Reconstruction Era: Ussrey & Thornton Letter, 1866, Winn Parish, LA. Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From: Freedmen's Bureau Records (Obtained by Hon. Jeff Reeves) Winn Parish, LA. Aug. 18/66 (8-18-1866) Bvt. Maj, We send J. F. Bridges to haul those rations you promised the widow Presley-We find her to be in destitute circumstances, has 4 (or 7) children the eldest about 9 years old, and a girl at that. Our parish is much in want of assistance especially all this portion East of the Dugdamonia, whis is the loyal portion of the parith, they have been so badly treated on account of their Union proclivities that there are many good and loyal people who are now suffering Besides there are at least calculation 4 (or 40) union widows whose husbands died in the Federal army, that are now suffering, and no steps have been taken as yet to draw their pensions; we therefore earnestly solicit that you, immediately, make a special requisition to supply our parish. We continue to hear that Capt. Butts of Vernon is killed and the U. S. Collector for direct Taxes, is said to be missing, misteriously(sic). Those same traitors have threatened to take some of our scalps for having been in the Yankee Army. We hope they will send on a battalion of the bigest(sic) blackest negroes that they can command Your Obedient Servants Matt. Ussery Wm. Thornton By permission. - - - - - - - Submitter's Note: I am not sure that personal comments are in order on this site, but I am about to add a few. Those who do not wish to see the outcome are invited to turn down their sets. The eastern portion of Winn Parish, in the early days, was made up primarily of small-scale farmers, living on land that was not the most productive. Though many owned slaves, in small numbers, they opposed secession, war, and just about anything else. (A side note, it was in this section that the Socialist, and later Populist movements were headquartered. I think Eugene Debs, Socialist Candidate for President of the United States Presidency came to Winn Parish while campaigning as Winn, especially the eastern portion, was a hotbed for Socialist sentiment) The fact that many of these small-scale farmers held slaves, yet were opposed to war/secession, adds to my long held theory that slavery was not the cause of the War of Northern Aggression. However, history is written by the winners, and to suit their purposes, and only in recent years has much of their written history been found to be erroneous. Moving along, I have references which I cannot find at present, to writings by occupation/carpetbag leaders, wherby they state that Winn Parish was so liberal in its dealing with blacks, that it was virtually impossible to spread malcontent among the races. To paraphrase, the quote went something very close to (keep in mind this was said by Freedmen's Bureau white, Union soldiers) "we are having a hard time stirring malcontent among the races in Winn. The darkies and whites, work together, farm together, eat together, and go to church together. They even bury their dead together. We have our work cut out for us in Winn, etc.............". I find it interesting that Messers. Ussery and Thornton wished for a company of Union, occupation soldiers, particularly blacks, to be sent in to the parish to deal with "them". And of course, there is no doubt in my mind that "them" referred to is the local post-war homeguard that was formed to fend off radical carpetbag occupation jayhawking reconstructionist who were in Winn Parish following the war, raping, robbing, and pillaging the poor. A part of this homeguard was to become the West & Kimbrell Clan, and part of them, known as the "inner-circle" split off to form a band of outlaws equally as treacherous as the radicals. Gregg - - - - - - -