Virginia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1867

What is in This Collection?

This collection includes field office reports, letters received and sent, contracts, certificates, registers, censuses, affidavits, and other documents that preserve, directly and vividly, the experiences and circumstances of the individuals involved, such as freed people, Bureau officers, landowners and employers, and others. They contain desperate pleas for food, clothing, and medical care from rural communities; freed peoples' testimonies about delinquent employers, continued use of forced labor and apprenticeship, violence, restrictions due to the new state-legislated and repressive "black codes"; petitions for new schools, legal aid in courts, and protection from violence; applications for land; and marriage certificates. The collection includes records from 1865 to 1872.

• Virginia Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records with Freedmen and Refugee Names

• Hospital Locations: Danville, Drummondtown, City Point, Eastville, Farmville, Hampton, Lynchburg, Norfolk, Petersburg, Richmond, and Yorktown; Howard Grove Hospital near Richmond, ward for the insane and a home for the aged and infirm

• Marriage records from this NARA publication have been published in a separate collection: Freedmen's Bureau Virginia Marriages, ca. 1815-1866

• Records of the Chimborazo School in Richmond, 1868-1869 will be located in the Virginia Historical Society Papers Chimborazo School Records

Field Office Personal A table listing where the Virginia field offices were located, the names of the employees, what office they held, and the dates they served can be found at Freedmen’s Bureau Virginia Field Office Personnel

Sub-Districts and Divisions as of April 15, 1867

• First Sub-District: Norfolk HQ: 1st Div., Norfolk City and Co.; 2nd Div., Princess Anne Co.;3rd Div., Nansemond and Isle of Wight Counties; 4th Div., Southampton Co
• Second Sub-District: Petersburg HQ: 1st Div., Dinwiddie and Prince George Counties;2nd Div., Sussex and Surry Counties; 3rd Div., Brunswick and Greenville Cos.,4th Div., Nottoway and Lunenburg Counties;5th Div., Amelia and Powhatan Cos.;6th Div., Prince Edward, Buckingham, Cumberland and Charlotte Cos.,7th Div., Mecklenburg County;8th Div., Halifax County
• Third Sub-District: Richmond HQ: Henrico and Chesterfield Cos.;2nd Div., Hanover Co.;3rd Div., King William Co.
• Fourth Sub-District: Gordonsville HQ: 1st Div., Orange and Louisa Cos.;2nd Div., Goochland and Fluvanna Cos.;3rd Div., Albemarle Co.;4th Div., Madison and Green Cos.;5th Div., Culpepper and Rappahannock Cos.
• Fifth Sub-District: Fort Monroe HQ: 1st Div., Elizabeth City Co.;2nd Div.; Warwick Co.;3rd Div. York Co.;4th Div.; James City Co.;5th Div.; New Kent Co. and Charles City Cos.;6th Div.; Mathews and Gloucester Cos.;7th Div.; Accomac and Northampton Cos.
• Sixth Sub-District: Fredericksburg HQ: 1st Div.; Spottsylvania, Stafford, and King George Counties;2nd Div., Caroline County; 3rd Div., Essex, King and Queen and Middlesex Cos.; 4th Div., Richmond and Westmoreland Cos.; 5th Div., Northumberland and Lancaster Cos.
• Seventh Sub-District: Lynchburg HQ: 1st Div., Campbell, Nelson, Appomattox, and Amherst Cos.; 2nd Div. Pittsylvania County; 3rd Div., Henry and Patrick Cos.; 4th Div.,; Franklin County; 5th Div., Bedford and Botetourt Cos.; 6th Div., Rockbridge, Alleghany and Bath Cos.
• Eighth Sub-District: Wytheville HQ: 1st Div., Wythe, Grayson, Carroll, Smythe, Bland, and Tazwell Cos.; 2nd Div.; Washington, Russell, Buchanan, Scott, Wise and Lee Cos.; 3rd Div., Montgomery, Pulaski, and Giles Cos.
• Nine Sub-District: Winchester HQ: 1st Div., Frederick and Clark Cos; 2nd Div., Warren and Page Cos; 3rd Div., Shenandoah and Rockingham Cos.; 4th Div., Highland and Augusta Cos.
• Tenth Sub-District: Alexandria HQ: 1st Div., Alexandria Co.; 2nd Div., Fairfax Co.; 3r Div.; Loudon Co.; 4th Div., Fauquier and Prince William Cos.

Military Districts On March 2, 1867 Congress created five military districts in the Southern States. Some of the records of these military districts found in Record Group 393 may relate to records of the Freedmen's Bureau. The links below to the National Archives Catalog will provide a history of the first district and links to record descriptions.

• War Department. First Military District. 3/11/1867-3/16/1869 Virginia
• Lists of Destitute and Able Bodied Men in the South Ward of Petersburg, Virginia, ca. 1867 - ca. 1868 NAID 4748000

General Information about the Freedmen's Bureau

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was established in the War Department in March of 1865. It was commonly called the Freedman’s Bureau and was responsible for the management and supervision of matters relating to refuges, freedmen, and abandoned lands. The Bureau assisted disenfranchised Americans, primarily African Americans, with temporal, legal and financial matters, with the intent of helping people to become self-sufficient. Matters handled included the distributing of food and clothing; operating temporary medical facilities; acquiring back pay, bounty payments, and pensions; facilitating the creation of schools, including the founding of Howard University; reuniting family members; handling marriages; and providing banking services. Banking services were provided by the establishment of the Freedman’s Saving and Trust Company, or Freedman’s Bank.

The Bureau functioned as an agency of the War Department from approximately June 1865 until December 1868. In 1872, the functions of the Bureau were transferred to the Freedmen’s Branch of the Adjutant General’s Office. The Bureau assisted over one million African Americans, including many of the nearly four million emancipated slaves, which was over 25% of the population of former slaves in America.The records identify those who sought help from the Bureau at the end of the Civil War. Most supplicants were freed slaves, some of which were military veterans. In addition, a few veterans who were not African Americans also sought help from the Bureau. Freedmen’s Bureau records are usually reliable, because the records were supplied through first-person correspondence or the recording of a marriage.

For details about the contents of these records, their history, and help using them, see the wiki article:African American Freedmen's Bureau Records

Related Articles

• Dr. Shelly Viola Murphy, Let Freedom Ring Family Tree Magazine 23 # 3 (May-June 2022): 50-56. FS Library 973 D25ft V23. Issue 3
• Sharon Batiste Gillins.A Window into the lives of black and white ancestors: Freedmen's Bureau field office records. NGS Magazine 39 #1 (January-March 2013): 34-38.
• Sharon Batiste Gillins. Navigating Freedmen's Bureau Records for Research Success NGS Magazine 47 #2 (April-June 2021): 27-35.

Related National Archives Collections

• Claire Prechtel Kluskens. Civil War Confederate Slave Payroll Records. NGS Magazine 45 #2 (April-June 2019): 61-64.
• NARA Confederate Slave Rolls RG 109 Click "Search within this series"
• United States, National Archives, Confederate Quartermaster and Corps of Engineer Payrolls for Enslaved Labor, 1874–1899
• Register of Work Done by Slave Labor at Fort Monroe, 9.1.1820-4.30.1824 NAID 122681376
• Reports of the Enrollment of Slaves in the First District of West Virginia, March 1864–March 1864 NAID 4483090
• Census of Colored People in Princess Anne County, Virginia, 1863–1863 NAID 5665373 RG 110

National Museum of African American History & Culture

The museum is working with the Smithsonian Transcription Center and volunteers to transcribe the records of the Bureau.

• Freedmen's Bureau Transcription Project.
• About The Freedmen's Bureau Database Records
• FREEDMEN'S BUREAU ABBREVIATIONS, STAFF ROSTERS, AND STYLE SHEETS
• Freedmen's Bureau - Browse Projects

To Browse This Collection

You can browse through images in this collection using the waypoints on the Collection Browse Page for Virginia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872.

Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

To Browse This Collection

You can browse through images in this collection using the waypoints on the Collection Browse Page for Virginia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872.

Collection Content

Sample Images

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  1865 County Census Report

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  Rations Order (page 1)

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  1867 School Report

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  1866 Daily Letter Log

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  1866 Circular (page 1)

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  1866 Complaint (page 1)

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  1866 Indictment

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  1868 Sub-Commissioner's Report

• NARA Select Images from Freedmen's Bureau Records

Record Types

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau) created many different record types necessary to supervise relief efforts including education, health care, food and clothing, refugee camps, legalization of marriages, employment, labor contracts, and securing back pay, bounty payments and pensions. These records include letters and endorsements sent and received, account books, applications for rations, applications for relief, court records, labor contracts, registers of bounty claimants, registers of complaints, registers of contracts, registers of disbursements, registers of freedmen issued rations, registers of patients, reports, rosters of officers and employees, special and general orders and circulars received, special orders and circulars issued, records relating to claims, court trials, property restoration, and homesteads.

• The following link will provide a description of the record types found in this and other Freedmen's Bureau collections. Freedmen's Bureau Record Types

Officer's Manual

The War Department published an Officer's Manual to assist bureau personnel in the records that were required to be keep in bureau offices.

• United States, National Archives, Freedmen's Bureau, Officer's Manual

The following Wiki articles are transcriptions of portions of the manual

• US, NARA, Freedmen's Bureau, Officer's Manual - I, Book Keeping and Official Correspondence
• US, NARA, Freedmen's Bureau, Officer's Manual - IV, Medical Department
• US, NARA, Freedmen's Bureau, Officer's Manual - V, Subsistence
• US, NARA, Freedmen's Bureau, Officer's Manual - VI, Miscellaneous Provisions - Includes Reports from Assistant Commissioners

Coverage Table

To locate the name of the collection indexed and locality see the coverage table. Look for the Digital Folder Number and Image Number. Virginia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records Coverage Table - FamilySearch Historical Records

Inventory

Collection descriptions for the browse images may be located in either the published National Archives preliminary inventory with the "Entry No." or the National Archives Catalog Online Public Access Catalog "OPA." with the National Archives Identifier "NAID" number. Virginia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory