Viewing page 242 of 291

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

HEADQUARTERS, THIRD MILITARY DISTRICT,
(GEORGIA, ALABAMA & FLORIDA.)
Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 29 1868

Bvt Brig Gen. J. Hayden USA
Comd'g. Sub. Dist. of Alabama

General:
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mrs. Mary Cleavelands Letter of the 25th inst. forwarded endorsed by you, requesting that rations may be furnished the House for Orphans at Montgomery Ala and stating the destitute conditions of the children there at.
The Commanding General has every sympathy with the distressed condition reported by Mrs. Cleaveland, but he is compelled to decline giving any orders in the case as he is not aware of any authority for his doing so. Were he to depart from his principle he fears, from the impoverished condition of the country and the general disposition prevailing to look to the government for aid, that the demands made on him would be largely incurred. An institution of so charitable a purpose should be supported by the community in which

Transcription Notes:
edited