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Browsing named entities in a specific section of Oliver Otis Howard, Autobiography of Oliver Otis Howard, major general , United States army : volume 2. Search the whole document.

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13th (search for this): chapter 2.14
assed in review before a multitude of interested spectators. At ten o'clock the morning of May 9th, we arrived at Manchester, opposite Richmond, where were General Halleck's headquarters. I paid a brief visit to the late Confederate capital, and after my return to Manchester, issued orders of march pursuant to General Sherman's instructions for my two corps to proceed via Hanover Court House to Alexandria and Washington. Blair's corps was to set out the 12th, and Logan's to follow on the 13th. I then with my staff intended to go on with Blair's head of column. But while there at Manchester, the following dispatch, which greatly surprised me, was placed in my hands: Washington, D. C., May 7, 1865, 9 P. M. Major General O. O. Howard, Care of General Halleck, Richmond, Va. Leave your army for corps commanders to bring overland and come on immediately yourself by water. Report on arrival to Secretary of War. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General. This message, enigmatical enoug
May 9th (search for this): chapter 2.14
Chapter 48: organization of the freedmen's Bureau and my principles of action By following the army movements it will be noticed that my column reached the vicinity of Petersburg, Va., at evening May 6, 1865. Here it rested Saturday and Sunday and renewed its march the ensuing Monday; and as the divisions went through the town we passed in review before a multitude of interested spectators. At ten o'clock the morning of May 9th, we arrived at Manchester, opposite Richmond, where were General Halleck's headquarters. I paid a brief visit to the late Confederate capital, and after my return to Manchester, issued orders of march pursuant to General Sherman's instructions for my two corps to proceed via Hanover Court House to Alexandria and Washington. Blair's corps was to set out the 12th, and Logan's to follow on the 13th. I then with my staff intended to go on with Blair's head of column. But while there at Manchester, the following dispatch, which greatly surprised me, wa
May 12th (search for this): chapter 2.14
Naturally, as the great war drew to a close, I had been pondering the subject of my future work. Should I remain in the army or nott What as a young man of thirty-four had I better dot The opportunity afforded by this offer appeared to me at once to answer my anxious inquiries. Indeed it seemed providential; so in my consciousness my mind was virtually made up even before I left the War Office; my custom in war had never suffered me to hold decisions long in abeyance. The morning of May 12th, I returned to Mr. Stanton and said: I have concluded to accept the duty you offer me. He briefly expressed his satisfaction and sent for the papers, chiefly letters from correspondents, widely separated, and reports, official and unofficial, touching upon matters which pertained to refugees and freedmen. The clerk in charge brought in a large, oblong, bushel basket heaped with letters and documents. Mr. Stanton, with both hands holding the handles at each end, took the basket and extend
May 15th (search for this): chapter 2.14
behaved magnificently at that Review. The vast multitude of people lining the streets, occupying every elevated stand, even covering the roofs of buildings from the Capitol to the War Department, showed their appreciation by shouts and cheerings so abundant and so strong that none of the soldiers who participated could ever forget that day or that magnificent recognition of their work, and with pride participated ardently in the joy of its completion thus manifested. By Monday morning, May 15th, the new Bureau was sufficiently equipped for me to issue a circular letter. As this letter affords a glimpse of the situation thus early in my administration, I here insert the substance of it: In accordance with orders, I enter immediately upon the duties of Commissioner of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. The Bureau contemplated in the order will be located at the corner of I and Nineteenth Streets. All commissioners, however appointed, who have the charge of freedmen,
May 18th (search for this): chapter 2.14
, expecting a permanent support. By September, 1865, when the Bureau had been sufficiently organized and at work so as to take entire charge of all gratuitous relief, by a rigid examination of every applicant, by the rejection of all who could support themselves by labor, and by the process of finding work for the willing, the number assisted was reduced to 74,951; and from that time on, there was a constant reduction. In the process of extending our organization through the South, by May 18th, I was able to recommend eight officers for assistant commissioners. Five I sent to the Southern fields; three were already at their posts. But as necessary changes were forced upon us by correspondence, I delayed until June 13th any formal announcement of these worthy assistants. Now I was able to publish the names of nine out of the ten allowed, most of whom had been for some time in the field and hard at work. The needs had been urgent. These assistants were men of high character, a
May 19th (search for this): chapter 2.14
was placed at the head of this important division. As the work grew upon us more divisions were instituted, for example, a fifth division, that for commissary supplies. The financial officer, in addition to his work proper, always managed this division. A sixth division followed for quartermaster's supplies, with an able quartermaster to direct. This issue of transportation (sending refugees and freedmen to places where labor had been found for them) at one time became enormous. On May 19th from my office was made the next substantial public announcement. By this, assistant commissioners were located. To them were entrusted the supervision of abandoned lands and the control of subjects relating to refugees and freedmen within their districts. All agents, however appointed, i.e., by military officers. Treasury Department or voluntary societies, must report to these assistant commissioners the condition of their work. Refugees and freedmen not provided for should let them
May 22nd (search for this): chapter 2.14
forgotten. The officers of the Bureau should afford the utmost facility to benevolent and religious organizations, and to State authorities, where they exist, in the maintenance of good schools. Do everything possible, was my constant cry, to keep schools on foot till free schools shall be established by reorganized local governments. In all this work, I announced, it is not my purpose to supersede the benevolent agencies already engaged, but to systematize and facilitate them. By May 22d the freedmen were largely at work, cultivating plantations and abandoned lands; but owners who had been called disloyal to the Government were already seeking recovery of their farms and forcibly to displace the freedmen. So with Mr. Stanton's sanction I ordered that all such land under cultivation by the freedmen be retained in their possession until the growing crops should be secured for their benefit, unless full and just compensation were made for their labor and its products, and for
May 30th (search for this): chapter 2.14
largely at work, cultivating plantations and abandoned lands; but owners who had been called disloyal to the Government were already seeking recovery of their farms and forcibly to displace the freedmen. So with Mr. Stanton's sanction I ordered that all such land under cultivation by the freedmen be retained in their possession until the growing crops should be secured for their benefit, unless full and just compensation were made for their labor and its products, and for expenditures. May 30th I gave out another body of instructions. The newly appointed assistant commissioners not already at their posts were to hasten thither, acquaint themselves with their fields, and do all in their power to quicken and direct the industry of the refugees and freedmen, in order that their communities might do all that could be done for the season, already so far advanced, to prevent starvation and suffering, and promote good order and prosperity. I gave further rules for assistant commissi
June 13th (search for this): chapter 2.14
all who could support themselves by labor, and by the process of finding work for the willing, the number assisted was reduced to 74,951; and from that time on, there was a constant reduction. In the process of extending our organization through the South, by May 18th, I was able to recommend eight officers for assistant commissioners. Five I sent to the Southern fields; three were already at their posts. But as necessary changes were forced upon us by correspondence, I delayed until June 13th any formal announcement of these worthy assistants. Now I was able to publish the names of nine out of the ten allowed, most of whom had been for some time in the field and hard at work. The needs had been urgent. These assistants were men of high character, and most of them already of national repute. They were: Colonel Orlando Brown, Virginia, Headquarters at Richmond. Colonel Eliphalet Whittlesey, North Carolina, Headquarters at Raleigh. General Rufus Saxton, South Carolina
July (search for this): chapter 2.14
wn reason for introducing into the circular the paragraph relating to labor was that many thought the Bureau would feed niggers in idleness, as they expressed it, and I wished to start right. There was found in Mr. Stanton's basket evidence that the military authorities were then feeding immense groups of refugees and freedmen in Washington and vicinity as well as in the different parts of the South and West. The daily issue then amounted to upward of 144,000 rations. For the ensuing June, July, and August, the indigent groups, though constantly shifting ground, were, in the aggregate, somewhat increased. The number of persons relieved by our Bureau commissariat daily during August was 148,120. Without doubt many freedmen and poor whites, from the seeming helplessness of their condition, like pensioners, were, through this source, expecting a permanent support. By September, 1865, when the Bureau had been sufficiently organized and at work so as to take entire charge of all gra
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