The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and AbandonedLands (Freedmen’s Bureau) was established by an act of Congress after the end of the Civil War. The purpose of the Freedmen’s Bureau was to assist refugees and former slaves, as well as address matters regarding land abandoned or seized during the Civil War.
The National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC contains 203 rolls of micorofilm of the Virginia Freedmen’s Bureau records from 1865-1872.The entire contents of these microfilm rolls are described in mircofilem publication M1913.Microfilm rolls 58 & 59 contain the records of the Bowling Green, Caroline Couunty Feld Office. The microfilm can be view onsite at the National Archives or purchased or rented from their website.
These registers are an excellent source for locating information regarding former slaves in Spotsylvania County, VA and Caroline County, VA including the last slave owner's name. The original documents can be found at the CentralRappahannockHeritageCenter in Fredericksburg, VA. They were transcibed by Gary Stanton and are available on the University of Mary Washington website.
After the end of slavery, planters had an abundance of land but no longer could use free labor to farm the land. Former slaves needed a means to make a living. The sharecropping system was designed to meet the needs of both the planters and freedmen. Another duty performed by the Freedmen’s Bureau was to supervise labor contracts between planters and freedmen. These labor contracts are another excellent source for locating information regarding former slaves in Caroline County, VA.
