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Office Superintendent,
Bureau of Refugees, Freedman and Abandoned Lands,
Dist. Northern Alabama.
Huntsville, Ala. December 19th 1866.

Maj. General Wager Swayne
Montgomery Ala
General:
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 15th inst. through C.C. Clay Jr, and in reply to state, I can do nothing in the way of restoring the property referred to in said letter and orders No. 80. When I came to Huntsville the Clay house was occupied as Hd. Qrs. of the Bureau, and was turned over to me as confiscable property and I have so borne it on my returns, But on examination I find that I was notified in March last, by J.Q. Smith Esq and Mr Douglass U.S. Dist. Marshall, that the property was libelled for sale and held by the said Marshall, and not by the Bureau, and that my tenancy of the premises or a part thereof (for the U.S. Dist. Clerk has occupied three rooms since March last) that I held under the Marshall, and not under the authority of the Bureau- You will therefore see that any action on my part would have no effect in the premises further than to dispossess myself of the Office I now occupy thus leaving the property in the hands of the U.S. Marshall