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

What is in This Collection?

This collection consists of an index & images of records relating to Freedmen's court cases including proceedings, registers of cases tried, trial dockets, affidavits, depositions, testimonies of witnesses. The court records are from the field office records of Alabama (M1900), Arkansas (M1901), Georgia (M1903), Kentucky (M1904), Louisiana (M1905), Mississippi (M1907), North Carolina (M1909), South Carolina (M1910), Tennessee, (M1911 and T142), Texas (M1912), and Virginia (M1913).

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

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 information in the records varies by record. You may find any of the following:

Collection Content

Sample Images

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  1868 Allegations (page 1)

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  1868 Allegations (page 2)

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  1867 Application of a Discharged Soldier for Back Pay

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  1866 Formal Charges, Sentence, and Fines Paid

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  1867 Sample Letter

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  1868 School Record - Teacher's Monthly Report

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  1867 Special Order (page 1)

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  1867 Special Order (page 2)

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  1866 Circular

Coverage Table

The search results in this collection will identify the National Archives microfilm publication that the indexed image is from along with the film, digital and image numbers. The coverage table will help you determine the specific locality and provide the film notes which should identify the record type. Additional images of bureau records for the locality identified in the table will be found by searching in the browse collection.

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 the Digital Folder Number List.