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It is not easy to see through circumstances, appearances and conflicting statements into the facts that underlie the present status of the freedman and make him what he is.

Proceeding to the Eastern Shore I landed at Cherrystone and rode by different routes nearly twice the length of that division. The records of the officer in charge Lt. Sherwood are complete and creditable. The Register of Marriages for Accomac is in a forward state that for Northampton is not begun. The colored population of this division numbers about twelve thousand (12,000); the completion of this Register will require much time and great labor.

Lieut. Sherwood states that it is the intention of the civil authorities to provide for their poor without respect of color. I have visited the poor-houses of Accomac and Northampton counties, that of the former is the best in my sub-district, but the inmates of it are kept on a simple sufficiency of food and a very small supply of clothing. They are required to work. Nothing is done for their mental or moral improvement.

The accommodations for the colored poor in Northampton are wretched, the whites, occupying 

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-10-05 11:53:01