Letter book of Captain George T. Bassett, an officer in the Commission of Subsistence. The letter book documents correspondence relating to the distribution of rations to troops and destitute citizens in central Virginia from July 24 to Nov. 11, 1865 and in South Carolina from Dec. 26, 1865 to June 19, 1866. Includes correspondence with field officers and local administrators on the provisions being supplied and information on the initial efforts of the Bureau of Freedmen.