The same constitution that changed the circuit courts and abolished the county courts made many changes also with government of cities and towns. In Fredericksburg, divided into two wards as it had been for some years, the six Councilmen from each ward were elected at the same time to serve two years, the Mayor being the presiding officer of the body. In these changes each ward is to elect three Councilmen every two years, who are to serve a term of four years, and the presiding officer is to be elected from the body of the Council. The present president is William E. Bradley, Esq., the first one having been Col. E. D. Cole.
THE FREEDMAN’S BUREAU.
The Freedman’s Bureau was established in Fredericksburg in 1865. It was an unique judicial tribunal, and found its way in our midst by reason of the disjointed condition of the country at that time. It was brought into being by congressional enactment, to be operated alone in the Southern States that had formed the Southern Confederacy, which government had then ceased to exist. The geographical divisions in the South were no longer States, as heretofore stated, but military districts, designated by numbers, and it was the opinion of the Federal authorities, it seems, that in the chaotic condition of society and the impotency of our courts, or from some other cause, the colored people, who had just been emancipated from slavery, would not be justly dealt with by their former owners, hence the necessity of this civil-military tribunal.
These Freedman’s bureaus were composed of three judges—one an army officer and two citizens. In the organization of the bureau in Fredericksburg two of the judges were appointed by the commander of the military district and the third one was elected by the Common Council. Being thus formed it was supposed that all parties brought before the court would receive justice. It had original jurisdiction over misdemeanors, controversies involving labor and the observance of contracts, and appellate jurisdiction from the decisions of magistrates and police justices, where the rights of colored people and United States soldiers were involved.
The first court of this kind organized in Fredericksburg was composed of Major James Johnson, a United States army officer, Major Charles Williams, an ardent Union man, and James B. Sener, who was unanimously elected by the Common Council “a commissioner on the part of the citizens of the town in the Freedman’s bureau, about to be organized.”[50]
Many absurd and amusing stories were put in circulation about this court, and the colored people were variously impressed with its functions and purposes, as well as of its powers and jurisdiction. Persons who followed the Union army to town, and who professed great friendship for the colored people and secured their confidence, told them that one purpose of the Freedman’s Bureau was to adjust financial matters between ex-slaves and their former owners and to remunerate them for labor performed while they were in slavery. The money for this purpose was to be made from the property of those who owned the slaves and who received the benefit of their services.
The most of the colored people believed these, as they did the other absurd stories,[51] and it was agreed that a test case should be made in Fredericksburg, and if it was decided in favor of the ex-slave that all the other ex-slaves should bring similar suits for their ante-bellum services. The papers were prepared in such a case by one of the so-called lawyers, who made their appearance in our midst in those troublous times, one of our colored men being the plaintiff, but it was soon ascertained that such a suit would be “laughed out of court,” and therefore the matter was dropped and nothing more was heard from it. It is said that after this the bureau was not popular even with the colored people.
COURT ORDERS AND INCIDENTS.
There are many orders made and incidents that happened in the old courts that will be of interest to-day, if for no other reason than for their age and the fact that they are not practised in our present courts. Among the first things that claimed the attention of the hustings court, after its organization and appointment of the officers of the court, was to fix the rates of charges for the tavern-keepers. This it did on the 20th day of May, 1782, entering the following schedule:
“Good West India rum, one pound per gallon; bread, ten shillings; whiskey, six; strong beer, four; good West India rum toddy, ten shillings; brandy toddy, seven shillings and six pence; rum punch, fifteen shillings; brandy punch, twelve; rum grog, six; brandy grog, five. Diet: one meal, one shilling and six pence; lodging, one shilling and three pence; “stablidge” and hay, two shillings; oats and corn, nine pence per gallon.”