he led the work of the freedman's bureau
President Abraham Lincoln
title: Freedmen's Bureau text: Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of the United States Department of War to "direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel, as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen and their wives and children." The Freedmen's Bureau Bill, which established the Freedmen's Bureau on March 3, 1865, was initiated by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and was intended to last for one year after the end of the Civil War. The Freedmen's Bureau title: Freedmen's Bureau text: Freedmen's Bureau records. Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of the United States Department of War to "direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel, as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen and their wives and children." The Freedmen's Bureau Bill, which established the Freedmen's Bureau on March 3, 1865, was initiated by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and was intended to last for one year after the end of the Civil War. title: Freedmen's Bureau text: was an important agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. The Bureau was made a part of the United States Department of War, as it was the only agency with an existing organization that could be assigned to the South. Headed by Union Army General Oliver O. Howard, the Bureau started operations in 1865. Throughout the first year, its representatives learned that these tasks would be very difficult, as Southern legislatures passed laws for Black Codes that restricted movement, conditions of labor, and other civil rights of African Americans, nearly duplicating conditions of slavery. The Freedmen's Bureau controlled title: Freedmen's Bureau text: W. Belknap was hostile to Howard's leadership and authority at the Bureau. Belknap aroused controversy among Republicans by his reassignment of Howard. The Bureau helped solve everyday problems of the newly freed slaves, such as obtaining clothing, food, water, health care, communication with family members, and jobs. Between 1865 and 1869, it distributed 15 million rations of food to freed African Americans (as well as 5 million rations to impoverished whites), and set up a system by which planters could borrow rations in order to feed freedmen they employed. Although the Bureau set aside $350,000 for this latter service, only title: Freedmen's town text: the Freedmen's Bank, President Abraham Lincoln created the Freedmen's Bureau. In 1865 Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was looking for an Army officer to run the Freedmen's Bureau. General Ulysses S. Grant proposed General John Eaton, a Chaplin with an established reputation as a humanitarian, and who had authority over Black refugees after the Civil War. However, the position of Bureau commissioner went to another Christian General and Civil War veteran, General Oliver Otis Howard, whose close associations to Freedmen's aid societies had earned him the title of "Christian General". The Bureau was largely staffed ny ex-union officers who distributed