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WAR DEPARTMENT,
BUREAU OF REFUGEES, FREEDMEN, AND ABANDONED LANDS,
Washington, July 5, 1866.

CIRCULAR,}
No. 8.   }

In consideration of official information received of outrages committed upon the Freedmen in some portions of Texas, of murder and crime against officers and freedmen in certain parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and other late slave States, officers of this Bureau are called upon to exercise unusual vigilance, and exert what power they can under present instructions to preserve the peace and good order of the districts for which they are held responsible.  Where the civil courts are in operation, receive the testimony of freedmen, and secure their rights, it is just what is wanted, and no effort must be spared to further the ends of justice through this instrumentality, by a complete and active co-operation.

The recent changes in the organization of the Bureau, making the military commands and the Bureau districts co-incidence, and under the same officers, will not, if properly understood, in any way weaken, but must strengthen the hands of the responsible officers.

Special attention is called to paragraph 6, of Circular No. 5, from this Bureau approved by the President. This Circular has never been countermanded nor modified, except with regard to the courts where the military tribunals have been suspended, or replaced by the civil and local courts in accordance with specific orders. And even in districts where this change has taken place, the officer or agent must still be the friend of the freedmen or refugee, to aid him in the prosecution of his case.

O. O. HOWARD,
Major General, Commissioner.

OFFICIAL:

Assistant Adjutant General.