Overview
The Bureau of Refugee, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was created in 1865. Oliver O. Howard was appointed commissioner. Howard appointed an assistant commissioner for each Confederate border state and DC (Alabama, Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Delaware, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia). Records vary from state to state and field office to field office. Aid provided by the Bureau includes a wide range of services, such as rations, clothing, labor contracts, marriages, hospitals, claims and bounties for soldiers
Years of Operation: 1865–1872
Assistant Commissioner: Wager Swayne, 1865–1868; Bvt. Brig. Julius Hayden, 1868; Col. Oliver L. Sheperd, 1868; Col. T. H Ruger, 1868; Bvt. Lt. Col Edwin Beecher, 1868–1869
State Field Office: Montgomery
National Archives Records
Assistant Commissioner
Microfilm ID: M809; Record Group: RG105
Title: Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Alabama, Bureau of Refuges, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1870.
Physical Description: 23 rolls; 35mm.
Superintendent of Education
Microfilm ID: M810; Record Group: RG105
Title: Records of the Superintendent of Education for the State of Alabama, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1870.
Physical Description: 8 rolls; 35mm.
Subordinate Field Offices
Microfilm ID: M1900; Record Group: RG105
Title: Records of the Field Offices for the State of Alabama, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872.
Physical Description: 34 rolls; 35mm
Subordinate Field Offices
Below is a list of the field offices in Alabama. This list is organized by county. Use the microfilm roll number to locate the records for the field office. Bold type indicated a county seat; • indicates a county created between 1865–1868.
|
COUNTY |
OFFICE |
ROLL |
|
Barbour |
Eufaula |
11 |
|
Butler |
Garland |
11 |
|
Butler |
Greenville |
11–13 |
|
Calhoun |
Jacksonville |
20 |
|
Colbert• |
Tuscumbia |
34 |
|
Dallas |
Cahaba |
9 |
|
Dallas |
Selma |
28 |
|
Greene |
Eutaw |
11 |
|
Jefferson |
Elyton |
11 |
|
Lee• |
Bluffton |
9 |
|
Lee• |
Opelika |
27–28 |
|
Lowndes |
Haynesville |
13 |
|
Macon |
Tuskegee |
34 |
|
Madison |
Huntsville |
13–20 |
|
Marengo |
Demopolis |
9–11 |
|
Mobile |
Mobile |
21–23 |
|
Monroe |
Claiborn |
9 |
|
Montgomery |
Montgomery |
23–27 |
|
Russell |
Girard |
11 |
|
St. Clair |
Ashville |
9 |
|
Sumter or Tuscaloosa |
Livingston |
20 |
|
Talladega |
Talladega |
31–33 |
|
Tuscaloosa |
Tuscaloosa |
33–34 |