Report of Conditions-- LaGrange, TN

The other night I sat down to start the research for this question not knowing it would lead to hours searching and reading through the information the Freedmens Bureau has on their site. So, of course, I chose to search information and documents from my home state, Tennessee. What I found were documents such as labor contracts, reports of outrages and reports of conditions. I found a report that was from LaGrange, Tennessee. LaGrange is situated on the outskirts of Memphis in western Tennessee, which we all know was Confederate territory. 

The document I chose was a report of conditions from a Superintendent by the name of S.H. Melcer. Melcer was replying to his Lieutenant J. T. Alden, whose location is unknown. Clearly Melcer is associated with the United States Army who was sent to Tennessee as a part of protection for freedmen. Melcer is very quick to address that the white men and women of LaGrange do not respect the emancipation of the freed people. Supt. Melcer wrote dates and information about specific incidents 2 of the 4 dealing with freed women being attacked by white men. 

Just as we discussed in class, the main reasons for these violent outrages are based on freedmen not finishing their servitude and refusal to be controlled any longer. This has not sat well with the white supremacists, leading them to steal weapons from the freedmen. The white civilians were not fond of being controlled and watched over by the Union Military. Supt. Melcer also mentions the treatment of black children in his report. Because of the Black Codes many of them were forced to work while younger children were still with their parents. 

Later in Melcer's report he states that the violent outrages have become less due to the freedmen having "protection" of the military. Melcer is very adamant about the importance of the Bureau and the troops being stationed in this area of Tennesse. He believed that without these forces protecting the freed people there would be an immense amount of violence that would be very hard to stop. 

Hailing from the state of Tennessee, I learned about how the South was "rebuilt" and the "right" policies and politicians were elected in the end of war. Clearly that was not the case. I believe that reports such as these are very important, especially to break the "Redemption" view of southern Reconstruction and emancipation that we all grew up hearing about.