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From FfHdom'. Rf8t G n­
.rat/on. Blllek Hampton, Vir­
ginia, 1N1-1Sgo by Robert
Francl 'En Published 1171, by
.. Unlveretty of Penn.ylve Pre.,
133 W nut treet, PhlI8d p ,PA
1t1Ot
Reprinted below are xtraeta
from Chapt SIx,·The Freed­
man'. Bur au nd Johnaonlan
Reco tructlon 1865-1866·
Bureau si tant ub-commls loner
for the Ninth District of Virginia in
June 1865. H understood the new
agency in the terms conveyed by i
shortened, informal title, "Freed­
men'. Bureau." Mo t of the more
than forty tmUSaM Blac in his dis­
trict were refugee freedmen. He in­
itially saw himself primarily
"advoca "for these freedmen; the
abandoned Janda within his jurisdic­
tion were to be used to ist them in
becoming productive, responsible
members of free odety.
THE GRAND visions of the
freedmen's future conceived by
Wilder, the Blacks, and the mission­
arie were short-lived. Bureau
agents in the South soon foUM them­
sclvC;S caught between the olders of
the president aIM1 the intent of Con­
gress. If they obeyed Johnson's di­
rectives on land re toratlorl and
treatment of ex lav ,they clearly
violated the purpose of Congress in.
creating the Bureau. If they at­
tempted to procrastinate in hope that
Congress could reverse Johnsonian
policies, they were disobeying direct
orders from the commander-In­
chief, the pJaidont. Since most were
army officers, such disobedience
could result in military oourtmartial.
For Bureau agents on the lower
Peninsula, the requirement to obey
presidential diredives was espe­
. cially tepugnant.
Many of these officials, particu­
larly C. B. Wilder, had strong ties to
the abolitionist movement and mis-
ionary groups. They had entered the
anny speC1fically to aid the freedmen
am were more nearly missionaries
in uniform than officers esslgned to
the not always welcomed duty of
Bureau agent.
These officers faced a hopeless
dilemma. Under Johnsonian Recon­
struction, they were required to carry
out three major policies: restoration
of rebel property to its owners, cstab-
By Robert Francia Enga
•. .. Prole. or of HI�ry at
",. Un/w,.1ty of p."".,lven/ ..
When the war ended, Hampton's
Blacks proclaimed their faith in God,
the national Republican party, am
(�C8I\ political pro<:aa. The
will of tbe first of these three ele­
m is untatbomable, but the be­
havior of the second two, by the fall
of 1865, certainly weakened Black
. faith in both.
Blacks were not the only ones
whole faith wes being tested. The
DeW president, Andrew Johnson,
teaned to be deliberately defying
the intent of Congress and the wishes
of most Northerners in hi Recon­
struction program. Before its ad­
journment in May of 1865, Oongress
had provided for the disfranchise­
ment of prominent rebels, the confis­
cation of their property, and its
redistribution among the freedmen
as family farms. The president's pol- .
icy of granting pardons to important
rebels, whicb he insisted carried with
them the restoration of property , was
undermining congressional plans for
reconstructing the South. Moreover,
the president seemed to � encourag­
ing the white South's dforts to re­
duce Blacks to a condition that was
slavery in everything but name
tbrough Black codes and vagrancy
laws.'
Freedmen' Bureau Circular
13 laying out prOCedures for the
dl trlbution of confiscated land
to ex- 'laves was rescinded ...
The new order directed those
land 'be returned to pardoned
rebel and encouraged those
ame rebels to permit small
plot to the Black laborers they
employed.
lishment of a contract labor system
between white landowners and
Black wQrkers, am removal of tbe
exccss Black population from the
lower Penimula.
In each instanCe they therebyvio­
Iated the beat it\terests of the Blacks,
the dealrca of the freedmen'. North­
em alHes, and in many em their
own oonsciences well. The true
.talwarts of the Black man'. cause in
the Bureau did not remain to cany
out the Johnsonian program, but it
w implemented nonetheless, and
the high hopes of the area's freed­
men were dashed a a consequence.
It was to avoid exactly such mis­
treatment of freedmen that Congress
had created, in May 1865, a Bureau
of Rdugecs, Freedmen, and Aban­
doned I...anta in the War Department.
The Bureau w to oveI'SCC tbc well­
being of the freedmen and to carry
out the distribution of laIM1 to them.
Of tbc agenci created to serve
the freodmen during tbe Civil War
and Reconstruction, the lower Pen­
insula's Blac am their misiionary
allies greeted the BUMau with great­
est enthusiasm and expectation.
Here w an gency which would
protect the freedmen in their rights,
oversee their educati.on, and foster
their development • a free, eco­
nomically self- upporting people."
The original agen of the Bureau in
Ham ton Roads shared this enthusi-
m. c. B. Wilder w appoipted
THE FREEDMEN'S BU.
REAU came to Hampton with I
fanf� than in other areas of the
South. There were no dramatic
changes; C.B. Wilder, superintcn-
o n
dent of Negro fairs since 1862,
imply too on a new title and a
larger geographic area of respo l­
bility ...
Peace and the retum of the former
rebels oomplicatcd Wilder' respon­
sibilities considerably. The uncer­
tain distribution of power among
military, Bureau, and civil 0 cials
meant his office became the focal
point for all busi relati to free­
dmen.
On the one hand be became chief
adjudicator of the Black commUnity,
lUolving such family problems •
the case of a blind freedwoman none
of whose children wanted the 101e
JUponsibility of caring for ber; he
required each child to support the
mother for two montba of the year.
On the other band, he had 10 cope
with imperio retumilw rebels, "re-
p witb •
manding the restora on of t lr
lands and the removal of Blac
squatters. "
In his. attempts to resolve d -
putes, Wilder invariably placed
more credence in the word of a freed­
man than in that of a rebel planter,
am often more than in that of a Un­
ion military officer. He w in con­
stant conflict with army officers at
Fortres Monroe over the nonpay-
. ment of was to the freedmen.
He suspected every requtat from
a fellow Bureau officer upcountry
for the return of a black refugee 10
that "he might properly support his
family" as a ruse by a planter to toree
the return of a valuable worker.
Wilder frequently admonisbcd
his �ubordinatea, when investigating
c�rges against the freedmen, to in­
terview not only the white complain­
ant but the accused Black well.
Many ofbis reports on such cases
were forwarded to Richmond with
the notation about the Black in ques­
tion, "this man is known by me to be
an honea t and bard worlcing freed­
man."' Wilder's bard work and good
intentions did not prevent a rapid
deterioration of relations between
the Bureau and the freedmen.
WILDER, LIKE THE Blacks,
was a helpless victim in the process.
The problem was teDd for the freed­
men. He had taken the Bureau's Cir­
cular Order Thirteen of 28 July 1865
quite seriously. It laid outproccdwes
for the distribution of oonfJacatcd
land to ex .. laves.
But before Wilder oould imple­
ment the Order, O. O. Howard, bureau
commissioner, adv ed his agents
thatQrcular'lbirtcen was rescinded.
In i place, Crcular Order FIfteen,
written at the oommand of President
Johnson, w Issued.
The new Order directed Bureau
agents to retum oonflscated land to
pardoned rebels and encouraged
these same rebell to permit small
plots to the Black laborera they em-
ployed. . .
In hort, freedmen would get no
government land; they were to return
to their home plantations and work
for their former ownel1."
When the freedmen in Wilder's
district were informed of the new
policy, they ere at fIJIt unbeliev-
ing, and then infuriated. They sus­
pected that local e Ute Wilder
were lying to them. When Commis­
sioner Howard and Subcommis­
sioner Brown visited Hampton
eocouragiDl freedmen to return to
their former homea and wort for
wages, the Blae began to realize
the tnrth:
It w the president and national
government that were defaulting on
Northern artime promllcs.
The BI CD did not .urrender
meetly. They bad mmahwlloyal to
the Union hen their JD8I�tera
rebelled. They had farmed the aban­
doned farms throughout tbe war;
their Blac predecalOl1 bad done
the same for several enerations
without pay.
It they, not the pardoned re-
bel, who dese� the land. Despite
Union orders, the freedmen on tbe
lower Peninsula refused to give up
their lam voluntarily. Nor would
many of them pay rent for tbe land to
their former owners.
Instead, they armed the�ves
aM threatened to poM violently
to any effort to evict them. In such
imtaDca, white Union troops, many
of hom had recently foupt in the
same II1D)' with tIae Black settlera,
ere ordeftd 10 drlve the squattel1
off lOJed land t guupoint. It is DO
ondcrtbatmany frccdmenbegan to
wonder ho really won the war, the
North or !be South? •••
40 ACRES A D A MULE
WERE EVER GIVE
··TO THE FREED SLAVES
· '1 .00
Add 5% interest per year
$98,191.35 due you! Due your family!!
PI. .. algn this petition and com. together � family
r
Th • call to etlon In • Iectlon y . Inc we MY got our 40 acr and a mut., now
18 t� time to pply to politic' n. coy ng our vot They aettl d with the Ja�.,. and the
atIv. Am ... 1 and. In favor of giving the r to th R I ... - but It'. our turn. W.
need 150,000 algnatw back her In our nde by A�u 15, 1182. PI fHl fr .. to
photocopy m ny of the Ignatw. blank. you need and return them to:
40 ACRE AND A ULE CO MlTTEE· P.O. BOX A77 • TAC
Ray cott 208-473-4818
,WA H 11