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162

[[very faint watermark/stationery saying Head Quarters Department of the Potomac Bureau of Freedmen Refugees and Abandoned Lands, and something before the date that I cannot read]]
Feb. 22d

Rev. J.W. Wood
Inspector of Schools

My Dear Sir:
I return herewith the letter of Mr. Wm A Thompson, and reply to your endorsement that with the somewhat extensive opportunity I have had to learn of the religious faith of the Freedmen, I have never heard of any individual or sect holding the views indicated in Mr. Thompson's letter. While I think I see traces of ancestral heathenism in their style of worship (sometimes), and in the low grade of common morality among very many of those apparently most pious, I do not see how an evangelical Christian can find fault with their faith.

I am very Resp'y
Your Obt Servt
R.M. Manly
Sup. Education