Records Relating to Specific Bureau Functions
setName: label: See more items in
content: Records of the Assistant Commissioner for State of Virginia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1869
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAAHC.FB.M1048, Series 7
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The four series of records relating to specific Bureau functions consist of monthly reports on confiscated and abandoned lands, case files relating to applications for and restoration of property, monthly ration reports, and records relating to bounties.

The monthly (form) reports on confiscated and abandoned lands, August 31, 1865–August 31, 1870, are arranged chronologically. The reports, prepared by the subdistrict and district assistant superintendents, give the name of the former landowner and the location and a description of property, indicate whether the property was abandoned or confiscated and describe any alterations since the last report, and include remarks that generally contain the property's assessment value. At the beginning of each monthly file there are retained copies of consolidated reports summarizing the district and subdistrict reports prepared by the Assistant Commissioner for General Howard. After the termination of the Assistant Commissioner's office in May 1869, the consolidated monthly reports were prepared by the Superintendent of Education.

The case files relating to applications for and restoration of property, August 1865–December 1866, are arranged by initial letter of surname of applicant. They contain petitions from former landowners, oaths of amnesty taken in accordance with the provisions of the President's Proclamation of May 29, 1865, pardons granted by President Andrew Johnson, and certificates of title to the land in question. The petitions and related documentation were forwarded to the Assistant Commissioner by the assistant superintendents and usually were endorsed recommending approval. Many of the documents bear references to the volumes of endorsements: the citations "EB" or "B" followed by a volume number and a page number.

The monthly (form) reports of rations, clothing, and medicine issued, August 31, 1865–April 30, 1869, arranged chronologically and thereunder by district, provide statistics on the number of freedmen and refugees in each district to whom rations, clothing, and medicine were issued. At the beginning of each month there is a copy of the Assistant Commissioner's consolidated report to General Howard of all rations issued by the Bureau in Virginia.

Records relating to bounties, August 1864–November 1865, are arranged chronologically. The records consist of lists of bounty claimants received from units of colored troops and correspondence from the Chief Disbursing and Accounting Officer of the Bureau in Washington relating to the compilation of lists of bounty claimants and to the payment of bounty claims. The lists of bounty claimants were originally records of the predecessor Superintendent of Negro Affairs in the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. After the organization of the Freedmen's Bureau, the lists were transferred to the offices of the Assistant Commissioner.