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about the middle of last Summer and at once entered, quietly but zealously, upon the discharge of his official duties.  We had never before had an agent in this county.  All was confusion, doubt, and uncertainty.  The freedmen were ignorant of their rights and duties, and the whites regarded the Bureau and its agents as their enemies.  Mr. R. Soon brought order out of confusion, removed doubts of all, and reduced every thing connected with his administration to certainty.  He patiently taught the freedmen their rights under the laws, admonished them of their duties as citizens, and disabused the minds of the whites in regard to the Bureau and its operations.  He labored day and night for the welfare of the people of the county, and for his Govt.  He established day and Sabbath Schools for the colored children.  He preached every Sabbath to the freedmen and taught the colored children every Sabbath.

I can Safely Say Sir, that no gentleman, however efficient, he might be, could have done the work here that Mr. R. did; and he did it too without conflicting with the civil authorities and without annoyance to Military Head Quarters.  And when it is announced that he is not to return to us, we all, white and black, feel that we have sustained a loss which the Govt will hardly be able to restore.