After the fall of New Orleans to Union troops on May 1, 1862, the fear of violence by escaped slaves in southern Louisiana led to Union intervention to maintain civil order. The Union commander charged with restoring order to the Gulf Department was Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler. He instituted the enlistment of former slaves into the Union army and later established a wage-labor system on sugar plantations. General Superintendent of Negro Labor, George H. Hanks, was charged with overseeing that wage-labor rules were observed on working plantations.
From the description of Rules and regulations governing colored labor at work on the plantations under control of the U.S. government, 1863. (Louisiana State University). WorldCat record id: 261340199
