From heart-wrenching personal letters to bills of lading for office supplies, this module offers remarkable insight into the early Reconstruction period in the American South. The correspondence of the U.S. Army's Office of Civil Affairs reveal efforts to foster democracy and rebuild communities in the divided and war-torn former Confederate states. The files include letters, petitions, court proceedings and internal documents related to elections. Another prominent subject is the fair administration of the election process. Troubles often arose as African Americans prepared to exercise their newly won rights to vote and run for office; many letters in the collection call for military intervention to secure these rights. Also included in this module are Letters Received by the Attorney General pertaining to law and order in southern states from 1871-1884 and records of the Freedmen's Hospital and the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company.
Content Types: financial and estate records, government documents, handbooks, memorandum, official reports, petitions, professional correspondence, testimony transcripts, and more.
Subjects: African Americans, banks and banking, civil-military relations, civil rights, constitutional amendments, elections, emancipation, employment applications, farms and farmers, law enforcement, local government, military government, Native Americans, plantation crops, race relations, voter registration, and more.
Keyword Search Examples: Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands; Freedmen's Hospital; Freedman's Savings and Trust Co.; Howard University; Ku Klux Klan; Southern Claims Commission; Ulysses S. Grant; U.S. Marshals Service.
Freedman's Savings and Trust Company: Letters Received by the Commissioners, 1870-1914, Part 1: Correspondence, Loans, and Bank Books
Freedman's Savings and Trust Company: Letters Received by the Commissioners, 1870-1914, Part 1: Correspondence, Loans, and Bank Books contains roughly 24,000 pages of documents, organized into 189 folders.
Letters Received by the Attorney General, 1871-1884: Southern Law and Order
Letters Received by the Attorney General, 1871-1884: Southern Law and Order consists of roughly 39,000 pages of documents, organized into 333 folders. Originating from the Department of Justice's Source-Chronological File, documents are arranged first by state of origin, then by judicial district (if applicable), and finally by order in which the correspondence was received.
Reconstruction and Military Government in the South, 1867-1870, Office of Civil Affairs, Part 1: First and Second Military Districts (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina)
Reconstruction and Military Government in the South, 1867-1870, Office of Civil Affairs, Part 1: First and Second Military Districts (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina) contains roughly 19,000 pages of documents, organized into 137 folders. Documents within this collection are predominately correspondence, memoranda, employment applications, and copies of the Ironclad Oath sent to the Bureau of Civil Affairs. During Reconstruction, the former Confederate States were divided into five military districts. The documents in this collection were received by the First and Second Military Districts: Virginia and North/South Carolina, respectively.
Reconstruction and Military Government in the South, 1867-1870, Office of Civil Affairs, Part 2: Third Military District (Alabama, Florida, Georgia)
Reconstruction and Military Government in the South, 1867-1870, Office of Civil Affairs, Part 2: Third Military District (Alabama, Florida, Georgia) contains roughly 12,000 pages of documents, organized into 56 folders. During Reconstruction, the former Confederate States were divided into five military districts. The documents in this collection were received by the Third Military District: Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.
Reconstruction and Military Government in the South, 1867-1870, Office of Civil Affairs, Part 3: Fourth Military District (Mississippi and Arkansas)
Reconstruction and Military Government in the South, 1867-1870, Office of Civil Affairs, Part 3: Fourth Military District (Mississippi and Arkansas) contains roughly 35,000 pages of documents, organized into 157 folders. During Reconstruction, the former Confederate States were divided into five military districts. The documents in this collection were received by the Fourth Military District: Mississippi and Arkansas.
Reconstruction and Military Government in the South, 1867-1870, Office of Civil Affairs, Part 4: Fifth Military District (Texas and Louisiana)
Reconstruction and Military Government in the South, 1867-1870, Office of Civil Affairs, Part 4: Fifth Military District (Texas and Louisiana) contains roughly 8,000 pages of documents, organized into 31 folders. During Reconstruction, the former Confederate States were divided into five military districts. The documents in this collection were received by the Fifth Military District: Texas and Louisiana.
Records of the Freedmen's Hospital, 1872-1910: Correspondence and Memoranda
Records of the Freedmen's Hospital, 1872-1910: Correspondence and Memoranda consists of roughly 6,000 pages of documents, organized into 365 folders.
Records of the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880, Settled Case Files for Approved Claims: Arkansas
Records of the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880, Settled Case Files for Approved Claims: Arkansas includes 31,000 pages of documents, organized into 564 folders. Each folder is a case file for an individual who claimed loyalty to the Union and sought compensation for personal property confiscated or otherwise lost to the U.S. Army during the Civil War. This collection consists of settled claims for Arkansas. (There is a companion collection for Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Texas.) Documents within this collection are predominately administrative records and witness statements in response to claims, interspersed with relatively infrequent correspondence. Records were generated in the years 1871-1880, but of course refer backwards to events and property losses of the Civil War years. Swift resolution of claims seems the exception more than the rule and most case files contain documents that span several years. Many folders contain key undated documents; where a more specific date range could not be determined with certainty, the full range of 1871-1880 was used by indexers so as not to inhibit retrieval results.
Records of the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880, Settled Case Files for Approved Claims: Florida resident Louisiana resident South Carolina, and Texas
Records of the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880, Settled Case Files for Approved Claims: Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Texas includes 23,000 pages of documents, organized into 342 folders. Each folder is a case file for an individual who claimed loyalty to the Union and sought compensation for personal property confiscated or otherwise lost to the U.S. Army during the Civil War. This collection consists of settled claims for Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Texas. (There is a companion collection for Arkansas.) Documents within this collection are predominately administrative records and witness statements in response to claims, interspersed with relatively infrequent correspondence. Records were generated in the years 1871-1880, but of course refer backwards to events and property losses of the Civil War years. Swift resolution of claims seems the exception more than the rule and most case files contain documents that span several years. Many folders contain key undated documents; where a more specific date range could not be determined with certainty, the full range of 1871-1880 was used by indexers so as not to inhibit retrieval results.
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