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among them, than at the present time-

I would refer you, General, to the report of E. W. Busby, a.s.a.c. from this place for the month of march of the present year, about which date the trouble, now so much increased, began to develop itself- 

I think I have reason to know that a majority of the voters of this Division, would cast a Union majority vote, at the coming election, if they could feel safe to act freely, and I feel it a duty to all true men, laboring in the cause of progression and right, to state earnestly, to you, my belief, founded upon what I know, General, you would consider just grounds, that unless some course is, at once, taken by the authorities to restore to the Union white men and the timid Freedmen, of this District, of our State, a sense of personal protection, they will stay away from the polls in such numbers, as will secure to the conservatives a victory here.-

W.W. Douglass of the State Executive Committee, living in the adjoining County, (Richmond) was here yesterday and spoke to me of the present state of public sentiment as too highly inflamed, to render any means but the most stringent, of avail to the Union Element, in this section and learning that reports from Union men here, and applications for protection, had already been sent to Head Quarters, he conversed with many of them, upon the subject, and, knowing thoroughly, the spirit which controls the whites of this section, he urged me to bring the matter, at once, to your