The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, often referred to as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was established on March 3, 1865. The duties of the Freedmen’s Bureau included supervision of all affairs relating to refugees, freedmen, and the custody of abandoned lands and property. These documents come from the Records of the Field Offices for the District of Columbia, Series 3.4: Subordinate Field Offices, Freedmen’s Village.
Please help us transcribe these records to learn more about the experiences of formerly enslaved men and women in the Washington, D.C. area during the Reconstruction Era.
Freedmen's Village was located across the Potomac River from Washington, DC, on the estate formerly owned by Robert E. Lee. It originated in 1863 as a "Model Community" for the freedmen in the Washington area and was continued by the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands largely as a place for destitute freedmen.
The single–volume register of people arriving at Freedmen's Village, January 1867–June 1868 (84), is arranged chronologically. The register gives the name and age of the person, the date of arrival, condition or state of health, and name of agent who recommended him for Freedmen's Village. The volume also contains registers of freedmen arriving at Camps Springdale, Wadsworth, Rucker, and Beckwith, 1863–65, and also a register of departures from Camp Springdale. These registers give the name, age, marital status, and former residence of the freedman.