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30  FREEDMEN'S AFFAIRS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESEE

been issued by the bureau to all needy applicants.  These charities, together with the bounty disbursements from the Bureau Refugees, Freedmen, &c., have enabled the freedmen to exist thus far through the winter in comparative comfort.

Lieutenant Colonel Fred. S. Palmer, sub-assistant commissioner sub-district of Memphis, reports:

Mr. W.W. Brown, agent, &c., in compliance with instructions from this office, dated January 13, 1868, made a tour of inspection through this sub-district, and in relation to the freedmen in Fayette county, he reports:

As a general thing the freedmen in this county are protected in their rights of persons and property, and the laws impartially administered. ****

I am informed that the lawyers in this county refuse to take claims from and prosecute them in behalf of the negro against white men. To do so would result in the loss of business from their white clients. ****

Dr. Melcher, at LaGrange, has assisted a great number in securing their rights under the law; but I am assured that as a mass there are hundreds of dollars which are justly due the freedmen (in small sums to each) from their employers, which with the proper aid and counsel could be collected. ****

The condition of freedmen in this county is not as good as it would if they could collect the amount due them. This would relieve to some extent a number that are now suffering for want of clothes and the necessaries of life. I have heard of no cases of starvation nor or severe suffering for want of food; but the freed people are, for the most, throughout the entire county, without meat and barley bread enough to keep soul and body together. About the half, or perhaps three-quarters of all the freedmen in this county have procured homes for the present year; some of the old plan of one half the crop, but the greater part have hired by the year at from $60 to $80 per annum and boarded. A few farmers are offering $100 per annum and board to first-class hands. ****

Relative to the condition of affairs of the freedmen in Hardiman county, Mr. Brown reports that - 

The laws in this county are faithfully administered, affording equal protection to all classes irrespective of color. Many of the freedmen here, as in the other counties already referred to, claim to have been wronged by their employers, but state that the lawyers will not aid them in prosecuting their claims. ****

I could learn of no outrages having been committed by whites upon the colored people during the last three months. The freedmen are represented as being peaceable and industrious, attending to their own business and giving no cause for maltreatment to any one. The prejudices of the whites against the blacks, through the influence of such men as Rev. Bryant, Rev. Gray, and Mr. Bybass, are fast dying out, and a sympathetic and friendly feeling spring up in its stead. Nevertheless, there is yet great room for reform, as I find a large number cling with the most rigid tenacity to their old opinions, and declare that slavery is the true condition for the blacks, and that it must and will be restored before five years. ****

The colored people are represented as having little in the way of supplies at present, except corn bread, and with many of them no prospect of aught besides, unless assisted by others. A large proportion of them are also exceedingly destitute of clothing, and utterly unable to buy. A large number, perhaps a majority, have as yet failed to secure permanent homes for the present year. They are all anxious to work and do work when opportunity offers.

In regard to Madison county, he states:

I am assured that, as a general thing, the laws in this county are equally administered; but here, I discover, as in other counties through which I have passed, the great difficulty on the part of the freedmen lies in getting their cases to court. The lawyers here refuse to aid them or investigate their claims, on the ground that it injures their business. **

The paupers of this county are provided for by the orders of the court under the general poor laws of the State. They have no poor-house. The poor are generally left with their friends or with some reliable person, and the court makes quarterly appropriations for their support and comfort. NO provision made for non-residents. ***

It is the general opinion here that the freedmen of this county will get homes for this present year, and that there will be no actual suffering. They will not get the usual supply of meat, but have abundance of bread, (corn.) The freedmen are conducting themselves well; are sober and industrious, and learning fast the advantages to be derived from a reputation for honesty, integrity, and fidelity. I conversed with a large number of them, and would have been pleased to deliver them a public lecture, as I did at Grand Junction, but it was deemed imprudent to do so, and this, too, in Madison county, where the laws are said to be equally administered.

The planters here have determined to plant less cotton and more corn this year, and in consequence of this determination will not need so much help. I could not learn at what rates they were willing to employ freedmen.