United States, Freedmen's Bureau Claim Records,1865-1872

What is in This Collection?

This collection consist of index of claim records including registers of claimants, case files of pension claims, bounty and pay arrearages, applications for bounty, lists of claimants, receipts for payment of claims created by the Freedmen's Bureau for the years 1865 to 1872. The Freedmen’s Bureau assisted freedmen who had served in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War receive any bounty, back pay or pensions due for military service. Many of the records in this publication are from the Freedmen’s Branch records NARA microfilm publication M2029.

Related National Archives Collections

• Dept. of the Treasury. Office of the Second Auditor. Pay and Bounty Division RG 217
• Disallowed Claims of U.S. Colored Troops, ca. 1864 - 1893 NAID 2133015
• Registers of Payments to Colored Troops, 1863 - 1889 NAID 2580987
• Register of Payments to Colored Troops, 1863–1863 NAID 12088566
• Abstracts of Payments to Colored Troops, ca. July 1867–April 1874 NAID 2555299
• Registers of Payments to U.S. Colored Troops, 11/1867 - 11/1885 NAID 2584173
• Register of Claims of U.S. Colored Troops, August 1879–November 1899 NAID 2585215

Dept. Of the treasury. Office of the Third Auditor. Claims Division

• Register of Claims, January 14, 1878–December 30, 1885 NAID 2669434

Additional collections helpful in searching for claims are the United States, Freedmen's Branch Records, 1872-1878 and the United States Civil War Service Records of Union Colored Troops, 1863-1865.

To locate additional information on the indexed collections in this publication see the digital folder number list section and related digital folder number list link located in this article under the heading Collection Content. The links in the state column will direct you to the browse collection landing page.

Records from the field offices from the following states:

• Alabama, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872 rolls 18, 19, 23, 26
• Arkansas, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1864-1872 rolls 6, 11
• Maryland and Delaware, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872 rolls 16-18, 28-35, 42
• Kentucky, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872 roll 132
• Mississippi, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872 roll 37, 40, 62, 63
• Missouri, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872 roll 24
• North Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872 rolls 47, 76
• South Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872 rolls 23, 24, 58, 61, 106
• Virginia (M1913), rolls 127, 145, 146, 169, 178

Records of the Assistant Commissioner

• United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of the Assistant Commissioner, 1865-1872 roll 23

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.

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.

What Can These Records Tell Me?

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau) was created in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War to supervise relief efforts including:

These records include:

The following information may be found in these records:

Collection Content

Sample Images

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  1869 Claimant's Statement (page 1)

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  1869 Claimant's Statement (page 2)

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  1869 Application for Back Pay and Bounty

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  1867 Complaint and Order

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  1867 Register of Enlisted Men Eligible for Rations

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  1867 Register of Indigent Persons Eligible for Rations

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

Digital Folder Number List

This collection was published as a DGS browse collection. The list does not contain any description of the DGS folder's content. A table listing each DGS number and its contents can be found at United States, Freedmen's Bureau Claim Records Digital Folder Number List.