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049

To Maj Genl O.O. Howard
Comdg &c.

Your petitioner John A. Strachan respectfully represents that he is a citizen of the County of Chesterfield, State of Virginia, that he is 53 years of age, by profession a farmer and minister of the Gospel of many years standing, that he has a family, wife & three children dependent upon him for support, that he is the owner of the Farm known as "Point of Rocks", acquired by inheritance, containing 483 acres, with an old mansion thereon consecrated by age and venerable as the above of his ancestors in times long gone by;- that yr petitioner has always and uniformly held himself aloof from politics, and has never held any office of honor, trust or emolument under the State or Confederate movements during the late rebellion;- that he was opposed to secession and disunion;- that he has taken the oath as prescribed by President Lincoln and President Johnson - that yr petitioner is not included in the classes of exceptions of either proclamation - that when the Military Forces of Genl Butler landed at Bermuda Hundred in May 1864, and were advancing in the direction of Petersburg, yr petitioner felt constrained for safety sake, to remove his family to a neighbor's some 2 or 3 miles distant, not knowing but that the opposing forces might meet in horrid

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-04-15 16:41:19