South Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872

What is in This Collection?

This collection consists of scanned images of records from National Archives microfilm publication M1910 Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, 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; Superintendent of Education, Commissary of Subsistence, Inspector, Medical Officer, Quartermaster and Disbursing Officer, Claim Division, General Collecting Agent, first then the local field office records are arranged alphabetically by location and by NARA roll number.

A table listing where the South Carolina 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 South Carolina Field Office Personnel.

State Sub-Districts as of March 10, 1868

• Charleston: Williamsburg; Georgetown, Horry; St. Peters Parish, main land, Beaufort; Prince Williams, and St. Lukes Parish, main land; Hilton Head, Pickney, Daufuskie, Bull, Savage, Lemon, Daw and Spring Islands, and all the Sea Islands of Beaufort District west of Broad River; St. Helena, Ladies, Port Royal, Paris and all Sea Islands of Beaufort District east of Broad River; St. Bartholomews and St. Pauls Parish, main land. Colleton District; Johns, Wadmalaw, and Edisto Islands, and Sea Islands of Colleton District; St. George Dorchester (Colleton,) St. James, Goose Creek; St. Michaels and St. Philips, (Charleston) St. Andrews (Berkeley); Christ Christ and St. James Santee Parishes, (Berkeley); St. Thomas Parish (Berkeley); St. Johns and St. Stevens (Berkeley); Shaw Orphan Asylum, Charleston; Soup Houses, Charleston.
• Darlington: Darlington; Chesterfield, Marlboro; Marion.
• Columbia: York, Chester; Fairfield, Richland, Lexington, Lancaster; Orangeburg; Kershaw; Sumter; Union; Newberry; Clarendon.
• Aiken: Abbeville; Barnwell; Edgefield.
• Laurensville: Anderson; Greenville; Pickens; Laurens; Spartanburg.

Related National Archives Collections

• NARA Related Photograph of Store for Freedmen Beaufort, South Carolina
• NARA Related Photograph of Office for Freedmen, Beaufort, South Carolina

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 second district and links to record descriptions.

• War Department. Second Military District. 3/11/1867-7/28/1868 North Carolina, South Carolina
• Reports Received from the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands Concerning its Operations in the District of South Carolina, 1867-1868. NAID 4746032.
• Reports of Outrages, 1865-1867. NAID 4746080
• Trimonthly Reports Received of Rations Issued to the Destitute in North and South Carolina, 5/1867-12/1867. NAID 4746100

Related Collection

• War Department. Post of Darlington, South Carolina. (04/15/1866 - 08/1868)
• Proceedings of Trials of Freedmen and Other Citizens, 1866–1867
• Letters Sent and Registers of Letters Received, January 1866–August 1868 includes register of contracts made with freedmen, January - March 1866.

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.

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

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 South Carolina , Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872.

Collection Content

Sample Images

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  1867 Certified Application for Food

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  1866 Labor Contract

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  1868 Register of Complaint

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  1868 Registered Bounty Claim

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  1866 Surgeon's Letters

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  1866 Weekly Report of Sick and Wounded

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. For a description of the record types found in this and other Freedmen’s Bureau collections see 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, go to Inventory. See also South Carolina Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records with Freedmen and Refugee Names