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negroes would vote together and elect such members to Congress (after the State is admitted) as will go in for confiscation. that therefore they are far better off under military rule. 

The Blacks will go to a man for the convention and it is singular how well they already understand the purport of the late laws passed by congress. Many colored men who left this part of the state and entered our army or remained North during the war, have now returned and knowing how to read and write, they post the ignorant up. On every Sunday after they have held their religious services, some of these intelligent negroes mount the stage and make speeches, read newspapers, speeches &c to the crowd. The colored people of Northern Neck are fully aroused to a sense of their duty toward the Government.

Churches and school-houses are going up in every direction. Colored preachers are daily exhorting their race to push foward the work of education. Freedmen throng my office daily for papers, or anything to read and information in regard to the coming registration.

The Freedmen are all at work. There are very few idle. They are more honest than last year. I hear of but very few theafts

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Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-13 16:23:12