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Matagorda 15th Sep 1866

To Brev Maj Gen J B Kiddoo

Dear Sir. I find that our cotton crop in this county is nearly ruined by the late continuous rains so much so that the planters calculate that the labor of securing the remnant of the crop will be over in six weeks say the 1 November.  The sugar planters are looking on with much complacency, and are at present not hiring; expecting to get hands in one months time for almost nothing.

Now as the negroes for the last 12 mos have had (owing to the demand for labor) the upper hand, the bad cotton crop turns the tables, against the negro. There is prospect then of a very bad state of affairs in six weeks time.  I do not see how many of the planters (especially those who hired by monthly wages) can pay off their hands, if they were willing to do so,  And those who hired for part of the crop will (many of them) be very much inclined to shuffle and twist in the matter of settlements with the negroes   Much cotton and little corn has been planted in this county this year.  Now the cotton is the failure, and the corn is the success,  Corn is even now at a high price owing to the small quantity planted; a very bad state of things for the coming year.  All those planters that do not intend to plant next year, and their are many