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29.}

Bureau Refugees Freedmen and Abandoned Lands 
Office of A. S. A. C. 5th Div. 6th Sub Dist. Va
Heathsville, Va May 31st 1868.

General:
In accordance with instructions contained in Circular No. 6 dated Hd. Qrs. Asst Comr Bur. R. F. & A. L. Richmond, Va. January 29th 1866. I have the honor to report, that the ill-feeling existing, in this Division, between the whites and blacks, is very great— Throughout this section of country every means, honorable and dishonorable, is being used, by the prominent white residents, to intimidate the colored men, with a view to prevent a fair and just expression of their views, at the next election. 

To do this seems to be the design of the entire conservative party— To the more ignorant and timid, of the Freedmen, they talk of Ku Klux &c, to work upon their superstitions and, really, with effect, in many instances. 

To the Freedmen, as a class, they constantly misinterpret the acts and objects of the Government;— Each Court day, after adjournment, the balance of the day is devoted, by the prominent men, to speaking upon public matters of the State.— Their analysis of the new State Constitution is a curiousity, in its way,— They denounce every section of it, which, in any way affects the interests of the laboring classes, as bribes and tricks, to secure the adoption of the same—

The white Union men, here, represent that they have reason to feel insecure, in all respects, and say, that during the old days of persecution there was no more fear of violence 

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