by Patricia Smith Prather, February 1996
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. But the news of freedom for Texas slaves didn’t reach them until June 19, 1865, now celebrated as “Juneteenth.” General Gordon Granger read the emancipation order publicly in Galveston.
Although legally free, former slaves were faced with many obstacles to freedom. Where would they work? How would they purchase land? How were they to be protected against acts of violence? Would they be allowed to vote?
The federal government anticipated these problems and, on March 3, 1865, established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands within the United States War Department to assist newly freed men to survive. The federal agency soon became known as the Freedmen’s Bureau. It began functioning in Texas when Brig. General Edgar M. Gregory became the assistant commissioner for the state’s bureau in September 1865. The broad role of the bureau was to supervise contracts between freedmen and their employers, establish schools, furnish rations and medical services, and manage confiscated or abandoned lands—leasing and selling some to freedmen.
Recently, the Clayton Library acquired the records of the Texas Freedmen’s Bureau. The 32 rolls of microfilm contain copies of most of the correspondence generated during the three years that the agency operated in Texas. There are letters, orders issued, matters regarding all personnel assignments, as well as records of criminal actions.
Shortly after his arrival in Galveston, Assistant Commissioner E. M. Gregory sent his first report to General Oliver O. Howard, the chief of the Freedmen’s Bureau in Washington, D.C. Gregory’s two-page report told of finding two colored churches in Galveston that were holding Sabbath meetings. He also reported that one church was already teaching Sunday School and that a school for newly freed slaves had been established by the Freedmen’s Aid Society. These were among the first schools in Texas established to educate former slaves and was a significant indication that freedmen were determined to survive, no matter what the odds.
Hundreds of letters are in the Freedmen’s Bureau Papers. Many were from Freedmen’s Bureau agents. These agents were assigned to various Texas counties, especially those known as “black belts” such as Walker County, where the majority of citizens were newly freed slaves. The jobs of the agents were very dangerous, since most were not welcomed by white citizens. Agents were also known as sub-assistant commissioners and were responsible for specific sections of the state known as sub-districts. Since the state was under military rule, these agents also functioned as justices of the peace and were involved with legal cases. Many had their lives threatened, and a few were murdered.
The extensive Freedmen’s Bureau Papers will give researchers first-hand and detailed accounts of the activities going on in many Texas counties between September 1865 and December 1868. These papers are especially helpful to those documenting community and county histories during Texas Reconstruction. Genealogists will want to check roll 19, which contains an alphabetical listing of persons employed by the Freedman’s Bureau from April 1866 to December 1868. A few of the agents were African-Americans, including Ben O. Waltrous, who helped write the Texas Constitution of 1869, and George T. Ruby, who was elected to the Texas Senate in 1870.
Anyone researching criminal activity during Reconstruction in Texas should examine roll 32, which contains three volumes of records of criminal offenses from September 1865 to December 1868. Most of the entries pertain to crimes committed by whites against freedmen, but there is also white-against-white crime, freedmen-against-freedmen crime, and freedmen-against-white crime. This is primary resource material. Among the offenses were whippings, shootings, and killings. The records give the city and county where the criminal acts took place, the name and race of both the criminals and victims, the nature of the crime, and the recommended punishment.
The best place to start reading this voluminous collection of hand-written materials is roll 1 because it contains a typewritten overview of the collection as well as an explanation of the mission of the Freedmen’s Bureau. It also contains the list of contents of the materials on each of the 32 rolls.
This is a vital source for anyone researching Texas history during the years 1865 and 1868. The Freedmen’s Bureau Papers microfilm is an especially important resource for university students and professors. Researchers should also read The Freedmen’s Bureau and Black Texans by Barry A. Crouch. As coeditor of the Texas Trailblazer Series—biographies and photographs of Texas African-American pioneers—I found these papers very helpful because they define the conditions under which all Texans lived after the Civil War, one of the most turbulent times in the state’s colorful history.