January's
Masonic Minute

Masonic Minute - January 2011

The Civil War. 1861-1865. Tales of Masonic fraternization and intervention during the war abound - tales of one Mason aiding or rescuing a Brother Mason in the enemy army.

Prior to the Civil War, Masonic solidarity in battle was reported in the american revolution and the Napoleonic wars, but in the civil war, Masonic intervention was much more prevalent. In part it proliferated during the war because unlike Masons in Foreign wars - American Masons, although separated by secession shared the same culture - with essentially the same heritage in both civil and Masonic society, the men spoke the same language and could more easily recognize each other as Masons. They often used the signs, grips, words, or codes of the fraternity to communicate. It caused many a profane to take notice.

One such man, a staff officer in the union army of the Shenandoah saw these subtle communications first-hand when he observed a federal surgeon freely give money to rebel prisoners after the third battle of Winchester in 1864... His words: The doctor shook hands cordially with a number of confederate prisoners. He also took from his pocket a roll of bills and distributed all he had among them. Boy-like, I looked on in wonderment; I didn't know what it meant. On the way back to our camp I asked him "did you know these men, or ever see them before?". "No", replied the doctor, "I never saw them before." "But how did you know them, and why did you give them money?" I asked. "They are Masons, and Masons have ways of finding that out." So intrigued by the

fraternalism he had witnessed, this twenty-one year old Union Officer would later join the fraternity. In 1865, though a Union Major, he became a Freemason in a Confederate Lodge in Winchester Virginia, receiving all three degrees in three days. Later, at the close of the century, he was elected the 25th president of the United States. He served as president from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. You may have heard of him; President and Brother William McKinley.

January's Masonic Minute

January's
Masonic Minute