Viewing page 23 of 134

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

estimates forwarding them to this office.

O. Brown,
Col & Asst. Com'r.

General Order
No. 1
July 1st 1865

Chaplain P. S. Evans having reported for duty for this Bureau is hereby appointed Acting Asst. Adjutant General

By order of
O. Brown, Col & Asst. Com'r.

Special Orders
No. 12.
July 1st 1865

I. Superintendents in this Bureau, will, as soon as possible, report to these Hd. Qrs. the condition of the Freedmen within their respective districts, as to the following points.

Are they at work, and are they willing to work for their former masters?

Are those who work with their former masters working well or are they working without energy and spirit?

Do their former masters treat them kindly? Do they practically acknowledge their freedom? Do they favor their education? Are they willing that, the Freedmen should settle on their lands at a fair rent?

What is the general effect of the conduct

of their former masters upon the freedmen? Is it such as to inspire confidence or to create distrust? Do those who do not work refuse to work because fair wages are not offered, or because they are disposed to be idle?

II Bvt. Maj. Wm N. Felt. C.S. Vols. having reported for duty in this Bureau under Special Order, No. 288, Par. 16, War Dept. dated at Washington, June 8th 1865, is hereby assigned to duty, at these Hd. Qrs., as Supervising Commissary of this Bureau for the state of Virginia.

By order of
Col. O. Brown,
Asst. Com'r. &c.
P. S. Evans, A.A.A.G.

Special Order,
No. 13
July 3rd 1865

Actg. Staff Surgeon D.W.C. Van Slyck will, without delay, report to Capt. Barnes, Supt. Bureau R.F. & A.L., Petersburg, Va, for the purpose of investigating the sanitary condition of the Freedmen at and in the vicinity of City Point.

By order of O. Brown.
Col. & Asst. Com'r.
P.S. Evans, A.A.A.G.

[[page inset]]
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands.
Head Quarters Asst. Commissioner, State of Virginia,
RICHMOND, Va., July 1st, 1865.

TO THE FREEDMEN OF VIRGINIA.

Having been appointed Assistant Commissioner in the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands for the State of Virginia, it becomes my duty to look after all matters that pertain to your welfare, to endeavor to teach you how to use that freedom you have so earnestly desired, and to prevent the abuse of it by yourselves or others.

The difference between your former and your present condition is this: formerly your labor was directed, and the proceeds of it taken by your masters, and you were cared for by them, now you are to direct and receive your proceeds of your own labor and care for yourselves.

Can you do this? is the question you must now answer to the world. Your friends believe you can and will. The Government and charity will aid you, but this assistance will be of little advantage unless you help yourselves. To do this you must be industrious and frugal. You have now every inducement to work, as you are to receive the payment for your labor, and you have every inducement to save your wages, as your rights in what you possess will be protected. You have now no masters to provide for you in sickness and old age, hence you must see the necessity of saving your wages while you are able to work, for this purpose.

While it is believed that most of you will feel the responsibility of your new condition, and will do all in your power to become independent of charity and of government aid, it is feared that some will act from the mistaken notion that Freedom means liberty to be idle.

This class of persons, known to the law as vagrants, must at once, correct this mistake. They will not be allowed to live in idleness when there is work to be had.

You are not to suppose that your former masters have become your enemies because you are free. All good men among them will recognize your new relations to them as free laborers; and as you prove yourselves honest, industrious and frugal, you will receive from them kindness and consideration. If others fail to recognize your right to equal freedom with white persons, you will find the Government. through the agents of this Bureau, as ready to secure to you, as to them, Liberty and Justice.

Schools, as far as possible, will be established among you, under the protection of the Government.
[[/page inset]]

Transcription Notes:
Are we transcribing the handwritten sections? If we are transcribing handwritten sections, how do we handle the situation where there is a printed page over the handwritten page? The entirety of page 13 is on Page 24. Once that has been transcribed, it can be copied and pasted here, too. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-16 11:42:18 completed, with entirety of Page 13 included (transcribed from Page 24)