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Bureau R.F. & A. Lands
Office Asst. Supt Sub. Dist No 8 7 Dist Va
Warm Springs Va March 31st 1867
Brvt Brig Genl O. Brown A.A.A.G.
General
In accordance with Circular No 10 series 1866
I have the honor to make the following Report in regard to the manner in which the transfer of cases in which Freedmen are parties has effected the interests of this class of an citizens in Rockbridge Banks Alleghany counties.
When White men of high or good social position are opposed to negroes and the latter have no white friends to aid them, they labor under considerable disadvantage at the preliminary examinations, and before the magistrates and inferior courts; but I cannot say that I have seen any manifestation on the part of the authorities of any intention to deny justice.
The evil may be attributed more to the poverty and ignorance of the blacks and to the comparative ease with which witnesses of their own color can be suborned by the unprincipled to testify against