Freedmen's Bureau Records: John A. McDonnell to
Orlando Brown, April 1, 1868
Summary:
McDonnell submits the quarterly report for the 9th Sub-District including Augusta
County. In relation to the condition of blacks in Augusta County, McDonnell
bemoans what he considers to be the persistence of "immoral" behavior and
"lewdness." He does note, though, that the schools in Augusta seem to be
flourishing. His report concludes with more general observations about attitudes
toward education and social mores. He also mentions the transfer of Thomas
Jackson out of the 4th Division, remarking that "this Sub-District loses the
services of a most valuable officer, which is as much regretted by the
Freedpeople of his division as by myself.."
Bureau R. F. & A.
Lands
Head Qrs 9th Sub Dist.
Va
Bvt. Brig.
Gen. O. Brown
Asst.
Comr.
Richmond Va.
April 1st 1868
Winchester Va
General
I have the honor to submit the following Inspection Report of this Sub District in obedience to Circular No. 5 Series of 1864, from Head Qrs. Asst Comr State of Virginia, viz:
First Division, comprising Frederick County
1st The General Condition of the
Freedpeople cannot be said to have much improved since last report. The first
quarter of the year is always a [unclear: pinching] time among laborers,
and the severe weather here, has caused many privations, but except in cases of
sickness of heads of families there has been no actual suffering. The local
authorities relieve cases of sickness impartially, and where such cases are
known, no difficulty is experienced in providing a remedy. Of course the means
of the freedpeople have decreased much during the past three months, and no
contracts have been made for the present year. The moral condition of the people
is still at a low ebb. Bastardy is far too common, and the Officers of the Law
are hopelessly blind to all such cases, where a colored woman is one of the
parties. Indeed there
[page 2]
seems to be no remedy for this practice, which
white and colored alike regard with indifference.
2d But little hope of impartial justice being given to colored people, where they are interested against Whites, is entertained in cases of jury trials, even Magistrates will stretch the provisions of the law to convict a colored or acquit a white man.
3d The Register of Marriages is complete for this division. No additions have been made to it during the quarter. All parties contemplating Matrimony are now directed to the County Clerks office for a license.
II. In all practicable ways I instruct the freedpeople as to their duties and responsibilities under act. of February 24th 1866.
III. The Civil Authorities take no action to abate lewdness and adultery, every effort is made by us both through the Churches and the Commonwealth Attorney to stop the evil.
IV. Freedpeople use only one surname.
4t A poor house for the County and Corporation and adequate to the demands is provided. The authorities are impartial in the treatment of inmates but this superstition which has become general, few freedpeople can be induced to avail themselves of its privileges.
5t The supply of labor far exceeds demand, and during the past winter many were out of employment. Now that spring work has commenced the surplus labor will soon distribute itself to find employment. No Contracts have been made and Employer and Employee are alike unwilling to enter into any. It is by this means the freedman can obtain monthly cash payments, it certainly will be for his advantage, as he is almost invariably cheated in long accounts and store payments.
6t The School here at Winchester,
aided by the Bureau has been more successful the past quarter than heretofore.
The teachers are competent, industrious and untiring in their efforts to make it
what it has become, a first class school. Its government and proficiency will
compare, favorably, with any school of its grade, and parents, pupils and public
seem equally well pleased with its operations. The three other schools, however,
give but little hope of future promise. Two of them are taught by colored women
who are deficient in the first elements necessary for the work, and the third is
taught by a white lady, who, whatever her abilities may be, can make but little
progress, as she has other
[page 3]
duties to attend to during the hours of
school. The aggregate number of pupils in the four schools is one hundred and
ninety (190) of whom one hundred and thirty one (131) attend that aided by the
Bureau.
Efforts have been made to organize a school at Newtown, but the people are too destitute to maintain it, and it closed for want of patronage.
If teachers were furnished, schools could be established at Newtown and Middletown, with an average number of fifty (50) pupils to each.
Second Division, comprising the Counties of Clarke, Warren and Page.
1st The General Condition of the Freedpeople is slowly but steadily improving. Low wages, natural prejudices, and the [unclear: almost] general impositions on their ignorance all causes which operate most unfavorably against their rapid advancement. Very few contracts have been made for the present year, but the people are generally employed at an average of nine dollars ($9 00 ) per month, and the usual allowances.
2d The likelihood of freedpeople
getting full and complete justice in cases where they are
[page 4]
interested
against whites is at least very doubtful if the restraints of the Bureau were
removed. Since voting for the convention a more unfavorable feeling against them
has become manifest which could not fail to be participated in by a majority of
a jury and produce results prejudicial to the ends of justice.
3d The Register of Marriages is completed for each County, and each of the four paragraphs of Circular No. 11 series of 1866 are fully carried out.
4t The County Authorities manifest a disposition to provide for their own indigent poor, but the means at their disposal are so wretched, and the feeling of the freedpeople is so strongly opposed to the poor-house, that but very few, even when ever so destitute, can be induced to enter them.
5t At present the supply of labor is equal to the demand. As the spring advances many more could find employment at perhaps about ten dollars ($10-) per month, on farms. Mechanics of any kind are not in demand in either County.
6t The condition of the Schools are as good as can reasonably be expected. The teachers are not fully competent to the work, but they are the best that can be procured at present.
At Berryville, the school numbers sixty
[page 5]
eight (68). It is in charge of
H. E. Keys, a colored man who should still be a scholar instead of a teacher. As
there are no advanced pupils, and he is a good disciplinarian his school is
doing very well.
The school at Front Royal is also in charge of a colored man named B. H. Roberts, and numbers seventy six (76). This school is more advanced than the last mentioned, but the teacher is no better, and but little can be expected until a more competent man can be obtained.
At Bentonville, the school numbering seventeen (17) is in charge of John Crawford (white). In his last report this teacher spells the word "No" in two places "know" and "unknown" "unown" - The school therefore can do but little good in this division unless men better qualified for the work are procured for teachers.
Third Division, comprising the Counties of Shenandoah and Rockingham
1st The General Condition of the
freedpeople in this division is perhaps better than in either of the other
divisions in this Sub-District, owing it is supposed to the comparatively few
therein and the demand for labour. All are
[page 6]
employed and although the
wages are small, still, with constant employment, there is no suffering as the
people have a choice of employers, causes of complaint are few, and if temperate
and economical, they cannot fail in steady progression.
2d The prospect of full and complete justice being given Freedmen in cases where they are interested against Whites is not good. An offence committed by a colored person is looked upon as more heinous, and therefore should be punished more severaly than the same offence committed by a white person. Political and other prejudices operate unfavorably to the ends of justice in this division.
3d The Register of Marriages for Shenandoah County is completed and in convenient form, it has not yet been finished for Rockingham County. The four paragraphs contained in Circular No 11 are carried out so far as known.
4t The county authorities provide for the indigent freedpeople as for the same class of whites, the means are ample, and the houses tolerably fair for the purpose.
5t The demand for labor will
generally exceed the supply. Freedmen with familes would do well to settle in
this division avoiding
[page 7]
Harrisonburg as a location, which is already
too full.
6t The School at Harrisonburg. numbering one hundred and seven (107) in charge of Miss Phoebe P. Libby is in excellent condition, and which reflects credit on its teacher. Twenty six dollars ($26) was paid in February by the pupils for the support of this school. The Schoolhouse is the property of the freedmen.
The school organized on the 21st of January at New Market, now numbers fifty six (56) and is in charge of Jesse Robinson (colored) As yet the colored people have manifested but little disposition to sustain this school. Only six dollars ($6 00 )) was paid by the pupils in February.
At Woodstock the school in charge of Miss Mary J. Knowles numbers sixty (60) and exhibits a fair degree of proficiency. Schools could be organized at Strasbourg, and Mount Jackson if teachers and rooms were supplied, with an attendance of about fifty (50) at each place.
Fouth Division, comprising the Counties of Augusta & Highland.
1st The condition of the
freedpeople during
[page 8]
the winter months has not improved morally or
socially. The officer in charge complains that the Civil Authorities refuse to
take action themselves or cooperate with him to abate lewdness and adultery.
Hence the fullest scope is given to the unbridled passions and very general
demoralization is the result. Although labor has been in good demand at lower
wages, lack of economy high wages and provisions with too much intemperance has
kept the people in a condition little better than beggary.
2d Mr. Jackson, the officer in charge, states that the indisposition to accord impartial justice in cases between whites and colored is increasing. The fault lies, he says with Jurors and Magistrates, who will extend the provisions of the law for a white and contract it for a colored man.
3d The Register of Marriages for
Augusta County is complete, no names are now added to it. In Highland County the
colored population is sparse and scattered, and the weather so very severe that
travel has been very difficult, and forbade completing the registry, which the
officer says he will shortly be
[page 9]
able to do.
II. The people are made fully acquainted with the act of July 27, 1866
III. The officer of the Bureau is powerless without the aid of the Civil Authorities to prevent gross immorality among the freedpeople.
IV. But one surname is used by freedmen.
4t The County Authoritites have ample means provided by taxation for taking care of their own poor, and a work house receives such destitute freedpeople as are proper subjects and desire to go to it.
5t During the quarter the supply of labor has been somewhat ample for the demand. Much fewer contracts by the year have been made than usual, both employer and laborer declining to enter into annual contracts.
6t The Schools in this division are in a prosperous condition. That aided by the Bureau at Staunton has one hundred and forty (140) pupils and is well conducted by excellent teachers, whose ability is amply shown by the proficiency of the children under their charge.
The House at Waynesboro is nearly ready for occupancy, and the private schools
[page 10]
at Deerfield and Mount Sidney are doing well. A School at Laurel
Hill will be put in operation as soon as the building is constructed for that
purpose.
It is a matter of congratulation to those having an interest in the freedpeople
to see the steady and persistent efforts made by them during the past winter in
the cause of Education. Not a village in this Sub-District whose people have not
exhibited a commendable spirit on the school question. Although too poor to
erect or provide suitable schoolhouses, they contribute their
[unclear: mite] for the support of a teacher which, however insufficient
he may be, is still looked upon as the regenerator of the rising generation. It
is hoped the "Normal School" at Harpers Ferry, at no distant day, will supply a
corps of competent colored teachers to fill all the demands of the Valley. Here
at Winchester, religious feuds have so divided the people, as to render serious
obstacles to the speedy erection of a schoolhouse but beside the public school
aided by the Bureau, the small schools maintained by the freedpeople, even
[page 11]
though tinged with sectarianism, point strongly to the fact that
education is the great objective aim of all, and with more enlightened ideas,
petty dissentions must disappear.
Much less suffering this winter than on the two preceeding ones, was experienced although the weather was and continues to be severe. The people, understanding that no assistance would be given by the Bureau, and that the poorhouse would be the only refuge in case of need, made the most desperate and successful efforts to escape what they would consider the greatest calamity. A judicious supply of clothing given at such times as would actually prevent suffering encouraged the people to labor more diligently to supply their families with the necessary food, fuel and shelter and I trust will make them more economical of the next summer's earnings, and thereby better enable them to meet the demand of another winter.
Intemperance, immorality and crime, the hydra-headed monster, naturally to be
found in the wake of a people relieved from slavery to whom education was denied
by law, and the marriage relation
[page 12]
also is fast disappearing. Except
in the Whiskey manufacturing districts in Augusta & Highland Counties,
but very little intemperance is seen. True the efforts to organize temperance
societies have failed but the failure was mere the result of want of
co-operation on the part of ministers and members of churches than from almost
all other causes combined.
Immorality and bastardy are still the bane of society, although of less frequent
occurence than formerly. The officers of the Bureau are alone in their efforts
to suppress this evil. From long custom the civil authorities are totally
indifferent if not blind to a curse, which but for the Bureau would be as
general as in the balmiest days of the most ardent stock raising slave dealer.
Until more humane and just men, men who regard the freedpeople as [added: a] little better than brutes can be placed in civil
positions where justice will be impartially administered this evil will not be
expunged. As a class the Freedpeople are not given to the commission of crime --
except one man for horse stealing in Clarke County, no serious charges have been
made against the colored people. Some cases of pettit larceny by half grown men
and rarely if ever by heads of families, sometimes
[page 13]
occur.
That the political status of parties applying for justice to the Civil Courts have much to do with the decisions rendered, I will leave you to judge by the two cases forwarded thro' this office March 11 by Mr. Thos. sP. Jackson to your Head Quarters.
In conclusion, allow me to add that [added: in] the transfer of Mr. Jackson, this Sub-District loses the services of a most valuable officer, which is as much regretted by the Freedpeople of his division as by myself.
Respectfully submitted
John A. McDonnell
Sub.
Asst. Comr
9th Sub Dist.
Va
