A Union officer in the Reconstruction
By: by John William De Forest ; edited, with an introduction and notes by James H. Croushore and David Morris Potter.
Contributors: Croushore, James H.; Potter, David Morris.
Edition: Louisiana pbk. ed.
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Baton Rouge
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 211
ISBN-13: 9780807121832
Subjects: De Forest, John William, 1826-1906.; United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.; Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877) -- South Carolina -- Greenville Region.; Freedmen -- South Carolina -- Greenville Region -- History -- 19th century.; Social classes -- South Carolina -- Greenville Region -- History -- 19th century.; Greenville Region (S.C.) -- Social conditions.
Description: Beginning in 1866, John William De Forest served fifteen months as an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau in Greenville, South Carolina. After he left the army, he wrote a series of magazine articles about the bureau's operation as it intersected with the daily lives of freedmen. In 1948 the articles were compiled in A Union Officer in the Reconstruction, which offers a deft analysis of the structure of southern society after the war. - Publisher.

This book records the observations made by John William De Forest as an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau at Greenville, SC, in 1866 and 1867. Scorning a politic reticence, he stated his individualistic conclusions with a vigor that probably offended both Northern and Southern readers in the 'sixties, and may retain this double effectiveness even today. De Forest's service at Greenville extended over a period of fifteen months. Since the three counties in his district were the westernmost in the state, he did not witness Reconstruction where the Negro population was thickest. And since he left at the end of 1867, he did not witness carpetbag and Negro government. But though he missed these melodramatic phases, it was his lot to watch a characteristic region of the southern Piedmont under the impact of emancipation, defeat in war, military rule, and social and economic disorganization. It was his lot also to serve the United States in one of its earliest attempts at military occupation, and in its very first experiment with a vast administrative agency for social reform. - Introduction of Yale University Press edition.
Notes: Includes index.
Previously published: Hamden, Conn. : Archon Books, 1968, c1948.