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244 510 Head Quarters Dist. of Alabama Montgomery, Alabama. Oct 11th 1867. Howard Maj. Genl. O.O. Commissioner &c Washington D.C. 240/245 General I have the honor to ask that the appointment of R.W. O'Connor as Clerk at $75.00/100 per month be revoked to date from the twentieth (20th) inst and that John R. Hart be appointed in his place at eighty dollars ($80.00/100) per month to date from the 21st inst. Very Respectfully Your Obdt. Servant Bvt. Maj. Genl. and Asst. Commissioner 511 Head Quarters Dist. of Alabama Montgomery Alabama Oct 11th 1867. Pierce Bvt. Maj. C.W. Sub. Asst. Commissioner Demopolis, Alabama. 241/283 Major, I have the honor to forward herewith transportation orders for Eliza Hunter, two (2) adults and four (4) children (under 12) from Demopolis, Ala, Memphis, Tenn. the same having been requested by you. Very Respectfully Your Obdt. Servant O.D. Kinsman Sub. Asst. Commissioner 512 Head Quarters Dist. of Alabama Montgomery, Alabama. Oct 11th, 1867. Mott C.A. Esq. Lansingburgh, N.Y. Sir Yours of the 30th ult relative to claim against the Government for its occupancy of a plantation as a freedmens Colony is received. In reply the Asst. Comr. directs me to say that no action has yet been taken in this matter. Very Respectfully Your Obdt. Servant O.D. Kinsman Sub. Asst. Commissioner 245 513 Head Quarters District of Alabama Montgomery Alabama Oct 10th 1867 Howard Maj. Genl. O.O. Commissioner B.R.F. and A.L. Washington D.C. 244/265 General, I have the honor to submit the following annual report of operations of the Bureau in this District. At the beginning of November, 1866, the status of the freedmen, by the laws of Alabama were nominally the same as that of other non voting inhabitants. They were it is true prohibited from testifying in cases in which whites only were concerned, and for a single crime a different penalty from that imposed upon white persons was prescribed for them. But in all those rights of more important and ordinary use of holding and acquiring property of all kinds, of suits and contracts, of travel and inheritance, no difference against them was expressed in terms. Laws were in force, however of the harshest nature, which, though naturally applicable to all persons, were put in execution only against freedmen, and were designed to permit the exaction from them of forced labor, and the withholding of its dues. The wrong thus contemplated by the Legislature was in fact restrained among the people by the impulses of honesty and the desire to retain the laborer beyond the current year, combining with the efforts of the Bureau officers to [[?await/avail]] and to redress it. Enough remained however to create a succession of cases calling loudly for reform. Several attempts were made to remedy this evil at its source, and the repeal of the "vagrant law" was finally accomplished. Yet it was not from this cause more than from their express disabilities that the severest injury to freedman came. Constant and severe wrongs, unaccessible to relief because wholly intangible, were wrought out by a feeling on the part of jurors and magistrates that freedmen were not persons by or from whom the laws were made, or to whom their protection or benefits need be faithfully extended. There was no feeling that the situation of the parties might one day be reversed, none of that scruple which responsibility engenders. The result was continually experiences in verdicts and decisions contrary to justice, and more widely in the tenor of all those transactions with the freedmen which were liable to be reviewed in court.
