They offer insight into the actions and thoughts, not only of the agents, but also of the southern planters and the former slaves, as both of these groups learn

Established by congress in early 1865, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands--more commonly known as "the Freedmen's Bureau"--assumed the Hercul

The Freedmen's Bureau was an extraordinary agency established by Congress in 1865, born of the expansion of federal power during the Civil War and the Union's d

After the American Civil War ended in 1865, many former slaves needed aid. The Freedmen's Bureau provided schools, medical treatment, and other aid to former sl

Abbott's book deals with the Freedmen's Bureau, the agency that faced the main challenge of defining the meaning of freedom for four million slaves after the Ci