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Civil War soldiers - Union and Confederate Civil War Brotherhood Among Soldiers A
Brother in
Savannah, Georgia reported this story of Civil War soldiers from his Masonic lodge records. It
was a time not long after Fort Sumter, and the War of Northern Aggression was
well under way. The Yankees, as they are still wont to do, had promptly
flocked to Hilton Head and Tybee Islands, the barrier islands on opposite
sides of the mouth of the Savannah River. The Savannah folks didn’t mind
much that the Yankees had stolen the good beaches, for the water was still a
bit cool for Southern preferences and, besides, they knew the gnats and
mosquitoes would teach the Yankees a lesson they’d never forget. So, the
Southerners, as Southerners are wont to do sometimes, just waited. They
didn’t have to wait very long before the Yankees on Hilton Head sent out a
messenger under a white flag. It seemed that the Yankees had among them a
young fellow who had passed through the Fellow Craft Degree before shipping
out. The Yanks were just sitting around slapping gnats when it
occurred to one of them that, just maybe, there was a nearby lodge that
could test him in the Fellow Craft Degree, and raise him to that of a Master
Mason. As
luck would have it, there was indeed a lodge in Savannah that would soon be
having a Masters Degree. One
morning, not too many days later, a detail of Confederate Cavalry slipped
across the Savannah River into South Carolina and traveled through Bluffton
to the shore opposite Hilton Head island. From
there they escorted one Fellow Craft Mason and, I believe, a number of
Master Masons of the Northern Persuasion, safely through the Confederate
Lines, and back through about 35 miles of Confederate defenses to Savannah,
where the candidate and his witnesses were delivered into the lodge. The
records note that this Brother was indeed proficient in the Fellow Craft
Degree, and he was raised to
the Degree of a Master Mason. That
night another detail of Confederate Cavalry, no doubt Brothers to a man,
slipped back across the Savannah River and safely escorted their Brothers
back to Hilton Head. Anyway,
I have loved this story since the first time I heard it. It clearly
demonstrates that, at the darkest period in our Nation’s history, when
brothers were killing brothers, Brothers could still be Brothers. Sources: Georgia Masonic Messenger article by John Hohenstein, Zerubbabel Lodge No. 15, Savannah, Georgia; reprinted by Southern California Research Lodge in August 2008; published online by Sanford Holst on www.MasonicSourcebook.com, 5 February 2009. If you pass this piece of history on to others, please credit the sources. Civil War Brotherhood Among Soldiers _____________________________________________
See Lost Symbol For more info: Dan Brown _____________________________________________ Related Article:
Union and Confederate Soldiers
Union and Confederate Soldiers
© 2009-2010 Sanford Holst |
Muskets used by soldiers in the Civil War
Civil War map
Worshipful Master of Home Lodge No. 721 Eduardo Estrada (now PM) Much like kings of old, the Worshipful Master at our lodge liked to be regaled with a good tale from time to time. Lacking a court bard or poet, he once called upon me to read a bit from Masonic history, and a sometime tradition was born. The account at left was that first story. If you wish to share this with your lodge, feel free to do so. —Editor
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