Viewing page 57 of 257

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Bureau Refugees Freedmen
and Abandoned Lands
Selma Aug 5 1866

Bvt Col C Caste Jr
Chief of Staff &c.

Sir, I have the honor to represent that the lots set apart for freedmen, by the order of this Bureau, are in part advertised for sale, on the 6th of August.  The portion advertised is that known as the "school lot", on the end of the tract towards the city, and is partly occupied by the improvement of freedmen, who have entered upon them in faith of the assurances of this Bureau.  It is now too late to interpose any hindrance to the sale, if any is possible, but I would most earnestly urge upon the commissioner to do whatever can be done to prevent the further sale of these reserved lots, and allow the industrious and respectable mechanics who occupy them to have the privilege of bidding for them at a renumerative price, without the competition of white capitalists, who would not give them a foot of land within the city limits if they could help it.  It seems to me the sale was sprung upon us in some degree, for the land was not described, but stated simply as "his area of land in Selma," and I could get us information as to where