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Office Asst Supt Bureau
Refugees Freedmen &c
Suffolk Nansemond Co Va
Feby 5th 1866

Captain James A Bates
AAAG

Sir
In regards to the condition of Bureau affairs, and the state of feeling existing among the whites and freedman, and other facts bearing on the welfare of the freedmen in this Sub-District for the month of January I have the honor to report

I find great inconvenience in my efforts to have justice done the colored men in distant parts of the County, in not having a single soldier to carry dispatches to those of whom complaint is made by freedmen  I came here on the 25th ultimo and of about 25 complaints entered in my record-book for that purpose, about half of them, evidently cases of merit, one against men living from 12 to 20 miles from my office, and who take advantage thus to set justice at defiance

While the feeling of kindness to the negroes often manifested by intelligent whites, still I am of the opinion that not a single man in the County dare act as their champion when they are wronged   The Court which I