get out of the house and leave the place, that he had charge of it now, that he was going to fence in the grounds and raise a crop in and around the stockade, and that he would not let any body live there but those that worked the place. That some time after this Mr. Souber sent him word by Bob Stevens that he had rented the place to him, and that he must get out or Mr. Souber would have him put out by the Sheriff, Mr. Raiford; that Mr. Stevens and his wife have both been to his house several times with this message from Mr. Souber; that last Saturday (January 23, 1869,) his wife told him that Mr. Souber came to his house while he was away and told her we must get out by Monday night or he would bring the Sheriff and have us put out. Mr. Williams says he will make oath to these statements.

Mrs. Martha Randall and Mrs. Jane Rogers live very near Mr. Williams. They state to me that they occupy the house by permission of Mr. Souber, as they have agreed to work for him. They both say to me that they heard Mr. Souber tell Mrs. Williams, last Saturday, that "they must get out of the house or he would have the Sheriff put them out."

Note—You will see that there are three witnesses to these statements of Mr. Souber. I saw each of them "separate and apart" from the others, and no one knew what the others had said, and their statements agreed in every particular.

Benjamin Weston states to me that Major Anthony gave him permission to raise a crop east of the stockade, where the small-pox hospital was located. That he cleared and fenced about six acres; that there was no clearing on the land—only some of the underbrush was cut out; that there was not a rail on the place; that he cut and split all the rails and made a good fence, and raised a crop of corn; that about the first of August Mr. Crawford came to him and said the land was his, and demanded thirty-five bushels of corn for rent, and required him to sign a contract and give security for that amount; that the place only yielded about twenty bushels, of which his family and stock used ten bushels, and he gave ten bushels for rent.

Mr. Weston states that he heard that Mr. Souber had charge of the land, and about the first of January he applied to him to rent what he had cleared and fenced. Mr. Souber told him that he had charge of the land but it was not for rent; he was agoing to tend it himself. He then asked me what Mr. Williams was agoing to do. I told him I did not know. He said well, he had better hunt him a house, for I am agoing to tend that place myself. Mr. Weston says he has never had any pay for clearing and fencing the land, only about ten bushels of corn, as above stated. He says he will make oath to the above statements.

On the 10th of February, 1869, Captain Bean called on me and introduced himself as a member of General Meade's staff, and said he had come from Atlanta to Andersonville by order of General Meade to make investigations in regard to the matters referred to in my letters. I went with him to the stockade and pointed out the new fences made and the grounds claimed by Mr. Souber. At his request I went with him to the office of Mr. Williams, the superintendent of the cemetery, and in my presence he told him to notify Mr. Souber to suspend all work upon these grounds.

I confess that I was exceedingly gratified at this complete success of my efforts. I felt that these historic grounds, this Gethsemane of the nation, had been rescued from what I could but esteem a sacrilegious use and possession, and that the flag that floated over the dead at Andersonville had been honored by this order. When I told the Freedmen the result of Captain Bean's visit their joy was great. In describing to me, as they often had, the suffering and losses they had endured when they were driven from their homes, and their cabins were burnt last summer, they always, in their simplicity, spoke of it as the time "when the Government busted up." And this truly described the condition of the Government from that time to the present, so far as they were concerned, for these facts show that no matter how horrible and brutal the outrage and personal violence committed upon them there had been no punishment to the perpetrators and no redress to the Freedmen. Now they felt that the Government would again afford them some protection.

But great as was my joy, and the joy of the suffering Freedmen, it was nothing to the rage of those who, after so long a struggle, had been defeated in their efforts to get possession of these grounds just as they were about to become completely successful. Captain Bean visited and left Andersonville on the 10th. On the 12th I received a Ku-Klux letter, of which the following is a true copy:

I should do great injustice to Mr. Dikes, Mr. Souber, and Mr. Crawford, and their sympathising friends, the author and inspirers of the above letter, were I to say, or convey the impression, that they were worse men than their neighbors. From what I have seen and heard of them I am sure that in mental culture, in kindness of heart, in loyalty, and in Christian civilization they are decidedly above rather than below the over-whelming majority of their fellow citizens. They represent not the lowest but the highest type of patriotism,