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Article of Agreement between Catharine T. Cate and B. L. Johns
In this contract, Catharine L. Cate agreed to work as a cook for B. J. Johns for the rate of $5 per month along with lodging and rations ("found"). They agreed that any changes to the contract would be made before a local Freedmen's Bureau agent,…
Deed of Manumission for Lucy Goode Brooks and three children
Enslaved Richmond residents Lucy Goode Brooks and her husband Albert Royal Brooks were permitted to live together as a family. Beginning late in the 1850s, Albert Brooks paid the owner of Lucy Brooks in installments to purchase the freedom of his…
Order to bind Katy Gillespie to Dr. William A. Gillespie
In 1866 the General Assembly authorized local overseers of the poor to "bind out," or apprentice, orphaned or homeless African American children to responsible adults to raise, educate, and provide training in some useful occupation. The Virginia…
Marriage License between Samuel Gravely and Delia Martin
About six weeks after Virginia's General Assembly passed legislation authorizing county clerks to issue marriage licenses to African Americans, Samuel Gravely and Delia Martin married in Henry County.
Register of Children of Colored Persons in Augusta County, State of Virginia, whose Parents had ceased to cohabit on 27th February, 1866, which the Father recognizes to be his
After the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation in 1866 to legalize marriages of formerly enslaved men and women and to legitimate their children. In addition to registering couples, Freedmen's Bureau agents also compiled separate registers of…
Register of Colored Persons of Augusta County, State of Virginia, cohabiting together as Husband and Wife on 27th February 1866
After the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation in 1866 to legalize marriages of formerly enslaved men and women, freed couples registered their unions with the Freedmen's Bureau in large numbers. Agents documented their names, ages, names of…
List of Male freed Negroes over the Age of 16
The first page of an alphabetized list of male freed men in New Kent County recording who had formerly owned them and how much tax they owed. Under Virginia law, males older than sixteen paid an annual poll tax. At that time, payment of a poll tax…
Circular letter to David May from Stuart Burns
The freedmen of Petersburg chose a man named David May to represent them to the Freedmen's Bureau "to adjudicate in all claims, or cases of difficulty arising between Whites and Freedmen, or between Negroes themselves."
The Confederate Generals Edward Johnson and G. H. Stewart Taken to the Rear by Negro Cavalry, May 12th, 1864
During the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in May 1864, Major General Edward Johnson and Brigadier G. H. Stewart were captured.
Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters
An African American soldier was photographed in his United States Army uniform, along with his wife and two daughters. In May 1863, U.S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton issued General Order No. 143 creating the Bureau of U. S. Colored Troops.…