PRINTED AT THE NEW ORLEANS TIMES BOOK AND JOB OFFICE.

REPORT.

HEADQUARTERS, BUREAU OF REFUGEES, FREEDMEN
AND ABANDONED LANDS, STATE OF LOUISIANA.

New Orleans, La., July 1st, 1865.

MAJOR GENERAL E. R. S. CANBY,

Commanding Department of the Gulf:

GENERAL-I beg leave to respectfully present a final report of the affairs of the Bureau of Free Labor, Department of the Gulf, prior to its transfer to the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, over which Major General Q. O. Howard presides.

THE WORK.

The Bureau commenced the year with a stupendous work before it, and without funds. Thousands of destitute freedmen came through our lines, at all points, and were forwarded by military commanders to me to be cared for and furnished with employment. I had to procure everything by purchase, medicines could not be procured of the purveyor, rations could, at one time, only be had by payment of cash for them, clothing had to be purchased, excepting some lots of deceased soldiers' clothing, turned over to me by the Quartermaster. I had to secure and stock, for the use of vagrant and helpless freedmen, four

HOME COLONIES.

At least thirty thousand dollars was required for that purpose. During the year there have been under the control of the Bureau four Home Colonies. These are as follows, viz:

The McHatton Home Colony, at Baton Rouge.

The Rost and McCutcheon Home Colony, Parish of St. Charles.

The Gen. Bragg Home Colony, Parish of Lafourche.

The Sparks Home Colony, Parish of Jefferson.

The following tabular statement is annexed, as showing several items

which may prove of interest:

Much surprise may be manifested at the apparently large number of sick reported; but it must be borne in mind that the main object in view, in the establishment of these colonies, was to provide a place of refuge and a home for the aged and helpless freedmen, thrown upon the Bureau for support. The crops are in good condition, and the farms are managed as successfully as if in the hands of private parties. The Sparks Home Colony was worked by its proprietor for some months, but being unable to work it further, he turned it into my hands. This place being close to New Orleans, and well adapted to the wants of the Bureau, furnishing a ready place of refuge to the vagrants of the city, who were constantly being thrown upon my hands by the military and civil authorities, and the large numbers of helpless freedmen who were also flocking to me for help, made its acquisition very desirable. I previously held the Belleville Iron Foundry, at Algiers, as a place of asylum for these characters, but as I had no means of furnishing them with employment, the plantation of Mr. Sparks was most acceptable. I desired to impress upon the minds of all who came into my charge that work could in no case be avoided, and that if they fell upon the Government to be maintained, they must work as hard as if they were employed by contract on the plantation of any private citizen. The fact that while in my charge they must work as hard as if employed by others, and get no pay, has been instrumental in decreasing the number of vagrants who would otherwise have crowded upon me.

In these establishments labor is forced, and none can avoid it, unless they are physically unable to perform it. All contribute something to the support of themselves and their families. These colonies are well organized. Each has a superintendent, a physician, a cultivator of the land and a clerk. There is now, in good condition, at each of them, a school for instruction in the common English branches, a Sunday school for moral and religious training, and, where the parties have so desired, there are regularly organized churches. My plan has been to render them self-supporting. The crops now growing will reimburse the Government for all outlays. It has been determined not to allow the work of caring for the freedmen of the Department to be of any expense whatever to the United States, and, from the present appearance of the crops, I am quite certain I will be able to show that my hopes in this respect will be fully realized.

Considered in every way, I regard the Home Colonies as a most successful feature in the government and care of freedmen. Indeed without them the crime of vagrancy would prevail to a great extent, and go unpunished and unchecked.

VAGRANCY.

At no time have I had more than four hundred persons who could be properly classed as vagrants. This number is less, by many thousands, than was generally supposed to have been supported by this Bureau. I find that the colored people are not apt to be vagrants. They have fewer vagrants