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[[preprinted]]
Office Sub-Commissioner Freedmen's Bureau,
Meridian, Miss., ^[[20th August]] 1865.
[[/preprinted]]

S. D. Barnes
A. A. A. General

Sir
I have the honor to state that their are many complaints reaching me from Clark, Kemper & Newton Counties of the violation, of the freedom guaranteed by President to Negroes:— by officers of the army in command of Small Posts & Detachments.

In orders 3. of District Head Quarters, they are authorized to adjudicate between Freedmen and white citizens. I send you two specimens of the kind of Papers, that are reaching me almost daily, and shown as authority for whipping & beating with sticks & clubs, and also for hunting the poor fugitives with guns and revolvers.

Contracts are being made and approved of the most unjust character. According to the order, they sustain the same relation to your office that I do. Have I any right to disapprove their action and punish the guilty parties, or have I any

Transcription Notes:
changed "Baines" to "Barnes"