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[[stamp]] THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES [[/stamp]]

Office Asst. Supt. Sussex Co.  Va.
April 4th 1866

Capt. Stuart Barnes
Supt. 2nd Dist Va.
Petersburgh Va.

Captain
I have the honor to submit herewith a monthly report of the state of affairs in this County, the feelings of the people, as far as I can ascertain. & C.

With few exceptions the Freedmen are working well, though they may not perform as much labor as they did when they were slaves, yet I think they earn all they do get, or will get, as a compensation for their labors, and as a general thing they are working cheerfully, and where they have any assurance of being paid at the end of the year, they are quite cheerful and contended, and their conduct will depend to a very great extent, on that of the white population: the blacks are rather the best disposed of the two, and are by far the most loyal, the whites find less time to work and more to talk, and in many cases where the conversation is of a political nature, they express themselves with much bitterness, and very emphatically against the Government, but declare their utmost confidence in the honesty and integrity of the President, so far as he can controll Congress, and defend the rights of the South. There is much bitterness of feelings toward northern men, and they say there will not be a unanimity of feeling in the lifetime of this generation, if there ever is: it seems almost impossible for them to learn to regard the former slave as a free man, and their hatred toward the Freedman. on account of his freedom is intense, almost uncontrollable, and nothing but the strong arm of the law, keeps them in subjection.
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