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Montgomery Ala. April 15th 1868 Major General O O Howard Commissioner &c Washington D.C. [[stamp]] THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES [[/stamp]] General I have the honor to present to you my first report, for the month of March. If it should not be entirely satisfactory, I must ask your indulgences until I become more familiar with the field and the work. The Field Referring to the map of Alabama and the statistics of the State, I find the freedmen, with whose educational interests, we are especially charged located chiefly in the Northern part of the State, along with the valley of the Tennessee River, in a belt of counties extending across the state east & west and lying between the 32° & 33° of latitude north in Mobile City & County and along the valleys of the Tombigbee, B Warrior & Coosa rivers Territory Occupied Our schools as presently organized are located with following counties vis Jackson, Madison, Limestone, Lauderdale, Colbert, Talladega, Shelby, Baine, Tuskaloosa, Sumpter, Marengo, Perry, Dallas Montgomery Lowndes, Lee, Russel, Barbour Pike Mobile and Baldwin, in all twenty-one counties. As there are Sixty-one counties in the State it will appear from the foregoing statement that there are forty counties in which no schools for freedmen have yet been established. This is a startling announcement. The fact is we have but entered upon the great work of education in this state.