officers of the
Stvte, and are assisted and supported by the
citizens in the performance of their duties But
in many places where the agents are not men of
integrity and capacity. very bad feeling exists.
This originates in the arbitrary. unnecessary.
and offensive interference of the agents with the
affairs between the planters and freedmen These
agents exercise the widest latitude of judicial
functions. and the effect produced is bitterness
and antagonsm between the whites and the freed
men, growing prejudice against the Government
by the planters. and expectations on the part Of
freedmen that can never be realized. Prudent
and industrious freedmen rarely call on the
Bureau for advice or assistance, but the idle and
worthless look to it alone for support. These do
not include the intirm and helpless The vestora-
ton Of civil Law and the cognition of civil rights to
| freedmen are evinced by the changes made in the
laws giving them the right to hold property. sue
and be sued etc. The freedmen are in our opin.
ion perfectly secure.
The report further shows how the agents of the
Bureau have been interested 10 plantations and
end welded their power in the most corrupt
manner. The report says: Opposite Newbern
on the South bank of the Trent river, is a settle
ment exclusively Of freedmen, population 400 in
number, whose condition is truly deplOrable-
Tbeae unfortunate people came within our lines
and were there living in small huts built by
themselves from lumber manufactured by them.
selves. The settlement, recently scourgcd by
smallpox, is we'll calculated to excite the deep
est sympathy for the helpless condition of its in
habtants, Ths decrepit among them are sup
ported by the Government, and the rest procure
an uncertain and scanty living from little jobs
about New ern, from fishing from small boats,
huckleberrying, etc. Rev. Mr.. Ftz formerly
army chaplain. prcsdes over this colony as Assis.
tant Superintendent OF the Bureau. This agent
has exercised the most arbitrary and dcspotic
power and practiced revolving and unhcard of
crueltics. We found he had in two instances sus-
pended freedmen with cords around the wrists,
the feet not touching the floor, and kept them in
this pOsition-in OneI case two, in another four
hours; that he sentenc ed feedman to imprison-
ment for three mopths for the irixal offsuc,. of