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WAR DEPARTMENT.
BUREAU REFUGEES. FREEDMEN AND ABANDONED LANDS,
OFFICE OF ASS'T COM'R FOR KY. TENN. AND NORTHERN ALA.,
Nashville, Tenn., July 24th, 1865.

Circular
No. 2

For the information of all parties concerned, the following facts, relating to the establishment of this Bureau by Congress, together with rules and regulations prescribed for its government, are published.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BUREAU.

An act of Congress, approved March 3d, 1865, established in the War Department a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, to which was committed the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control of all subjects relative to refugees and freedmen from rebel States, or from any district of country within the territory embraced in the operations of the army, under such rules and regulations as might be prescribed by the head of the Bureau, and approved by the President. Congress further enacted that the Commissioner of this Bureau, under the direction of the President, shall have authority to set apart, for the use of the loyal refugees and freedmen, such tracts of land within the insurrectionary States as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United States shall have acquired title, by confiscation or sale, or otherwise; and to every male citizen, whether refugee or freedman, as aforesaid, there shall be assigned not more than forty acres of such land: and the person to whom it is so assigned shall be protected in the use and enjoyment of the lands for the term of three years, at an annual rent not exceeding six per centum upon the value of such land, as it was appraised by the State authorities in the year eighteen hundred and sixty for the purpose of taxation.

At the end of said term, or at any time during said term, the occupants of such parcels of land may purchase the same, and receive such title thereto as the United States can convey, upon paying therefor the value of the land, as ascertained for the purpose of determining the annual rent aforesaid.

ABANDONED PROPERTY.

All property, real or personal, from which the lawful owner has been, or is voluntarily absent, and engaged, or has been, in arms or otherwise, in aiding or encouraging the rebellion, has been declared by Congress to be abandoned.

ORGANIZATION OF THE BUREAU.

The President of the United States, by General Order of the War Department, dated May 12th, 1865, organized the Bureau, and appointed as its head a Commissioner, Major General O. O. Howard.

The undersigned was Appointed Assistant Commissioner for the State of Kentucky and Tennessee and Northern Alabama, with the head-quarters at Nashville.

The district will be sub divided, and agencies of the Bureau established at points easy of access to the citizens.

Transcription Notes:
There are two words in the longest paragraph (labeled "Establishment of the Bureau") that I could not make out. Found the text thru internet search and inserted correct words confirmed by SI staff on 3-19-21: include Archives stamp