bean2012

@InCollection{ bean2012,
	crossref = {howell2012},
	author = {Christopher Bean},
	title = {The Post of Greatest Peril?: The {F}reedmen's {B}ureau {S}ubassistant {C}ommissioners and {R}econstruction Violence in {T}exas, 1865-1869},
	pages = {36--62},
	year = 2012,
}

Bean’s major point is to show that violence against SACs in Texas varied significantly by county, with commissioners in many counties along the border or coast frequently reporting to superiors that they did not need troops. Bean also casts some doubt on whether all claims of violence are trustworthy. But the most significant factor affecting violence, according to Bean, was the percentage of freedpeople living in the county, p. 44:

These counties where SACs reported no need for troops generally had either higher percentages of freedmen [enough to outnumber white population] or much lower percentages of freedmen compared to non-coastal counties and the state as a whole. … Nearly two-thirds of the counties in which agents reported no need for troops had freedmen populations either below 30 percent or above 50 percent. Thus, it appears the freedmen population in a county affected the level of violence.

There is some tension between Bean’s argument and Howell’s introduction to the volume, in that Bean says “violence against SACs in Texas was not the norm as generally argued” (50), judging from the statements of many officers themselves that they did not need troops.