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0019

Bureau Refugees Freedmen & Abandoned Lands
For the States of Missouri & Arkansas,
St Louis Mo Sept 18th 1865

General
I have the honor to report that under your order of Aug 30th I visited and made an inspection of the following Superintendencies of Refugees and Freedmen in the State of Arkansas to wit - Helena Pine Bluff and Little Rock.

At Helena Sept 2nd I found that under the management of Capt. Harry Sweeney 60th U.S.C. Inf. Supdt the expenses of the Government for the support of the needy had been greatly curtained in regard to both Refugees & Freedmen.  Capt. Sweeney estimates that the total expense to the Gov't of the people under his charge for the present month will not exceed $250.00 and that a great sum will not be required hereafter.

By diligent search among the people in the neighborhood of Helena, homes have been found for all the Refugee orphans mentioned in my last report except one or two and by affording all possible assistance to families desiring to remove to their former homes, the entire number of Refugees has been reduced to about 12 persons in all and most, if not all, of these can soon be sent away. 

The condition of the Freedmen in and about Helena & under the more immediate charge of the Superintendents is much the same as represented in my last report.  My personal inspection of this class consisted chiefly in an examination of the growing crops under their