Viewing page 136 of 259

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

one another.

On my arrival here I found great bitterness towards Northern people and the United States Government existing in the minds of some of the whites - especially in the town of Lexington - and this spirit still continues, and is even becoming more intense - but at the date to which I refer, I believe, all persons of respectable character had a kind feeling towards the freedmen, although lawless men committed trespasses upon them in a manner which would not now be allowed.  This feeling of kindness still exists in the bosoms of many, but the number is growing less every day

The citizens of these counties are principally of Scotch-Irish descent - an origin characterized by many noble attributes, but in which pride and an obstinate dogmatism are prominent principles - They require peculiar management, and are not to be judged by criterions applicable to Eastern Virginia -

As mentioned in my report in accordance with circular No 10, I have no reason to complain of injustice being done the colored people by the civil tribunals - nor are they subjected to more annoyances than the whites - when their poverty and ignorance are taken into the account - and also the slight degree of prejudice against them existing in the minds of some of the civil authorities, to which I have referred in my previous reports - I must say that cases of assault and battery, defrauding of wages, and other wrongs are becoming less frequent - but this fact I attribute not to love of the Freedmen but to fear of the military power which can now be