in Texas also exaggerated or embellished the violence in their subdistricts. Wil-
liam L. Richter, in his article on the Bureau in Paris, Texas, also found one
agent’s “accounts of a bloodbath seem exaggerated.”
Th
e state’s reputation aff ected those appointed to Texas. A mental picture of
murder and mayhem already existed. Before even assuming their positions,
they “expected” the worst. For some, it was worse than they could imagine.
For others, it was as bad as they thought. But for a few, it was not. At Lockhart,
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The J. B. Kiddoo Era, May 1866–Summer 1866
61
Th
omas H. Baker arrived at his post in May 1868 and immediately requested
troops, claiming white people’s feeling “is any thing else but good either by
words or actions,” with the “freed people [receiving] no protection outside” his
offi
ce. Within two months at his post, however, Baker notifi ed superiors that
“for the present the free people can manage to get along without them [troops].”
For the rest of the year, he reported the same, even remarking in October, “I get
along with my business to use a common saying as lasy [sic] as an old Shoe.”
Louis W. Stevenson at Columbus reported that local law enforcement was to
carry out the execution of a freedman and requested a detachment of soldiers,
worrying that “certain bad white men may take advantage of the event to cause
a disturbance which is evidently desired.” Th
e next month, aft er the execution
“passed off quietly,” Stevenson admitted “I see no real necessity for troops.” For
the fi rst half of 1868, James P. Butler at Huntsville expected trouble. “Th
ere are
no troops stationed at this post,” he wrote to superiors in March 1868, and “the
necessity for their presence is very obvious to you and it would be almost super-
fl uous for me to report that I have so oft en embraced in my former reports in
regard to their necessity. One thing very evident they give tone and force to the
existence of a Bureau.” By late spring of 1868, however, he reiterated his lack of
troops, but “they are not much needed” and he was “under no diffi
culties in the
performance of my duties, everything is progressing peaceably and amicably.”
Pennsylvanian James C. Devine expected trouble in Huntsville and frantically
telegrammed for a “strong” guard, underscoring he believed the guard “actually
necessary.” He made those requests on October 22. Two days later, Devine, per-
haps realizing he had misjudged the situation, relayed to superiors the situation
in his district was “all quiet [I] am able to get along without troops. ”
Later claims of hiding their misdeeds or collusion appear unsubstantiated.
To suggest violence did not exist would be equally false. Reconstruction was an
emotionally charged time and not all claims of violence were trustworthy. For
instance, the “scalawag” Bureau agent Philip Howard at Meridian believed his
life threatened throughout the spring and summer of 1866. Howard thanked
“the Supreme ruler for my preservation in my laborious and arderous [sic]
duties I have done with no force to protect me, things but few men would [have]
attempted and has won general esteem for my fi rm and mild course with these
people.” Months later, he again commented on his impending assassination: “I
have run great risk of my life in holding this offi
ce. I am old and they cannot
cheat me out of many years if the[y] kill me, I have done what I considered was
my duty under the surrounding circumstances.” Howard heard about a fray in
Waco between white citizens and soldiers and believed the incident would
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62 Conservative
Phoenix
result in an assault against him. He confi ded he simply awaited his turn (“I do
not know when they may attack me”). Before his anticipated demise, however,
Howard, “tired of the risk,” asked to be relieved of duty in late 1866. He was
personally thanked for his service, no small gesture considering Kiddoo’s opin-
ion of civilian agents. Having “escaped” death, Howard was doubtless thankful
to be free of the job. So thankful, in fact, he returned to Bureau service in 1867,
accepting once again the position at Meridian and remaining there until early
the next year. Aft er his tenure, Howard even thought so much of those same
people who wanted him “dead” he married a local girl and lived in the same
county until at least 1880 when he disappeared from the census.
Every agent could appreciate Howard’s fears. His pleas refl ected an underly-
ing anxiety held by nearly every subassistant commissioner at one time or
another in Texas: the feeling of being alone, in a foreign land among diff erent
and, at times, hostile people. Whether a particular agent’s tenure was tranquil
or violent, he desired protection and assistance. Even in less chaotic districts,
the workload was immense. Believing his predecessor too lenient, Kiddoo insti-
tuted policies aimed at greater oversight. As a result, tours, settlements, and
endless paperwork could last from “sun up to sun down” and on many occa-
sions from “sun up to sun up.” And, of course, some had more work than others.
Depending on the number of freedpeople, the hostility of the white community,
and the size of the subdistrict, the workload proved too much for some. Th
ey
realized that far more agents were needed, and many hoped that legislation cur-
rently before Congress in the summer of 1866 would remedy their protection
and manpower problems.
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Bureau Expansion,
4
Bureau Courts,
and the Black Code
Th
e J. B. Kiddoo Era,
Summer 1866–November 1866
By the summer of 1866, the Freedmen’s Bureau extended throughout
Texas. Congress renewed the Bureau for another two years. Its renewal
seemed necessary when the state’s legislature passed measures to control
the emancipated. Th
ese laws greatly increased the pressure to prevent white
Texans from completely subordinating the freedpeople. In July 1866, aft er mul-
tiple presidential vetoes, Congress renewed the agency until July 1868. Th
e second
bill appropriated funds for agents’ salaries, ranging from fi ve to twelve hundred
dollars a year. In time, salaries increased to a low of seventy- fi ve and a high of
one hundred and fi ft y dollars a month. With the carrot came the stick. Offi
cials
could now use the threat of nonpayment to punish malfeasance or neglect. Vet-
eran Reserve Corps offi
cers already in Bureau service could also remain aft er
their muster out. Finally, t
he act specifi cally sanctioned Bureau courts.
Th
e new law could not have come at a better moment. Mid- summer 1866
marked the height of white resistance up to that time. In some areas, agents
described conditions for the freedpeople “worse than slavery.” In Hallettsville,
for instance, a place believed ruled by “the revolver and bowie knife,” William
H. Heistand reported that whites “are very hostile toward the ‘Bureau’ and . . .
any supporter of the Government.” He detailed an incident within his offi
ce:
Yesterday a number of men all wearing revolvers entered my offi
ce [and] the
one who appeared to be the leader . . . cursed and abused me and the ‘Bureau’
in a most shameful manner telling me to leave the country that it was not
safe for me and that my life was forfeited. In the evening an attempt was
made to assassinate me . . . I was however compelled to hide in my room and
to remain there till morning.
To protect subordinates, Kiddoo could draw from several sources. One was
civilians. Kiddoo shied from them much more than any AC in Texas. Of the 44
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64
Bureau Expansion, Bureau Courts, and the Black Code
Table 4- 1 Length of Service for Agents Appointed by Kiddoo
Type of Bureau Agent
Number
Average Length of Service (Months)
Civilian
Military
.
Note: Dates came from Freedmen’s Bureau Roster of Offi
cers and Civilians.
men appointed from May 1866 to January 1867, only 5 (11.4 percent) were civil-
ians. Compared to the 31.4 and 28.6 percent civilian- appointee rate by Gregory
and Charles Griffi
n (Kiddoo’s immediate successor) and the more than
29- percent rate for J. J. Reynolds (Griffi
n’s successor), Kiddoo clearly preferred
military men. On average, Kiddoo’s appointees served for 10.6 months, nearly
two and a half months higher than the overall average (7.8). Unlike his prede-
cessor, Kiddoo’s civilian appointees served 34 percent less than their military
counterparts.
Despite a higher percentage of military appointments, tenures ending due to
military operations of Kiddoo’s appointees, compared to Gregory’s, were sig-
nifi cantly lower: 45.7 to 13.6 percent. (Table 4- 2 lists the reasons agents appointed
by Kiddoo left the Bureau.) Where those terminated for malfeasance or whose
reason was not available was comparable (20.5 to 20 percent and 11.4 to 13.6) to
his predecessor’s, Kiddoo’s left at a higher rate due to Bureau operations: 5.7 to
18.2 percent. He appointed the fi rst to die in service.
Table 4- 2 Reasons Agents Appointed by Kiddoo Left Bureau Service
Reason Number
Percentage
Bureau Operations: Bureau ended, consolidation,
.
and transferal or reassignment within the agency
Military Operations: Mustered out or ordered to
.
new
assignment
Dropped on Request: Agent resigned appointment
.
Terminated: Dismissed for criminality, cruelty,
.
Confederate service, or appointment revoked
N/A: Reason for leaving undetermined
.
Died: Disease or accidents
.
Died: Murdered
Total: All Kiddoo’s Agents
n=
Note: Th
e information in this table came from various sources, but much of it came from the
U.S. Census and the Freedmen’s Bureau Special Orders and Correspondences.
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The J. B. Kiddoo Era, Summer 1866–Nov. 1866
65
Th
e regular army and volunteer corps remained the main source for man-
power, but there existed another: the Veteran Reserve Corps (VRC) or Invalid
Corps. Formed in 1863, the VRC comprised men “who were in some way disabled
but were still fi t for rear echelon duty.” In all, eleven VRC offi
cers served, a num-
ber considerably lower than the twenty- three who served in Georgia and the
nearly one in three appointed as agents throughout the South. Despite wounds,
they acquitted themselves as well as might be expected and, at times, better, with
few complaints their wounds limited their performances. Offi
cials considered
Charles F. Rand to be one of the best agents to have served in Texas. Superiors
liked Edward Miller enough they recommended reappointment aft er his muster
out. At Marshall, Isaac M. Beebe, one of the few VRC offi
Kiddoo, adequately did his job, considering the circumstances of northeast
Texas. Kiddoo wrote to Commissioner Howard about Beebe’s bravery, moral
character, and, most important, competence. “I consider” him, wrote Kiddoo,
“one [of] the best offi
cers of his rank in the service.” Beebe left few critics before
his abrupt death in early 1866. Samuel A. Craig, dealing with the consequences
of William Longworth’s course, hardly let his disability hinder his perfor-
mance. N. H. Randlett served the agency for thirty months. He was thought
enough of that in late 1867, as he neared muster out, superiors recommended
reappointment. Of all those who served in Texas, only four had such an honor.
Th
ese men soon discovered their injuries would not shield them from criti-
cism. For example, freedpeople directed repeated complaints against VRC offi
-
cer James F. Hutchison. Accusations surfaced he had not “yet tried to make [his]
position otherwise remunerative than [his] authorized pay.” Offi
cials wrote
Hutchison “these people stated their case and the evidence of their sincerity”
convinced Kiddoo “almost against his own will that you have been neglecting
the interests of the freedpeople . . . in other words that the planters have got
control over you.” Already frustrated by accusations of intemperance, which he
vigorously denied, Hutchison accused the former slaves of being “infl uenced
and controled [sic]” by their former masters. Hutchison frustratingly reminded
superiors he performed his duties at great expense to his fi nances and health,
and besides, freedpeople were not above lying or mischaracterization. A per-
plexed and greatly annoyed Hutchison admitted,
If watching their interests and guarding them when at stake, listening to all
their complaints and diff erences between themselves and complaints against
their employers; investigating every case brought under my observation and
awarding justice when in my judgment justice was due; doing for them at all
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66
Bureau Expansion, Bureau Courts, and the Black Code
hours of the day and late in the night, sick or well; [and] counseling with and
advising them. If eff orts of this kind can be called neglecting their interest
then I must frankly admit that they have been grossly neglected . . . In what
way does it appear that I am controled [sic] by the planters[?] Is gold . . .
off ered in order to bias my judgment; yes, thrust into my face it has been, &
into my pockets and hands more than once, but never in any instance have
I accepted it or taken it from their presence. Th
ere is one positive fact to be
observed, however, and that is, money has never been off ered to me aft er
a settlement was made or a case adjudicated, but always previous to [the]
action.
Speaking for all fellow agents frustrated with superiors, Hutchison reminded
offi
cials the “bait” was enticing, considering he had a family to care for and had
“to pay out of my salary thirty fi ve dollars per month . . . for board in this miser-
able town.” But he reiterated he had “nothing to regret or to condemn myself
for.” He admitted his attitude “may be deemed unmilitary and, perhaps, undig-
nifi ed, but [it is] the best and most candid defense I am able to mount.” By
summer, Hutchison asked to be relieved, but he changed his mind and remained
in service until his muster out in June 1867.
VRC offi
cers’ performances, like their more able- bodied counterparts, ranged
from competent to incompetent. J. Ernest Goodman lost his leg at the Battle of
Ringgold Gap in late 1863. With endorsements from high- ranking Bureau offi
-
cers, Goodman received an appointment. Freedpeople claimed he countenanced
pro- Confederate displays and asked the Bureau teacher to refrain from singing
Union songs because of their infl ammatory content. With controversy swirling,
Goodman asked for and received his release. Bureau offi
cials in Galveston later
received information he had illegally sold military supplies (food stuff s) and
pocketed the money. Confronted at his home in Pennsylvania, Goodman claimed
Kiddoo ordered him to trash the “musty and full of weevils” food. Goodman sold
the better stuff and claimed his “intention was to turn it over to the Commissary.”