The Freedmen's Bureau, created in 1865, covered "all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen." Although it gave much-needed food and educational opportunities to former slaves, the Freedman's Bureau was a weak and did not have enough staff. It could do little to protect freed slaves' rights during Southern Reconstruction (1865-1877). Major Samuel Willard Saxton (1829-19??) of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was one the soldiers kept to serve in the Freedmen's Bureau after the war. Saxton, named for Deerfield's anti-slavery minister Samuel Willard, served in the Bureau until 1886. He wore this uniform coat and these shoulder ornaments in the 1880s.