Statement by a Discharged Virginia Black Soldier

Alexandria [Va.],  Aug. 11 /65

John Berry of Alex^a Va., vs. Benjamin Triplet of Fauquier, near Ashby's Gap, Va.  Complaint of refusal to allow him to bring away his family and of threatening his life as follows:

Berry states that on Monday the 7^th inst. he went to Triplets, who said he went to the d——d yankes to fight against him–told him that the war was not over yet–that the niggers were not free.  He asked him for his family, but Triplet told him he should not have them–that nobody should take them away, and that if anybody come into the yard he would shoot them.  Berry has wife and 6 children from 4 to 14 years of age.