[1] Due to the surrender of the main Confederate armies in these areas of Virginia and North Carolina on April 9, 1865, and April 18, 1865, and the collapse of Confederate civilian authority, the Military Division of the James and its constituent military departments and military districts were responsible for maintaining order and keeping the peace in the areas of States under its control until civilian government in those States as members of the Union could be restored.
[7] The Military Division of the James was organized under the command of Major General Henry W. Halleck on April 19, 1865, after the surrender of the main Confederate armies in Virginia and North Carolina.
[8] In addition to maintaining order in the territory of the military division, Union troops were deployed to assist the impoverished population of the area.
[11] In a law approved March 3, 1865, Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau (Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands), in the United States Department of War for "the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from rebel states, or from any district of country within the territory embraced in the operations of the army, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the head of the bureau and approved by the President.
[13] The Military Division of the James was discontinued on June 27, 1865, the day before the official surrender date of the final large Confederate army in the Trans-Mississippi Department.