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1866. N139
[[stamp]] THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES [[/stamp]]

FREEDMEN'S BUREAU.
Gen. Steedman's Report for the States of Virginia and North Carolina.
REMOVAL OF THE BUREAU RECOMMENDED.
The Military to Protect the Freedmen.
Peculations and Misconduct of Bureau Officers
AGENTS OF THE BUREAU SHOOTING A NEGRO.
General Steedman and Fullerton, the commissioners appointed by the President to investigate the operations of the Freedmen's Bureau in the Southern States, have presented the following report for the States of Virginia and North Carolina:
WILMINGTON, N. C., May 8, 1866
Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War:
We have the honor to report that in obedience to instructions of April 7 last, directing us to "inspect and report upon the Freedmen's Bureau in the military departments of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas", that we have performed that duty in the departments of Virginia and North Carolina, and submit the following report of our observations. We deem it proper to communicate the result of our inspection in these States before proceeding further in the performance of the duty assigned to us. 

It has been our endeavor to ascertain, by a thorough and impartial investigation, the manner in which the Bureau, has been administered and conducted in these departments, and to observe the effect produced by it upon the relations between the white and black races.  In pursuing our investigation we have endeavored to arrive at the truth, and we feel that we have succeeded in doing so by thoroughly examining and conversing with representatives of all classes of people, white and black, as well as officers on duty in the military service and in the Freedmen's Bureau in said States.  We have visited all the cities and towns of any importance, and the headquarters of each district of the Bureau in Virginia and North Carolina, and also have taken advantage of every opportunity to converse with and obtain the opinions with reference to the Bureau of citizens whom we have met on the streets, at the hotels, and while travelling on the cars.  

Virginia.

There are on duty in Virginia the following number of officers in the military service and of other persons employed by or attached to the Bureau: One colonel, two lieutenant colonels, three majors, one captain and commissary of subsistence, nine captains and assistant quartermasters, nineteen captains of the line, twenty-three first lieutenants, twenty second lieutenants, two hundred and thirty-three civilian employees, classified and paid as follows: 
58 clerks and superintendents of farms, paid average monthly wages ... $78 50
12 assistant superintendents, paid average monthly wages ... 87 00
163 laborers, paid average monthly wages 11 75

In addition to the foregoing, enlisted men in the military service are employed as orderlies, guards, &c., but we were unable to procure the number of those so employed. Nine thousand freedmen received rations from the Bureau in the month of December last, 10,260 in the month of January, and 9,938 in February. The provisions returns on which the rations were issued show :

[[5 columned table]]
|   | Men. | Women. | Children. | Total. |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
December ... | 1,020 | 2,789 | 5,191 | 9,000 |
January ... | 1,215 | 3,084 | 5,961 | 10,260 |
February ... | 1,324 | 3,147 | 5,467 | 9,938 |

WHY THE NEGROES NEED ASSISTANCE.

A majority of the freedmen to whom this subsistence has been furnished are undoubtedly able to earn a living if they were removed to localities where labor could be procured. The necessity for issuing rations to this class of persons results from their accumulation in large numbers in certain places where the land is unproductive and the demand for labor is limited. As long as these people remain in the present localities the civil authorities refuse to provide for the able-bodied, and are unable to care for the helpless and destitute among them, owing to their great number and the fact that very few are residents of the counties in which they have congregated during the war. The necessity for the relief extended to these people, both able-bodied and helpless, by the Government will continue as long as they remain in their present condition, and while rations are issued to the able-bodied they will not voluntarily change their localities to seek places where they can procure labor. 

EVERYTHING DEPENDS UPON THE AGENTS. 

In those districts of Virginia where the affairs of the Bureau have been faithfully and impartially administered by men of sound judgment and discretion there has been no conflict between the agents of the Bureau and the citizens. In all such districts the agents are acting in harmony with the civil officers of the State, and are assisted and supported in the performance of their duties by the citizens. But in many places