The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned…
March 1865 CE
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, is a U.S. federal government agency created to aid distressed freedmen (freed slaves) by the Freedmen's Bureau Bill passed by Congress on March 3, 1865.
The Bill had been initiated by President Lincoln and is intended to last for one year after the end of the Civil War.
Meant to aid former slaves through legal food and housing, oversight, education, health care, and employment contracts with private landowners, it will become a key agency during Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South.
The Bureau, part of the United States Department of War, is headed by Union Army General Oliver O. Howard.