I am, sir, very respectfully,
Your most obedient servant,
M. R. Delany,
Major & A. S. A. Commissioner Bureau R. F. A. L.
Hilton Head, December 7, 1865.
The planters of the islands and upland districts, recognizing the advantages of the bureau in their midst, when conducted by an efficient officer, consulted him when occasion required.
Among them was Colonel Colcock, with whom he had, on one occasion, an extended interview, previous to the publication of the foregoing article, in which interview the following resulted:—
Hilton Head, December 8, 1865.
Major M. R. Delany, A. S. A. C. Bureau R. F. A. L.
Major: I wish to employ sixty laborers on my homestead place on Colleton River, and two hundred on Spring Island, and will thank you to engage them for me, on the basis of the contract which I showed you on Friday. In engaging labor, you will please give the preference to the freedmen who formerly resided on these islands, provided there is nothing objectionable in their character.
Try to arrange it so that each family will average three field hands, as I have house-room to accommodate them on that basis.