Lakin, referred to above, was charged with "stealing" Negro congregations and uniting them with the Cincinnati Conference without their knowledge.

The Negroes were urged to demand title to all buildings formerly used for Negro worship, and the Constitutional Convention of Alabama in 1867 directed that such property must be turned over to them when claimed.
The agents of the Northern churches were not greatly different from other carpetbaggers and adventurers taking advantage of the general confusion to seize a little power.

Many were unscrupulous; others, sincere and honest but narrow, bigoted, and intolerant, filled with distrust of the Southern whites and with corresponding confidence in the blacks and in themselves.

The missionary and church publications were quite as severe on the Southern people as any radical Congressman.

The publications of the Freedmen's Aid Society furnish illustrations of the feelings and views of those engaged in the Southern work.