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Bu. R. F. and A.L.
Hd Qrs Asst. Comr.
Raleigh N.C. May 19 1866,

Respectfully referred to Bvt. Col. Allan Rutherford. Supt. So. Dist. of N.C. for information and report and to know whether the within building has ever been in the possession, or control of this Bureau.

By Command of
Bvt. Brig. Genl. Whittlesey.
(sd.) Asa Bird Gardiner,
1st Lt. and Adjt. 7 Regt. V.R.C.
And Act. Asst. Ajt. Genl.

Bu. R.F and A.L. 
Hd Qrs So. Dist. of N.C.
Wilmington. N.C. May 28th 1866

Respectfully returned to the Asst. Comr. State of N.C. with the following Report.:

The within described building is not, and has never been in the possession or control of the Bureau. I have carefully investigated the position of the "Front Street, M.E. Church" and the following are the facts regarding the same. The congregation before the war, consisted of about Fourteen hundred (1400) members of which about nine hundred (900) were colored. The Trustees of the church. John Nixon, Meisge Collett, and Elias Halsey, (colored) claim,

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that the principal part of the money that was paid for building said church, was contributed by the colored portion of the congregation, that the ground on which said church is built was given to "the colored people of Wilmington, for their use forever for church purposes" and that the property of said congregation was held  by Trustees who belonged to the white portion of the  congregation, because no colored person could hold Real property, in any capacity; according to the laws of North Carolina.

Before the war the Rev. Mr. Burkhead, (white) was the Pastor of the church; After the fall of Fort Fisher, Mr. Burkhead called the leading men of the colored portion of the Congregation together and said to them, that he could not take the oath of Allegiance, that he would suffer martyrdom before he would take it, and that he wished to know if they (the colored men) would "take sides with him, or with the Union", the colored part of the congregation being fearful of the consequences, the Rebels being yet in possession of the City declined to come to any decision. That on the arrival of the Union Army, the colored people who formed a large majority of the said congregation, informed the Rev. Mr. Burkhead that they did not require his services any longer as Pastor of said church, he being a rebel, And that they then proceeded to exercise the fight of a majority