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Lower Peachtree Ala.
11th March 1866

Major Genl Sevain

Dear Sir
Permit me respectfully to inquire of you whether a Freedman is bound to live with a man with whom he has contracted if that man should knock him in the head with a [[?]] making a gash an inch & half long. The freedman says he will die before he will live with that man any longer. Would I or any of my neighbors [[?]] ourselves liable if we were to hire said freedman for the balance of the year. Will a freedman be allowed to leave his employer when they cannot live together peacibly.
Will a freedman be compelled to remain where the are so[[crossed out]]employer fails to feed, clothe, & shoe according to contract. Will the employee be allowed to whip the freedman as they choose. Has a Justice of the Peace the right to after he has committed freedman to jail to let them pay the cost of suit & strike off their shirts & give to each fifty stripes on bare back. By a prompt answer of the above questions you will confirm a special favor on freedmen & freemen who desire to do right but are at a loss to know what the laws & the rules of the Bureau are. There are many