Bureaucracy

Generally, the community considered the Freedmen's Bureau as a symbol of hostile Northern intentions to advance the black community at the expense of the whites. Many Southerners believed that freedmen should turn to their former masters for aide and that a government agency for such a purpose was unnecessary. The general community considered the Freedmen's Bureau to be only useful as a police force. One of the earliest mentions of the Freedmen's Bureau's was in January 31, 1866 in the Valley Virginian. This article reported that a fight had occurred between two parties of black men and that the Freedmen's Bureau was investigating the case.

People associated with the Freedmen's Bureau were considered to be Northern radicals and were under constant watch of the local community. In January 1866, it had to be publicly declared that Mr. Tukey, the Superintendent of the Staunton Freedmen's Bureau at that time, was not involved in circulating a petition to return Union troops to the Valley. In April of the same year, the Freedmen School teacher in Staunton, John Scott was accused of having an affair with a black student when he was seen "escorting" her down New Street.

Despite the community's suspicion of the agents of the Freedmen's Bureau, the local newspapers did not report on the Bureau office's administrative changes. There were no announcements in the local papers about the opening of the office, the changing of agents, and so forth. The personnel history of the Staunton Bureau office has been pieced together from Bureau correspondence. The Augusta Freedmen's Bureau was opened by Agent F. S. Tukey, a civilian, in 1865, then taken over by Agent Captain Thomas P. Jackson in 1866 until the middle of 1868. Agent Colonel John W. Jordan succeeded Jackson and the office closed by Roswell Waldo on December 31, 1868. Each of these men performed all the functions of the Freedmen's Bureau in Augusta County individually during their terms as Agent of the Staunton office.

Personnel

The financial and administrative problems suffered by the national Freedmen's Bureau hindered the work of the Staunton Bureau at the local level. The Staunton office had an extremely limited budget for its aid programs. The Bureau could hardly afford to furnish the Staunton agent with adequate supplies to complete his job.

Costs

In addition, the Freedmen's Bureau was a subsidiary of the war department and the majority of its agents were military men, not administrators. Many of the agents had risen through the military ranks during the war and had received little or no training in the administrative aspects of being an officer. Very few agents of the Bureau were civilians with experience in filling out forms and following bureaucratic procedures. However, the Freedmen's Bureau on the national level demanded that protocols be strictly followed, leading to an immense amount of paperwork for the local agent who, alone, was responsible for all the functions of the Bureau in his district.

Paperwork

As Reconstruction came to an end in Virginia, so did the Bureau. The Bureau in Staunton was ordered to close on December 21, 1868. The modern historical society has no record of the Freedmen's Bureau in Staunton. The exact location of the Bureau office could not be determined; however, an article announcing the opening of a new saloon in the Valley Virginian in 1866 places the Bureau office within a block radius of the County Court House in Stauton.

Overall, the Freedmen's Bureau of the Augusta County did its best to fulfill its duties to aid the black community but was limited in its effectiveness by lack of funds and community support.