Title
Overreached on All Sides: The Freedmen's Bureau Administrators in Texas, 18651868,Used
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At the end of the Civil War, the U.S. government recognized some responsibility for the former slaves that its battles and proclamations had freed. It established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands to foster adjustment to the new economic conditions. Though the bureau initially attempted to transcend the racist beliefs of the nation, it wound upaccording to this challenging analysisembodying them in its very soul.William L. Richter finds that the Freedmen's Bureau failed in its idealistic program, radical for its time, because of the unimaginative bureaucratic administration of white officers, who hesitated to pursue the program with the same commitment that the federal govt had devoted to the prosecution of the war. In addition, the jealousy caused by the involvement of officers with regular and volunteer commissions and the competition for relatively few postwar positions created confusion and acrimony throughout the Freedmen's Bureau and the army as a whole.By 1868 violence drove most of the bureau's officials out of the rural areas where blacks needed legal protection, and except for notable areas of the original military occupation along the southeast Gulf Coast, the bureau did little. Blacks began to stop coming in to seek aid because the subassistant commissioners, ensnared in a web of bureaucratic regulations that headquarters saw as more important than deeds in the field, became more and more impotent.As a continuation of the work the author began in The Army in Texas during Reconstruction, 18651870, this book examines the military occupation of Texas and how the policies of the quasimilitary bureau affected the state after the Civil War. Whereas other studies of the bureau have looked primarily at its effectiveness in guaranteeing blacks' civil, economic, and personal rights during this critical era, Richter focuses on the white administrators who made up the bureau's field agencies and headquarters staff and who ultimately helped entrench the system of sharecropping and peonage they had been intended to prevent.
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- Q: What is the main focus of 'Overreached on All Sides'? A: The book primarily examines the role of the Freedmen's Bureau administrators in Texas from 1865 to 1868, analyzing how their actions influenced the post-Civil War adjustment of former slaves.
- Q: Who is the author of this book? A: The author is William L. Richter, who has previously researched the military occupation of Texas during Reconstruction.
- Q: What type of binding does this book have? A: This book is available in hardcover binding.
- Q: How many pages are in 'Overreached on All Sides'? A: The book contains 448 pages.
- Q: Is this book new or used? A: The item condition is listed as 'New'.
- Q: When was 'Overreached on All Sides' published? A: The book was published on December 1, 1991.
- Q: What edition of the book is available? A: This is the First Edition of 'Overreached on All Sides'.
- Q: What topics does the book cover regarding the Freedmen's Bureau? A: The book discusses the failure of the Freedmen's Bureau in its idealistic goals, the impact of bureaucratic challenges, and the role of white officers in perpetuating racial inequities.
- Q: Is there any specific focus on the military aspect in the book? A: Yes, the book also examines how the military occupation of Texas and the policies of the Freedmen's Bureau affected the state after the Civil War.
- Q: What can readers expect to learn from this book? A: Readers can expect to gain insights into the complexities of post-Civil War America, specifically regarding the bureaucratic challenges faced by the Freedmen's Bureau and its impact on former slaves' rights.