Viewing page 151 of 237

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

No. 1
Shelby County Ala: 28- Feb'y 1867 
Major Genl Wager Swayne
Montgomery; 

General 

The humane and generous Sentiments you expressed in conversation with us a few evenings since, in relation to the destitute condition of the poor people of this region, and your assurance that you would render such aid as you may be in your power, to alleviate the pressing wants of these people, gave me great pleasure. You could hardly do a more benificent act. Before the war, this region was the abode of comparative plenty. The great mass of the population — and it was a populous region — were white, cultivating with their own hands, small farms, which yielded them an humble, but comfortable support. This state of things was changed by the devastating hand of war. Under the conscript act of the Confederate Congress, the great mass of persons able to perform field labor, from the lad of seventeen to the man of fifty, were drawn from their families and humble