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[227] general's hands, were given an independent place in the office. A general superintendent of education was appointed who had his representative, an assistant superintendent, stationed at every field headquarters on the staff of each State assistant commissioner.

The Bureau had hardly begun its work when it encountered unexpected opposition. At first President Johnson was apparently very friendly to me, yet, while Mr. Stanton favored our strong educational proclivities, the President declared that the true relief was only in work. One member of his Cabinet, Secretary William Dennison, said about the time I took charge:

General, it is feared that the Freedmen's Bureau will do more harm than good.

These gentlemen and their followers thought relief was in work alone. It was hard for them to realize that the training of the mind and hand, particularly with negroes, could go on together.

Before many days, when the rehabilitation of the old State governments and the appointment of governors was under consideration in the President's Cabinet, the military possession of all the late insurrectionary States was made complete .by having a military department commander for each State, stationed either at the capital or in one of its largest cities. Each commander had under him a considerable force, so that he divided his State into districts and had an officer in charge of each. Fortunately for the Bureau work, Mr. Stanton and General Grant, in sympathy with each other in the main, managed this force, and both sustained me. This, however, did not prevent some friction in the field. In places the military

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Edwin M. Stanton (2)
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