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Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands
Montgomery, Ala., August 30, 1865.

GENERAL ORDER NO. 12.

I.  All contracts with freedmen, for labor for the period of one month, and over, must be reduced to writing, approved by an agent of this Bureau, and one copy deposited with him.  In proper cases he shall require security.

II.  For plantation labor :

1.  Such contracts will be made with heads of families.  They will embrace the labor of all of the members of the family, able to work.

2.  The employer will stipulate to provide good and sufficient food, quarters and medical attendance for the entire family, and such further compensation as may be agreed on.

3.  Such contracts will be a lien upon the crop, of which not more than one half will be removed until full payment is made, and the contract released by an agent of this Bureau, or a Justice of the Peace, in case it is impracticable to procure the services of such agent.

III.  The usual remedies for violation of contracts, to the employer, or forfeiture of wages due, and to the freedmen, of damages secured by lien, of personal security, are deemed to be sufficient and all that are practicable.

IV.  But as many persons have not yet learned the binding force of a contract, and that freedmen does not mean living without labor, it is further ordered that where any employer, under this order shall make oath before a Justice of the Peace, acting as an agent of this Bureau, and having local jurisdiction, that one of his employees has been absent from labor without good cause for a longer period than one day, or for an aggregate of time greater than three days in one month, the Justice shall proceed against such person as a vagrant.

V.  Freedmen committed as vagrants may be set to work on roads, or at other labor, by the County or municipal authorities which provide their support, or they may be turned over to an agent of this Bureau.

VI.  No contract will be approved which does not expire on or before the first day of January, 1867

WAGER SWAYNE
Brig. Gen. and Ass't Commissioner.
–
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, }
Montgomery, Alabama, September 1, 1865 }

The foregoing Order is approved, and will be recognized by all judicial and ministerial officers, in this State, in their administration of justice as Agents of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands.

LEWIS M. PARSONS,
Provisional Governor of Alabama.
By the Governor.
W. GARRETT,
[L.S.] Secretary of State.
–
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF ALA., }
Mobile, Alabama, Sept. 4, 1865. }

The foregoing Order is approved, and will be enforced by the Military Authorities in this Department, in the absence of law in support of able parties charged with its execution.

By order of Major General C.R. Woods,
W.B. WOODS,
Brig. Gen. and Chief of Staff.
sep7ulw


CIRCULAR No. 1

OFFICE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER,
BUREAU OF REFUGEES, FREEDMEN AND ABANDONED LANDS,
Montgomery, Alabama, Sept. 7, 1865.

The condition of Refugees and Freedmen in this State, in some particulars, requires attention of all persons concerned in the general welfare.

Among Freedmen an impression extensively prevails, that about the close of this year, landed property to a very large extent, indeed all such property of their former owners, will be [[?handed]] out to them.  Such expectations are fruitful of idleness, disappointment and mischief, and of no good whatever.  Every effort should be made to show to Freedmen the absurdity of supposing that a Government which is simply vindicating their natural rights as one class of its citizens;  will for their benefit invade the equal rights and property of another class.

There is, besides, a wide-spread and natural desire on the part of Freedmen, to test their new liberty by change of employees, to individual cases, and where no loss of time is involved, such change is generally for the good [[?]] both parties.  But where it is undertaken by a whole people, whose education points all of them to one customary time, and that in mid-winter, it must involve very many in confusion and distress.

Hence it is urged upon all who are now affording to freedmen good homes and fair compensation, to contract with them to continue the relation, and it is enjoined upon all freedmen who have such homes to enter into contracts, and before of casting themselves adrift in such a whirlpool as is their present social life.

Again, the freedmen want to learn.  They want for themselves and for their children ability to read the Bible, the story of God's love, and the newspaper, the story of man's life.  An appeal is made to all Christians, to all who love knowledge or their fellow men, to help meet this want.  Practically, almost anywhere, on a large farm, or on a line between two small ones, the freedman will build a cabin, and pay a teacher the small sum required, if the planters will only give him board.  Where this has been tried it has been rewarded by increased energy and permanence of labor.  Every encouragement the Bureau can afford will be given to those who will take this in hand.

Past marriages of Freedmen, although often formally solemnized, have not been so authenticated that misconduct can be legally punished, or inheritance rightly determined.  It is most urgently and plainly needful that this outgrowth of a by-gone system should now cease.

A general re-marriage (for the sake of the record) of all persons married without license, or living together without marriage, should be insisted upon by employers and urged by all who have any connection with, or knowledge of, such persons.  They should know that, if ample facilities have been for some time afforded, they have not conformed to this necessity of social life, they will be prosecuted and punished.  And that facilities may be ample, all Probate Judges are respectfully requested to dispense with the customary bond, and to reduce the fee according to the situation of applicants.  Circumstances may also dictate a separate book of records.  These re-marriages should be, as far as possible, private;  certainly without festivities.

Where one of two parties to a contemplated marriage has been formally, or in fact, though not legally, married to a third person, who is still living, license should be refused unless the conduct or absence of the party last named has been such as to entitle the party contemplating marriage to complete divorce, in case the marriage had been legal.  This question, like that of consanguinity, should be investigated by the Probate Judge.

As to both Freedmen and Refugees, (destitute persons supplied with rations by the Government,) all humane and rightful means should be employed to prevent them crowding into cities and towns, where they will suffer from high rents, scarcity of fuel and infectious diseases.

For Freedmen a system has been established, and will be extended of "Colonies," or farms used as places of transit, where they can be kept and employed till work is found for them, and where all persons wanting labor are invited to apply.  To these places may be sent by Judicial Agents of this Bureau, all Freedmen found sleeping in streets, or in excessively crowded rooms [[?]]