‘Mystic Tie unites lodge, Army fort, and prison’

    

Masons from many states attended our meeting July 13 in Delaware.

It’s been two weeks already, so time for a recap of Civil War Lodge of Research 1865’s trip to Delaware.

The lodge is chartered by the Grand Lodge of Virginia, but it receives dispensations to travel outside the state, and this July 13 Stated Communication featured a visit to a significant historic site and an unusual Official Visit of the District Deputy Grand Master.

Our Master’s hat.

Jackson Lodge 19 in Delaware City hosted us with the assistance of several Grand Lodge of Delaware officers, one of whom, RW Michael Rodgers, also serves as Worshipful Master of Delaware Lodge of Research. He presented a talk on Fort Delaware’s origins and historical significance. I’ll summarize:

The fort stands on Pea Patch Island, which spans about a mile in length in the Delaware River. It was given its name during the late eighteenth century when, according to legend, a ship ran aground and its cargo of peas either spilled or was jettisoned to make the ship lighter to free it from the mud. Either way, those peas sprouted and grew, resulting in sand and silt accumulating and forming the land mass. I have to say, when you’re standing on this island, in and around the stone and brick fort, it is hard to believe this origin story, but that’s the local color of it.

Past Master Gary, our Tyler, noticed this artifact displayed on the wall outside the lodge room: this proclamation from the Virginia Craftsmen degree team commemorating the MM° it conferred October 23, 1976 at Fort Delaware on behalf of Jackson 19. This degree team was the precursor of Civil War Lodge of Research. That top signature is Allen Roberts, our first Worshipful Master.

What is historically factual is how the island first appears on a map in 1794, the year Bro. Pierre Charles L’Enfant chose it to be a key installation in the area’s fortifications. Of course L’Enfant is best remembered as the military engineer who designed Washington, DC.

The fort as seen from our approach via jitney…

…and from the walk to the entrance.

Development of Pea Patch Island for military use began in 1814. Perhaps a lesson learned from the War of 1812. “A five-pointed star fort was built between 1815 and 1824,” Rodgers explained, “but it was destroyed by fire in 1831.” A larger fort was started in 1836, but the current fort dates to 1848. It was completed in 1860, and was used during the Civil War as a prison for Confederate soldiers. By the end of the war, Fort Delaware warehoused nearly 33,000 prisoners.

“Conditions were relatively decent,” Rodgers said, “but about 2,500 prisoners died.” Smallpox was a main killer, but there also were typhoid, malaria, pneumonia, and scurvy, among other hazards. One of those deaths gave rise to the Mystic Tie intwining Jackson Lodge, the prison, and Virginia Freemasonry.

On April 11, 1862, the lodge opened to give a Masonic funeral to Bro. Lewis P. Halloway, a captain of the Twenty-Seventh Regiment of Virginia Volunteers, who died of typhoid while in custody. The care given to the deceased by the lodge inspired Capt. Augustus A. Gibson, commanding officer of the fort, to petition for the degrees of Freemasonry. He was initiated, passed, and raised in a single communication, by dispensation, later that year in Jackson Lodge.

RW Shelby Chandler, DDGM of the Masonic Research District, had the unique opportunity of traveling outside the Grand Lodge Jurisdiction for an Official Visit. “Today was a very special day, especially as a District Deputy Grand Master,” he told The Magpie Mason. “Right Worshipful John Butler, Worshipful Master of Civil War Lodge of Research, was gracious enough to receive me for the Official Visit at Jackson Lodge 19 in Delaware City. Not only were their Grand Lodge officers present from our host jurisdiction, but brethren from various other states, as far as Illinois, were present as well, and they watched, both the reception ceremony and the closing lecture, for the very first time.”

RW Carmine, with tobacco stick,
flanked by WM John Butler
and RW Shelby Chandler.

(A word about the receptions: Virginia likes them. To my mind, these formal intros, escorts to the East, remarks, etc. take too much time. In my more than twenty years of hanging around research lodges, I’ve noticed how we like to get to the point, leaving ceremonial filler to our Craft lodges. Still, aspects of these rites can be enjoyable, as when an honoree’s comments are on point or something else memorable arises. This was the case when Worshipful Master Butler received RW Robert Carmine, Assistant Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Delaware, in the East and presented him the gift of a tobacco stick—a hardwood pole known in tobacco barns for hanging tobacco leaves to dry. A more practical and modern use these days is as a walking stick.)

After our meeting, we enjoyed a quick lunch together downstairs before driving down the street to catch the ferry to the island and its fort.

Since 1951, it is a Delaware State Park and it also has become home to the Pea Patch Island Nature Preserve with a famous heronry.

The Columbiad Cannon. They fire this sumbitch!

The fort is staffed by re-enactors in period wardrobe who tell you what is was like to have lived at the fort during its stint as a prisoner of war installation. Among them is Bro. Ed from Jackson Lodge, who gave his visiting brethren some additional insights gleaned from his fifteen years there.

Bro. Ed from Jackson Lodge with our WM.

CWLR 1865’s next Stated Communication will be Saturday, October 12 at Lee Lodge 209 in Waynesboro, Virginia, to be followed by a visit to the site of the Battle of Waynesboro, where the Union finally took the Shenandoah Valley in 1865. Click here for more information.

Finally a place to sit down on the hot day.
I hope those are ash trays in the back.

RW Shelby inspects an osprey nest on the island.
The island hosts the largest bird habitat outside of Florida.