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(2)

or twenty prominent planters from the various sections of the Country and made them acquainted in part with my mission.  I found that here the freedmen were generally doing very well.  They were remaining at home and generally cultivated. The only complaint they made to me (and I conversed as freely with the freedmen as with the employees)was the separation from their wives and families.  Very many of these freedmen were formally owned in the middle and upper part of the Choctaw, in [[?]], Clark and over in Munroe Counties.  Some of these came away leaving their families behind and now are afraid to go for them. Communication through part of the State is so imperfect that it is impossible to send for them. They were generally contented with the assurance that the Country would soon become more settled when they could obtain their families with safety.  The freedmen are working for a portion of the crop, varying on different plantations from 1/10 to 1/4 with quarters, clothing  and medical attendance.
On Sunday, I resumed my march and some 4 or 5 miles from Mt Vernon took breakfast at the plantation of a Mr. Dabney whom I had met the day before.  After breakfast he called his freedmen together where I explained to them their rights