Personnel

The Bureau was established in March 3, 1865, and was directed by General O.O. Howard, who was appointed by President Andrew Johnson. It was staffed by approximately 900 agents throughout the South.

Each of the ten state under reconstruction was assigned to an assistant commissioner. Virginia had three assistant commissioners from 1865 to 1869. Below the assistant commissioner were sub-assistant commissioners. Captain John A. McDonnell was the sub-assistant commissioner in charge Sub District 9, which included Augusta County. Capt. McDonnell was stationed in Winchester, VA, about 100 miles north of Staunton in the Shenandoah Valley.

The Staunton office, similar to the Freedmen's Bureau nationally, was understaffed. Only one agent was assigned to address the needs of all freedmen in Augusta County. Assistants were only a temporary luxury since the Bureau budget had very little money to spare.

Mr. F. S. Tukey was a civilian appointed as the Superintendent of the Freedmen's Bureau of Augusta County from 1865 to 1866, when Captain Thomas P. Jackson received his commission for the position. Jackson was highly regarded for his abilities, and commended for the two years experience he had in addressing the problems of the freedmen before his appointment. Colonel O. Brown, the Virginia Assistant Commissioner in 1866, wrote a letter of recommended Jackson for the position, describing him as "a gentleman of high Christian and moral character, of superior intellectual attributes and of industrious habits. His devotion and faithfulness to the interests of the freedmen deserve some recognition." It evident that Jackson was a agent honestly devoted to helping African-Americans succeed as freedmen, however his efforts were hampered by the many obstacles he encountered.

The demands on the Freedmen's Bureau were enormous and almost impossible to meet by one lone agent. In addition to his duties as the Freedmen's Bureau agent, Jackson was in charge of the registering voters in the middle of 1867. At that time, Jackson was fortunate enough to be granted permission to hire Mr. Tukey, his predecessor for one month to assist him. However, Jackson was not always so lucky. In September 1867, Jackson was ordered to discharge his messenger, Charles W. Teagle.

Jackson, like many agents, was a soldier and lacked administrative skills. He was constantly behind in his paperwork or having to correct mistakes on previous forms and reports. ( Refer to Paperwork)

On March 23, 1868, Jackson was discharged from his duty as Agent of the Freedmen's Bureau for Augusta County. Colonel John W. Jordan took Jackson's position as Agent in April 1868. Jordan continued to assist the freedmen with the distribution of clothes and other aide.

It is unknown when Jordan was replaced, but Roswell Waldo was the Freedmen's Bureau Agent for Augusta County at the time when the Staunton Bureau office, along with the national Freedmen's Bureau, was preparing to close. Waldo was ordered to sell the property of the Bureau at a public auction in a letter from McDonnell dated December 10, 1868.

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands and all its local offices were closed on January 1, 1869.