Viewing page 13 of 268

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Marlin Falls Co Texas Decr 31st 1866

Bvt. Maj General J B Kiddoo

General as the year is drawing to a close I have the honour & gratification of reporting to you the favourable condition of Falls County which I trust will have the best in Texas in agriculture when we consider but a few years ago it was a wilderness - we have made a much larger crop than was ever made in this county before fully 10,000 bales has been made & some 7000 will be saved of which over 3000 has gone forward  The Abundance of the crop has rendered it impossible with our Short handed forces to save it all - many are still picking some of which have still more than a bale to the acre in the field - unless we can get help from some of the Old Cotton States for another year many of our Rich broad fields will go uncultivated.

The Freedmen as a general thing are working & doing very well. Many of them will have made upwards of a 1000 dollars the present year & most of them will get what they have made without much difficulty I have only had trouble with a low class of white men that neaver owned a negro in their lives & that neaver ought to be alowed to employ one as they will take every undue advantage of them swindling them out of their last dime - had I a few Soldier at my command I could in a great degree remady this Evil as the class refered to are only governed by military rule.

Transcription Notes:
Please limit use of brackets for sake of readability. For example, if an abbreviation can be deciphered, such as "Decr." no need to put "December" in brackets. If a word is misspelled but is clearly recognizable, such as "neaver" instead of "never," no need to put correct spelling in brackets. See instructions in TIPS. Thanks.