Freedmen's Bureau RecordsThe Freedmen's Bureau (Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands) was established in March 1865 and was responsible for the welfare of newly freed citizens of the formerly Confederate states. It replaced and served as an office within the War Department. The Freedmen's Bureau documents, all from National Archives Record Group 105, provide detailed evidence from each southern state of the conditions of African Americans during the Reconstruction period.