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In one or two instances, it seems that indiscreet members discharged their precis under circumstances calculated to awaken fears on the part of the whites - but as to any malicious purpose, riotous intentions or anything leading to disturbances of the public peace - having been contemplated by these people. I have not been able to secure any satisfactory evidence as proof of the fact.

Rumors and communications have reached my office several times within the last few months to the effect that the Freedmen were organizing in companies &c for some bad purpose. I have in every instance personally investigated the facts and found without exception that the evils complained of exist to an alarming and ridiculous extent on the imaginations of those complaining. It cannot be concealed that a very large majority of the whites in this portion of the state are unrelentingly opposed to the extension of any rights and privileges to the Freedmen enjoyed by themselves. Thus every pretext

Transcription Notes:
12-9-2023 - "precis" = "a summary or abstract of a text or speech" ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-12-09 17:46:24