Freedman's Savings and Trust Company The Freedman's Savings and
Trust Company, universally known as the Freedman's Bank, was
chartered on 3 Mar. 1865. It grew out of two military savings
banks established in Norfolk, Va., and Beaufort, S.C., for black
Union troops who needed a place to deposit their wages and
bounty money. The company was founded by influential Christian
philanthropists, humanitarians, and businessmen who convinced
the U.S. Congress that former slaves would learn the values of
thrift and savings if they had their own bank. Three branches of
the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company were located in North
Carolina. A branch at New Bern opened in January 1866, and
Raleigh and Wilmington branches were chartered two years later.
Charlotte and Salisbury applied for branches in 1868 but never
received them. Of the approximately 8,600 depositors for which
records survive, the majority were freedmen. Other depositors
included a small number of whites, as well as churches,
businesses, and social and cha