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Office Assistant Superintendent Bureau
OF FREEDMEN, REFUGEES AND ABANDONED LANDS,  
Tuskegee, Ala., September 7," 1865.

Brig. General Wager Swayne 
Assistant Commissioner. &c. 

General:
I have the honor to transmit herewith "Weekly Letter" in compliance with your directions.

This Office has not been thoroughly organized, nor carried on in a proper or just manner. My predecessors have worked with a view to please the white citizens, at the expense of, and injustices to, the Freedmen. They have invariably given permission to inflict punishment for insolence or idleness, and have detailed soldiers to tie-up and otherwise punish the laborers who have, in the opinion of the employers, been refractory. The several Provost Marshals and Lt. Bowman have directed employers to inflict corporal punishment when they deemed proper. This has been so far the custom heretofore, that planters are surprised, and even indignant when, upon application

Transcription Notes:
refractory is defined as stubborn or unmanageable, so that was my best guess