[2034] The agent of President Johnson.
[2035] Report to President, April 9, 1866.
[2036] Colonel Saunders, a noted slaveholder in one of the white counties in north Alabama, established a patriarchal protectorate over his former slaves. He built a church for them, and organized a monthly court, presided over by himself, in which the old negro men tried delinquents. It is said that the findings of this court were often ludicrous in the extreme, but order was preserved, and for a long while there was no resort to the Bureau. Saunders, “Early Settlers,” p. 31. Many similar protectorates were established in the remote districts, but the policy of the Bureau was to break them up.
[2037] A term of contempt.
[2038] See Sewanee Review, Jan., 1905, article on “Servant Problem in a Black Belt Village.”
[2039] N. Y. Herald, July 17, 1865; Reid, “After the War,” pp. 211, 218, 219; Tillet, in Century Magazine, Vol. XI; Reports of General Swayne, 1865, 1866; Van de Graaf, in Forum, Vol. XXI, pp. 330, 339; DeBow’s Review, Feb., 1866, p. 220; oral accounts.
[2040] For a description of the Bureau labor regulations, see [Chapter XI, Sec. 1]. Also Montgomery Mail, May 12, 1865; Howard’s Circular, May 30, 1865; Circular No. 11, War Department, July 12, 1865; Huntsville Advocate, July 26, 1865; Swayne’s Reports, 1865, 1866; G. O. No. 12, Dept. Ala., Aug. 30, 1865; G. O. No. 13, Dept. Ala., Sept., 1865; Selma Times, Dec. 4, 1865. The so-called “Black Laws” passed by the legislature in 1865-1866 to regulate labor were scarcely heard of by the people who hired negroes.
[2041] Somers, “Southern States,” 130.
[2042] Southern Magazine, Jan., 1874; Selma Messenger, Nov. 15, 1865; Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Jan., 1874; Selma Times, Dec. 4, 1865; oral accounts; DeBow’s Review, Feb., 1866.
[2043] Swayne to A. F. Perry, N. Y. Herald, Aug. 28, 1865; N. Y. Herald, July 17, 1865; Reid, “After the War,” pp. 211-219; DeBow’s Review, 1866, pp. 213, 220; Somers, “Southern States,” p. 131.