should be established for freed people out of employment,
and that superintendents should be detailed to distribute
rations among them. It was ordered, furthermore, that they
should be employed as far as possible on the public works,
in gathering the crops on the abandoned plantations, or hired
to the planters. It was made the duty of provost marshals
to see that every negro within the jurisdiction of the military
authorities was employed by some white person or sent to
the camps for freedmen. Planters were permitted to make
contracts with them for wages by the month, or, in the case
of families, by the year, the employer in each case obligating
himself to furnish food and clothing to the laborer and
support the infirm members of the family. The rate of
wages was fixed at an amount equal to one-twentieth of the
value of the crops, and employers were required to give bond
for kind treatment and proper care of their employees. ¹

The abandoned plantations were seized by the government
and leased to private persons, who employed the freedmen to
gather the crops. The harvest for 1863 was small on account
of the early abandonment of the growing crops, and it proved
impossible to gather all on account of Confederate raids
which scattered the negroes, and so terrified them that they
could not in many instances be induced to remain. ² In some
places where the plantations were abandoned, the negroes
left behind asserted a sort of squatter claim, and gathered the
crops on their own account. One such family was reputed
to have thus gathered twenty-four bales of cotton, and sold
it for $250 per bale. The scheme seemed to meet the ap-
proval of the President, and he announced that the occupation
of the abandoned plantations and the employment of the
freedmen thereon might be considered as the settled policy
of the government. ³ Accordingly, preparations on a large
scale were made for leasing the plantations for the following
year to such "loyal" persons as would obligate themselves to
employ the contrabands. The whole matter was under the
supervision of General Lorenzo Thomas, who was assisted by
three subordinates styled "commissioners for leasing planta-
tions." ⁴ In the latter part of October, General Thomas issued
an elaborate code of regulations for the government of lessees.
It was stated that the property of disloyal persons belonged of
right to the United States, and might be taken possession of

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