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[[top margin] No. 2 [/top margin]]

OFFICE OF ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER,
BUREAU OF REFUGEES, FREEDMEN AND ABANDONED LANDS,
Montgomery, Ala., July 28, 1865.

GENERAL ORDER}
No. 4}
I.. Assistant Superintendents will give immediate attention to preparing lists of lands and lots to be set apart for this Bureau, in pursuance of the Act of Congress by which it is established. These lists will include location, designation, and, as far as practicable, boundaries, with the name, residence and status of the owner, where the title is not in the United States.
II In cases of assault and battery, in which a negro is a party, where there is sufficient evidence of white persons to make conviction probable, application will be made to the nearest civil officer having jurisdiction. In other cases, and where there is no civil officer, reports will be made to military commandants until jurisdiction is assumed by this Bureau, pursuant to the order of the President. Evident denial of justice will be specially reported to this office.
III Hereafter, no marriage will be solemnized under the authority of this Bureau, until after application shall have been made to, and refused by the Probate Judge (where one has been appointed) of the county where the female resides, for a license, duty recorded as provided for by the Code of Alabama for white persons and for free persons of color. And no marriage will be solemnized between persons whose marriage is, on account of consanguinity or age, interdicted by the Code.
IV In cases where freedmen have, in time past, to avoid the Slave Code, purchased property in the name of other persons, Assistant Superintendents will advise them to procure conveyance of such property to themselves, as security against the death or insolvency of the trustee. Where practicable, such conveyance should be put upon the county records. In case of a church, should such re-conveyance be refused, a special report will be made to this office. 
V Assistant Superintendents will give earnest consideration to measures for reducing the issue of rations, and will forward such suggestions as they deem it advisable to present. 
VI They will also endeavor to procure, for school purposes, suitable buildings, which are either abandoned or already in possession of the Government, and will report them to this office as soon as obtained. Means are at hand here for procuring teachers.
VII Where a permanent detail of troops is deemed necessary, a report will be made of the fact, giving the reasons therefore, and number of men desired. 
By order of Brig. Gen. WAGER SWAYNE,
Assistant Commissioner.
CHAS. A. MILLER,
Major, A. A. A. General.
OFFICIAL:

Ass't Adj't Gen.