Mr. Ingle, writing of school affairs in the District in 1867 and 1868, says:
“Great aid was given at this period by the Freedmen’s Bureau, which, not limiting its assistance to schools for primary instruction, did much toward establishing Howard University, in which no distinction was made on account of race, color, or sex, though it had originally been intended for the education of negro men alone.”
The monograph of Edward Ingle on “The Negro in the District of Columbia”—one of the valuable Johns Hopkins University Studies—gives such a full and easily accessible account of the education of the negroes in the District, that it is needless to enlarge the pages of this paper by a repetition of what he has so satisfactorily done.
The Bureau found many schools in localities which had been within the lines of the Union armies, and these, with the others established by its agency, were placed under more systematic supervision. In some States, schools were carried on entirely by aid of the funds of the Bureau, but it had the coöperation and assistance of various religious and benevolent societies. On July 1, 1866, Mr. Alvord, Inspector of Schools and Finances, reported 975 schools in fifteen States and the District, 1,405 teachers, and 90,778 scholars. He mentioned as worthy of note a change of sentiment among better classes in regard to freedmen’s schools, and that the schools were steadily gaining in numbers, attainments, and general influence. On January 17, 1867, General Howard reports to the Secretary of War $115,261.56 as used for schools, and the Quartermaster’s Department as still rendering valuable help. Education “was carried on vigorously during the year,” a better feeling prevailing, and 150,000 freedmen and children “occupied earnestly in the study of books.” The taxes, which had been levied for schools in Louisiana, under the administration of T. W. Conway, had been discontinued, but $500,000 were asked for schools and asylums. In 1867, the Government appointed Generals Steedman and Fullerton as Inspectors, and from General Howard’s vehement reply to their report—which the War Department declines to permit an inspection of—it appears that their criticisms were decidedly unfavorable. Civilians in the Bureau were now displaced by army officers. In July, 1869, Mr. Alvord mentions decided progress in educational returns, increasing thirst for knowledge, greater public favor, and the establishment of 39 training schools for teachers, with 3,377 pupils. Four months later, General Howard says “hostility to schools and teachers has in great measure ceased.” He reported the cost of the Bureau at $13,029,816, and earnestly recommended “the national legislature” to establish a general system of free schools, “furnishing to all children of a suitable age such instruction in the rudiments of learning as would fit them to discharge intelligently the duties of free American citizens.” Solicitor Whiting had previously recommended that the head of the Freedmen’s Bureau should be a cabinet officer, but this was not granted, and the Bureau was finally discontinued—its affairs being transferred to the War Department by Act of Congress, June 10, 1872. It is apparent from the reports of Sprague, Assistant Commissioner in Florida, and of Alvord in 1867 and 1870, that the agents of the Bureau sometimes used their official position and influence for organizing the freedmen for party politics and to control elections. A full history of the Freedmen’s Bureau would furnish an interesting chapter in negro education, but a report from Inspector Shriver on October 3, 1873, says the Department has “no means of verifying the amount of retained bounty fund;” and on December 4, 1873, the Department complains of “the incomplete and disordered condition of the records of the late Bureau.” (See Ex. Doc. No. 10, 43d Con., 1st Ses., and Ho. Mis. Doc. No. 87, 42d Con., 3d Ses.)
That no injustice may be done to any one, the answer of the “Record and Pension Office, War Department,” May 21, 1894, to my application for statistics drawn from the records, is embodied in this paper. So far as the writer has been able to investigate, no equally full and official account has heretofore been given.
“The following consolidated statement, prepared from records of Superintendents of Education of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, shows the number of schools, teachers, and pupils in each State, under control of said Bureau, and the amount expended for Schools, Asylums, construction and rental of school buildings, transportation of teachers, purchase of books, etc.:—
| 1865–1866. | |
|---|---|
| Number of Schools | 1,264 |
| Number of Teachers | 1,793 |
| Number of Pupils | 111,193 |
| Amount Expended by Bureau | $ 225,722 94 |
| Received from Freedmen | 18,500 00 |
| Received from Benevolent Associations | 83,200 00 |
| 1867. | |
| Number of Schools | 1,673 |
| Number of Teachers | 2,032 |
| Number of Pupils | 109,245 |
| Amount Expended | $ 415,330 00 |
| From Freedmen | 17,200 00 |
| From Benevolent Associations | 65,087 00 |
| 1868. | |
| Number of Schools | 1,739 |
| Number of Teachers | 2,104 |
| Number of Pupils | 102,562 |
| Amount Expended | $ 909,210 20 |
| From Freedmen | 42,130 00 |
| From Benevolent Associations | 154,736 50 |
| 1869. | |
| Number of Schools | 1,942 |
| Number of Teachers | 2,472 |
| Number of Pupils | 108,485 |
| Amount Expended | $ 591,267 56 |
| From Freedmen | 85,726 00 |
| From Benevolent Associations | 27,200 00 |
| 1870. | |
| Number of Schools | 1,900 |
| Number of Teachers | 2,376 |
| Number of Pupils | 108,135 |
| Amount Expended | $ 480,737 82 |
| From Freedmen | 17,187 00 |
| From Benevolent Associations | 4,240 00 |
“This statement or statistical table is made up from the reports of the Superintendents of Education of the several States under the control of the Bureau from 1865 to 1870, when government aid to the freedmen’s schools was withdrawn. It embraces the number of schools established or maintained, the number of teachers employed, the number of pupils, and the amount expended for school purposes in each State and the District of Columbia. The expenditures also include the amounts contributed by the Bureau for the construction and maintenance of asylums for the freedmen, which cannot be separated from the totals given.
“The table is based upon the reports of the School Superintendents, and has been prepared with great care. The results thus obtained, however, differ in some material respects from the figures given by the Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau in his annual reports. These discrepancies, which this Department is unable to reconcile or explain, will be seen by a comparison of the table with the following statement made from the reports of the Commissioner: