- Written by
- Tillson, Davis, American, 1830 - 1895
- Subject of
- United States Army, American, founded 1775
- Freedmen's Bureau, American, 1865 - 1872
- Howard, Oliver Otis, American, 1830 - 1909
- Date
- July 17, 1866
- Medium
- ink on wove paper
- Dimensions
- H x W: 7 5/8 × 4 7/8 in. (19.4 × 12.4 cm)
- Description
- A wove paper military order, Circular No.8, from the Bureau of Refugees, Freedman & Abandoned Lands, prohibiting landowners from expelling sharecroppers without payment.
- These orders are issued by Battalion Major General Davis Tillson and approved by his commanding officer Oliver Otis Howard, from Augusta, Georgia with the date July 17th 1865. The orders read: [1. Numerous well authenticated reports from officers and / Agents of the Bureau in different parts of the State have been re- / ceived at this office, setting forth that now the crops are nearly / ready to lay by, and the immediate demand for labor has, to some / extent ceased, planters in some instances, are driving off freed- / people employed by them and refusing to pay for their labor. / Sometimes this is done openly, but generally by purposely quarrel- / ing with the freed-people—threatening them with violence if they / remain, and then because of their leaving the plantation, claiming / that they have violated their contracts and forfeited their wages. / If this unjust and dishonest conduct is persisted in, the State will be / filled with unemployed freed-people, without means of subsistence, / who must live by theft or be supported by the Government. / Therefore persons employing freed-people are forbidden to discharge / them without payment, unless they shall first show sufficient cause, / and obtain the consent of an officer or Agent of this Bureau. / 2. Military commanders in this State will assist the officers and / Agents of the Bureau to enforce the provisions of this Circular.]. There are binding holes in the left and bottom margins of the page, and no markings on the reverse.
- Transcription Center Status
- Transcription Available
- Place depicted
- Augusta, Georgia, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Slavery and Freedom Objects
- Documents and Manuscripts
- Type
- orders (military records)
- Topic
- Agriculture
- Emancipation
- Government
- Labor
- Law
- Race relations
- Reconstruction, U.S. History, 1865-1877
- Rural life
- Slavery
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Object number
- 2020.26.38
- Restrictions & Rights
- Public domain
- Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




