Texas, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1870

What is in This Collection?

This collection consists of scanned images of records from National Archives microfilm publication M1912Records of the Field Offices for the State of Texas, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands which is part of Record Group 105 Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. The images are generally arranged in the order the records were microfilmed with the records of the Assistant Commissioner who oversaw Bureau operations in the state and state level staff officers; Quartermaster and Disbursing Officer, first then the local field office records are arranged alphabetically by location and by NARA roll number. Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

A table listing where the Texas 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 Texas Field Office Personnel.

Records with Freedmen and Refugees Names

• Office of the Assistant Commissioner, Roll 1, Unidentified Volume Relating to Patients and Accounts
• Quartermaster and Disbursing Officer, Rolls 7-9, Reports of Persons and Articles Hired
• Quartermaster and Disbursing Officer, Roll 11, Orders for Transportation, Accounts, 6 volumes
• Austin, Roll 12, Register of Complaints, Register of Contracts
• Bastrop, Roll 13, Register of Complaints
• Belton, Roll 13, Register of Complaints
• Boston, Roll 13, Register of Complaints
• Boston, Roll 14, Affidavits and Settlements
• Brenham, Roll 14, Register of Complaints
• Bryan, Roll 14, Register of Complaints
• Centerville, Roll 14, Register of Complaints
• Columbia, Roll 15, Register of Complaints, Register of Contracts
• Columbus, Roll 18, Register of Complaints
• Crockett, Roll 19, Register of Complaints
• Gonzales, Roll 21, Register of Complaints
• Halletsville, Roll 21, Register of Complaints
• Houston, Roll 22, Register of Complaints, 3 volumes, Receipts
• Huntsville, Roll 23, Register of Complaints
• Jefferson, Roll 23, Register of Complaints
• La Grange, Post 23, Register of Complaints, Evidence in the Case of F. D. Ackerman
• Liberty, Roll 24, Register of Complaints
• Lockhart, Roll 24, Register of Complaints
• Marlin, Roll 24, Register of Complaints
• Marshall, Roll 24, Register of Complaint
• Meridian, Roll 24, Register of Complaints
• Nacogdoches, Roll 24, Register of Complaints
• Palestine, Roll 25, Register of Complaints
• Richmond, Roll 25, Contracts
• San Augustine, Roll 25, Register of Complaints, Register of Contracts
• Seguin, Roll 26, Register of Complaints
• Sterling, Roll 26, Register of Complaints
• Sumpter, Roll 26, Register of Complaints
• Tyler, Roll 27, Register of Complaints
• Waco, Roll 27, Register of Complaints
• Wharton, Roll 28, Records Relating to Complaints, Accounts

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 fifth district and links to record descriptions.

• War Department. Fifth Military District. 3/11/1867-3/31/1870 Texas, Louisiana
• Letters sent and received by the Department of Texas, the District of Texas, and the 5th Military District, 1856-1870, NARA M1188

Related National Archives Collections

• General Order #3, Headquarters, District of Texas, Galveston, Texas, June 19, 1865, Issued by Order of Major General Granger Juneteenth Order Record Group 393 Records of US Army Continental Commands

General Information about Freedmen's Bureau Records

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: United States Freedmen’s Bureau Records - FamilySearch Historical 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.

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 Texas, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1870.

Collection Content

Sample Images

• Texas, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records
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  1866 Employment Record

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  1866 Letter example 1

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  1864 Letter example 2

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 necessry 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

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. To see the inventory, click on the following link. Texas, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Inventory