Gilbreath was attached to C Company, which was based in Grenada, Mississippi. Gilbreath's duties in Mississippi focused on reconstruction of the state, such as selecting or recommending suitable men for civil office in the local counties and acting as a judge for complaints made by freed slaves. As part of his military service, Gilbreath was made an officer in the Freedmen's Bureau. When hearing complaints from freedmen against their former owners, Gilbreath often found in favor of the freedmen, requiring the owner to pay money to their former slaves. Gilbreath states that it was extremely difficult to make many southerners understands that their slaves were now free, leading to Gilbreath establishing a sort of peonage, where the former owners would give the slaves a portion of their crop.Gilbreath 2015, p.173 This sometimes proved ineffective since the whites controlled supply of all goods, they were able to keep freedmen constantly in debt. According to Gilbreath, this was not a very normal occurrence, and many people of the south did their best to accommodate the newly freed blacks.Gilbreath 2015, p.173. Gilbreath oversaw the elections of civil officials, with a focus on keeping whites from changing the black vote.
