376 



FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES. 



to give up their lands. The general principle 

 in the Mississippi Valley and elsewhere has been 

 that those able to work and support themselves, 

 have been obliged to refund the cost of the 

 ration when they obtained employment ; but 

 orphan children in asylums, the sick in hospi- 

 tals, and the helpless have been fed. As far as 

 possible, too, each estate, county, district, parish, 

 or town, has been held responsible for its own 

 poor. As a general rule, the planters have taken 

 care of the poor and helpless that remained on 

 their plantations. Some have angrily driven 

 them away, but this was not the general rule. 



The receipts of the Bureau to November 1, 

 1865, including $115,236.42 of retained bonn- 

 ties^ held in trust for colored soldiers or their 

 families, were $907,396.21, and the total expen- 

 ditures $478,363.17, leaving a balance on hand 

 of $313,796.62. 



The breaking up of the old plantation system, 

 the congregating of the freedmen in considerable 

 numbers in cities, towns, villages, and at mili- 

 tary posts, under circumstances often of priva- 

 tion both of food and clothing, and the not un- 



frequent expulsion of the aged, infirm, and sick 

 from plantations by the former masters, who 

 were indignant at the change of affairs, and 

 especially at the unwillingness of their former 

 slaves to labor for them without definite con- 

 tracts, all tended to increase greatly the sick- 

 ness and mortality among the freedmen. The 

 commissioner found his abilities overtaxed in 

 supplying medical treatment to these poor un- 

 fortunates, yet he did what he was able. There 

 were on the 31st of October 42 hospitals, with 

 a capacity of 4,500 beds, and 24 asylums, colo- 

 nies, etc., with accommodations for 5,000 more, 

 with 18 commissioned medical officers, and S3 

 contract physicians, 180 male and 177 female 

 attendants, under the control of the Bureau, in 

 which those suffering from severe disease could 

 be placed, but the number requiring aid far out- 

 ran these scanty accommodations. The annexed 

 table shows the number of freedmen treated by 

 the medical department of the Bureau, from its 

 organization to the close of October, as well as 

 the number of deaths and the number remain- 

 ing under treatment October 30, 1865 : 



Where there was no medical attendance, as 

 was the case for some time in some of the South- 

 ern cities, the mortality was fully thirty per 

 cent, of the sick; but when there was ample 

 provision made for their care, and medical treat- 

 ment as in the District of Columbia, it never 

 exceeded four per cent. 



Daring the same period 2,531 white refugees 

 were received into the hospitals of the Bureau, 

 of whom 227 or about nine per cent, died, and 

 338 remained in hospital on the 30th of October. 

 The white refugees were also cared for in pri- 

 vate hospitals or those of the Union and Western 

 Sanitary Commissions, so that these figures do 

 not represent by any means the number of their 

 sick. 



The following table shows the number of 

 schools for freedmen in each military depart- 

 ment, the number of teachers, and the number 



of scholars. Many of these schools were organ- 

 ized and are now taught by teachers employed 

 and paid by the National Freedmen's Aid So- 

 ciety, the American Missionary Association, the 

 Boston Freedmen's Aid Society, the Baptist Free 

 Mission Society, the American Baptist Home 

 Mission Society, the Western Freedmen's Aid 

 Societies, and the Western Sanitary Commission. 

 To all of these, however, the Freedmen's Bureau 

 lent a helping hand. Rations were furnished 

 to the teachers at the commutation price, and 

 transportation, when necessary, free. In cases 

 where there were no teachers of these associa- 

 tions, or later by the Freedmen's Commission, 

 the Bureau appointed and supported them. The 

 freedmen themselves in almost all cases provided 

 for the incidental expenses, and wherever they 

 could do so contributed to the support of the 

 teachers and the procuring of school books : 



