Samuel Willard Saxton (1829-1933)

From the collections of PVMA • Digital image © Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Assoc. • Image use information

About this item

The United States government decided to follow a mostly hands-off policy toward the approximately three million formerly enslaved people in the years immediately following the Civil War. The Freedmen’s Bureau, created in 1865, was a limited exception to this policy.  Under Union General Oliver O. Howard, the bureau covered “all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen.” Although it provided much-needed food and educational opportunities to the formerly enslaved, the Freedman’s Bureau was a relatively weak, understaffed organization. It could do little to protect freedmen’s rights during Southern Reconstruction (1865-1877). Major Samuel Willard Saxton (1829-1933) of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was one the soldiers General Howard retained to serve in the Freedmen’s Bureau after the war. Saxton, named for Deerfield’s anti-slavery minister Samuel Willard (1776-1859), served in the Bureau until 1886.

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Details

Item typeCarte de Visite
PhotographerC. Seaver Jr.
Date1864
TopicMilitary, Wars, Battles
Slavery, Indenture
EraCivil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877
EventAmerican Civil War. 1861–1865
MaterialPaper
Process/FormatPhotography
Dimension detailsHeight: 4.00 in Width: 2.50 in
Catalog #1996.12.0337
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C. Seaver Jr., photographer. Samuel Willard Saxton (1829-1933). Photograph. 1864. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/1996-12-0337/. Accessed on December 6, 2024.

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