Viewing page 108 of 326

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

wrong has been done, but form the loose manner in which their accounts have been kept, it has been so far, impossible to arrive at satisfactory settlements, the first has been relieved and has returned to this regiment, the last, is still on duty at Pine Bluff; but all matters of finance are now in the hands of the proper Quarter Master, who is devoting his time earnestly and efficiently in the discharge of his duties.

Since my last report, there is but little change to note in the condition of refugees and freedmen, either morally or physically, but there has been some improvement in both classes; many of the refugees have returned to their former homes, and most of them, will perhaps in the future be able to gain a subsistence, but very many of this large class have hitherto lived in besotted ignorance and poverty, and their prospects for the immediate future are still dark.

The Freedmen have not as a general thing settled down to the quiet pursuits of industry, they are self supporting and many of them have accumulated considerable money, their condition as far as law and industry are concerned seems to depend entirely upon the sentiments and conduct of the whites, in localities