Viewing page 105 of 283

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

twelve months and trust it may at last be brought to trial.

Mr. J.A. Blakemore in charge of the counties of Obion, Dyer, and Gibson states, "I see no want of disposition on the part of the civil authorities in either of the Counties in my district to punish outrages &c against freedmen by white persons. I find in Dyer and Obion that the freedmen are doing better than last year - and the accounts from both white and black in regard to the prospect of the freedmen are very flattering. The seem to provide for the poor and indigent in both Counties, and while I regret from the limited means at hand there are no Churches and School Houses as yet provided for them, the energy and  persevering industry of the freedmen give me hope that this want will not be of long duration. Their efforts at present in each of the Counties seem to be directed towards providing against want and procuring subsistence for the future. With nothing but their labor to depend upon we cannot expect them to do much for objects outside of this, but what they can do they perform with cheerfulness."

Mr. Blakemore states that he has endeavored to awaken an intrest upon