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Bureau of Refugees, Freedman and Abandoned Lands
HEADQUARTERS, EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
New Berne, N. C. Mch 19th, 1866

Colonel
A complaint has been made to me against Edmund Whitford of Craven Co formerly major of the 64th N. C. Troops (Whitford's Cavelry) for taking unlawfully the horse of James Moore (colored) about the third year of the war. The horse appears to hav been taken by a detachment of the regiment and appropriated by the Major to his own use- The person who appears as attorney for the complainant was a member of the regiment and can prove the facts as stated-
I am at a loss whether I can take cognizance of cases of this character. Had the horse been regularly turned in to the Q.M. or other appropriate department of the Confederate Army, I take it the capture would have been purely an act of war and no compensation could have been obtained except by Act of Congress. But by the Major's taking this for his private use, the act seems to have