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Bureau R.F. and A.L.
Office Asst Supt Sub Dist Chest. Co.
Manchester Va June 30 1866

Capt. Jms. A. McDonnell.
Supt 3rd Dist. Va.

Captain:
I have the honor to submit the following Report of Bureau Affairs in this Sub-District for the  month ending June 30 1866.

I find by conversation with colored people from different parts of the County that there is a feeling of uneasiness on their part in view of their being again in the hands of the Civil Authorities. A col'd man stated to me this morn. that one of the Constables of their County (whose name he could not recal) said to him, "We've got you all (referring to the freedmen) just where we want you, & we intend to have laws to keep you down.  We can make more money out of you than we ever did before."

There is an intense prejudice on the part of the Whites against the "Civil Equality" of the Negroes- the most that the best-disposed of them seem willing to grant being about the same protection they would give a dumb brute. Their final & "knockdown" argument is "D--m the Nigger! God Almighty never intended him for anything but a slave."

The whites are much in the habit of threatening the negroes- oftentimes, perhaps, when they do not intend to carry the threats into execution. As an instance: During an investigation before me, in the

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-27 17:42:46 pls read instructions, indents are to be ignored ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-28 14:54:28