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K 52

War Department 
Bureau Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands,
[[strikethrough]] South Carolina and Georgia, [[/strikethrough]]
IN THE FIELD.
Charleston, S.C., Dec. 12th 1865. 

Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard
Commissioner Bureau of Refugees, &c
Washington, D.C.
General:
I have the honor to forward a communication from Mr. E.C. Whaley.
I fear that if a change is directed to be made in the Edisto Board, the "distrust" of the people, which is almost universal on the island, will increase. It is next to impossible to convince them that the former master will keep the promises he seems prepared to make. They feared, and at first declined to elect a representative to act for them on the Board, lest it should be interpreted as a consent on their part to the making of contracts. Mr. Bradwell has been fair and generous. 
I apprehend that the planters object to him, chiefly, because the Board is to be a judicial board, and its labors will not hereafter be confined to the matter