A UNION OFFICER IN THE RECONSTRUCTION

By the soldier, writer, novelist (Miss Ravenel's Conversion) whose personal record of the Civil War was published in 1946- A Volunteer's Adventures- this is again authentically experienced and observed material of the south ""under the impact of emancipation, defeat in war, military rule, and social and economic disorganization. De Forest, an official of the Freedmen's Bureau in Greenville, South Carolina, was a minor administrator during the reconstruction. This is firstly an account of his Bureau, its policies and procedures, duties and pleasures; the outrages with which they dealt, the rations they distributed, etc. Secondly, it is an analysis of Southern society; of the Negro; the lowdown people (poor whites); the ""semi-chivalrous Southrons"" or loyalists; and lastly the dying society of ""chivalrous Southrons"" or ""high-toned population"".... Of historical and documentary value chiefly.