[303] it has been represented by the assistant commissioners and other officers and by reliable citizens. It should be noted, with regard to expenses, that aside from commissary, quartermaster, and medical issues, the entire expenses of the Freedmen's Bureau have been defrayed, from its organization up to July 1st, without an appropriation, and without incurring a debt. The quartermaster, commissary, and medical issues were being made by the army proper when I took charge of the Bureau, and have been reduced as much as possible, consistent with the present necessities of the people, whites and blacks. I now come to by far the most important part of what the inspectors have to say — the summing up of their conclusions after four months inspection of the Bureau, in which they assert that there is an entire absence of system or uniformity in its constitution. They have never asked me for a word of information with reference to records, reports, and orders! They have made no examination of my office, asked no reason for any action taken. The records or information they desired that could not be found in the offices of the South may be found here. What would be the result if they should make a general inspection of the quartermaster, commissary, or other departments in the same way t Those officers who have been relieved or were beyond their reach, are supposed to have made improper dispositions of all records or papers connected with their offices. This is all wrong. There is not a bureau in Washington with a more complete set of reports, books, and records, than can be produced in this office at any time for inspection. They attempt to prove their assertion by the statement that in one State its officers exercised judicial powers;
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
Chapter
47
: freedmen's aid societies and an act of congress creating a Bureau of refugees, freedmen and abandoned lands
Chapter
55
:
first
appropriation by congress for the bureau; the reconstruction Act,
March
2
,
1867
; increase of educational work
Chapter
60
: opposition to Bureau and reconstruction work became personal; the
Congregational Church of
Washington
Chapter
62
: life in
Washington, D. C.
,
1866
to
1874
; assigned to duty in regular army as commander,
Department of the Columbia
Chapter
63
: in the
Northwest
, among the
Indians
; trip to
Alaska
; life in
Portland, Ore.
;
1874
to
1881
Chapter
64
: superintendent of the
United States military Academy
; commanding
Department of the Platte
,
Omaha, Neb.
Chapter
68
:
French
army maneuvers,
1884
; promotion to
Major General
,
United States army
,
San Francisco
1886
-
88
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.