[Elon, Va., May 31, 1865]
At a meeting of a number of the Citizens of the Neighbourhood held at Eton [Elon] on the 31st day of May 1865 to take into consideration the best measures to be adopted for the mutual benefit of themselves and the freedmen in their midst, The following resolutions were adopted.
1st Resolved that we unanimously agree and bind ourselves under no circumstances to employ or cause in any way directly or indirectly employment to be given any Negro freed by Federal authority, without a written pass or recommendation from his former master or employer.
2. Resolved, that we will not rent or cause to be rented to any such Negro any land or House, unless such Negro has a written recommendation from his former master or employer for that purpose
3, Resolved, that no freedman be permitted to visit or pass through any plantation except upon a written pass from his employer, and that we will in no case give such permission at night except upon business.
4, Resolved that the Maximum rate of hire for no one freedman without encumbrance, shall be five dollars per month in currency and food during the time hired.
5, Resolved. that any person or persons in this community violating these obligations by harboring, employing or delivering any negro from the protection or assistance of his former Master against his wish or consent, shall for such conduct receive the contempt of all good Citizens.
6, Resolved, that these resolutions be signed by those present, at this meeting and that they be presented to the farmers of the Neighbourhood not present for their approval and signature.
Resolutions adopted by “a meeting of a number of the Citizens of the Neighbourhood held at Eton,” 31 May 1865, filed with V-4 1865, Letters Received, series 15, Washington Headquarters, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, & Abandoned Lands, Record Group 105, National Archives. In early July, General J. Irvin Gregg, commander of the military district that included Amherst County, prepared a tabular report of information he had gathered regarding participants in the Elon meeting. It identified fourteen men by name, all of whom were landowners and five of whom had taken the amnesty oath. One man was said to own 50 acres of “tilled land,” two owned 780 acres, and each of the other eleven owned 130 acres. (Bvt Maj Gen J Irvin Gregg, “Report of Meeting held in Amherst Co, to fix wages of Freedman,” [early July 1865], enclosed in Major General Alfred H. Terry to Hon E. M. Stanton, 7 July 1865, filed as V-4 1865, Letters Received, series 15, Washington Headquarters, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen & Abandoned Lands, Record Group 105, National Archives.) For a November 1865 assessment of the effectiveness of the resolutions, see Land and Labor, 1865, p. 340n.
Published in Land and Labor, 1865, pp. 336–37.