GENERAL ORDERS, 
NO. 91. 
WAR DEPARTMENT, 
Adjutant General's Office, 
Washington, May 12,1865. 
Order organizing Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. 
1.. By direction of the President, Major General O. O. Howard 
is assigned to duty in the War Department as Commissioner of the, 
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, under the 
act of Congress entitled "An act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of 
Freedmen and Refugees," to perform the duties and exercise all the 
rights, authority, and jurisdiction vested by the act of Congress in such 
Commissioner. General Howard will enter at once upon the duties 
of Commissioner specified in said act. 
11.. The Quartermaster General will, without delay, assign and 
furnish suitable quarters and aj artments for the said bureau. 
111.. The Adjutant General will assign to the said bureau the number 
of competent clerks authorized by the act of Congress. 
ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 
E. D. TOWNSEND, 
Assistant Adjutant General. 
Official: 
Assistant Adjutant General. 
Act referred to ih General Orders, No. 91, (J. G. O.,) 1865. 
AN ACT to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby estab- 
lished in the War Department, to continue during the present war of 
rebellion, and for one year thereafter, a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, 
and Abandoned Lands, to which shall be committed, as hereinafter pro- 
vided, the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and 2 
the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from rebel 
States, or from any district of country within the territory embraced in 
die operations of the army, under such rules and regulations as may be 
prescribed by the head of the bureau and approved by the President. 
The said bureau shall be under the management and control of a Com- 
missioner to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, whose compensation shall be three thousand 
dollars per annum, and such number of clerks as may be assigned to 
him by the Secretary of War, not exceeding one chief clerk, two of the 
fourth class, two of the third class, and five of the first class. And the 
Commissioner, and all persons appointed under this act, shall, before 
entering upon their duties, take the oath of office prescribed in an act 
entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes," 
approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two; and the Com- 
missioner and chief clerk shall, before entering upon their duties, give 
bonds to the Treasurer of the United States, the former in the sum of 
fifty thousand dollars, and the latter in the sum of ten thousand dollars, 
conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties respectively, with 
securities to be approved as sufficient by the Attorney General, which 
bonds shall be filed in the office of the First Comptroller of the Treasury, 
to be by him put in suit for the benefit of any injured party upon any 
breach of the conditions thereof. 
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War may 
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, 
under such rules and regulations as he may direct. 
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President may, by and 
with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint an assistant com- 
missioner for each of the States declared to be in insurrection, not 
exceeding ten in number, who shall, under the direction of the Com- 
missioner, aid in the execution of the provisions of this act; and he 
shall give a bond to the Treasurer of the United States, in the sum of 
twenty thousand dollars, in the form and manner prescribed in the 
first section of this act. Each of said commissioners shall receive an 
annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars in full compensa- 
tion for all his services. And any military officer may be detailed and 
assigned to duty under this act without increase of pay or allowances, 
lhe Commissioner shall, before the commencement of each regular 3 
session of Congress, make full report of his proceedings, with exhibits 
of the state of his accounts, to the President, who shall communicate 
the same to Congress, and shall also make special reports whenever 
required to do so by the President or either house of Congress; and the 
assistant commissioners shall make quarterly reports of their proceed- 
ings to the commissioner, and also such other special reports as from 
time to time may be required. 
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner, under the 
direction of the President, shall have authority to set apart, for the use 
of loyal refugees and freedmen, such tracts of land within the insurrec- 
tionary States as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United 
States shall have acquired title by confiscation or sale, or otherwise; 
and to every male citizen, whether refugee or freedmau as aforesaid, 
there shall be assigned not more than forty acres of such land, and the 
person to whom it was so assigned shall be protected in the use and 
enjoyment of the land for the term of three years at an annual rent not 
exceeding six per centum upou the value of such land as it was ap- 
praised by the State authorities in the year eighteen hundred and sixty 
for the purpose of taxation ; and in case no such appraisal can be found, 
then the rental shall be based upou the estimated value of the land in 
said year, to be ascertained in such manner as the Commissioner may 
by regulation prescribe. At the end of said term, or at any time 
during said term, the occupants of any parcels so assigned may pur- 
chase the land and receive such title thereto as the United States can 
convey, upon paying therefor the value of the land as ascertained and 
fixed for the purpose of determining the annual rent aforesaid. 
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of acts in- 
cousisteut with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. 
Approved March 3, 1S65.