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Very truly thy [[frnd]]
S.F. Smiley

P.S.
I am very desirous at some suitable time to lay before Gen. Howard a plan that has been in my mind all winter for enabling the Freedman to find their relations who have been sold away. I have [[seen]] so much suffering on this account, and such intense joy when a restoration has been affected as to enlist any sympathies deeply. And it seems to me the plain duty of a Christian Country in abolishing slavery to remedy at the same time one of the worst results of it.

S.F.S.

Transcription Notes:
Unclear: Howard a [[?]] that has in my [[mind]] all winter I have [[seen]] so much of the [[worst]] results of