Page:Annual report of the superintendent of Negro Affairs in North Carolina, 1864.djvu/66

64 To favor these ends, he invites the earnest co-operation of all benevolent associations and persons, all educational and missionary societies, all churches and civil organizations, in the work of reorganizing society at the South, it being the purpose of the Bureau "not to supersede the benevolent agencies already engaged in it, but only to systematize and facilitate them."

Never did a fairer field of endeavor open before any man, though there will be many obstacles to success. But let not one of them be a faint heart on the part of the friends of the Freedmen. Our work is just begun; years are necessary to its completion. Latent in our successful appeal to arms are unspeakable blessings for the whole South, both oppressors and oppressed. They are to be developed slowly and by peaceful processes, like the healing ministries of nature and the restoring grace of God. Let us address ourselves bravely to the work, and place at least one thousand teachers in the South this very autumn. Let Northern capital and Northern men go in and possess the land. Then shall the wilderness smile with plenty, and the desert shall blossom as the rose.

I only remark in closing this somewhat rambling appendix, that I was appointed Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, for North Carolina, but am to be relieved at my own request by General Howard, who has designated Lieut. Col. E. Whittlesey as Commissioner for North Carolina, with his headquarters at Raleigh. For a short time longer my labors will be associated with his. I am most happy to turn over these duties to a gentleman so admirably qualified to discharge them.

An expression of gratitude is due to my assistants, Mr. Samuel S. Ashley, at Wilmington, Mr. Frederic A. Fiske, at Morehead City, and Mr. Edward E. Johnson, of New Berne, for the diligence and fidelity with which they have discharged their duties.

S, Capt., and A. Q. M., Assist. Com'r Bur. of Ref 's Freedmen and Aban. Lands.