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Head Quarters Dept. of the Potomac
Bureau Refugees, Freedmen and A.L.
Office of the Inspector. 
Richmond Va Jan 26th 1867

Bvt. Brig Genl. O. Brown
Act'g Asst. Adjt. Genl.
     
I have the honor to report in reference to the claim of Lt. W. James Kay, V.R.C. late Asst. Supt. Buckingham Co. against Bvt. Lt. Col. Stuart Barnes, late Supt. 2nd. Dist. Va. referred to me under date of 24th inst.
     
At the time of reference, you instructed me in person to examine into the right or propriety of interference on the part of the Bureau in this matter, in other words, whether it appeared to be a transaction of which a military court could now take cognizance, or whether it required a resort to the civil tribunals.
     
I do not see that any "article of war" except the 39th can be construed to bear upon the case as presented in the report of Maj: White, under the decisions in regard to this article it is doubtful whether it could be resorted to, even if the party complained of were still in service, but the question is settled by a decision of the Judge Advocate General, in the last edition of the Digest of his opinions, that the article does not apply to an officer discharged from the service. This is the case with Bvt. Lt. Col. Barnes, who