‘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.

     

‘Brotherhood Night next month’

    

If you enjoyed Unity Day at Masonic Hall in Manhattan last Saturday, maybe you’ll want to attend Brotherhood Night next month.

The Grand Lodge of Delaware’s annual affair welcoming brethren of New York, Pennsylvania, and more to Nur Shrine in New Castle will be the ides of March.

I think the graphic above says it all.

(The Magpie Mason cannot attend as the fifteenth of March is World Sleep Day.)

     

‘Masonic Unity Day in January’

    

Masonic Hall will be the venue next January when Grand Lodge will host brethren from the grand lodges of Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey for a daylong exemplification of the Craft degrees. From the publicity:

Masonic Unity Day

Saturday, January 27

9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Masonic Hall

71 W. 23rd Street

Manhattan

$50 per person

The Grand Lodge of New York will host a Grand Jurisdiction Unity Day, where the Grand Lodges of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania will come together to exemplify their versions of the Craft degrees in an event open to all Master Masons.

While in general terms, the Craft rituals practiced by the various grand lodges in the United States stem from the same roots, these rituals can be significantly different, yet successfully maintain the same lessons practiced by regular and recognized grand lodges around the world. This very unique event will allow Master Masons from all jurisdictions who, for many reasons, might never travel outside their jurisdictions, and be able to come together to witness a variety of Craft degrees.

The participating grand masters will make history, and such an event will be remembered forever. It is a perfect example to prove that Freemasonry, while independently governed, is a one big family of Brothers.

Opening: Grand Lodge of New York

EA°: Grand Lodge of New Jersey

FC°: Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania

MM°: Grand Lodge of Delaware

Hiramic Drama: Team from the Grand Lodge of New York in full costume.

Open to all Master Masons. Hot breakfast buffet at 8 a.m. and gourmet catered lunch at noon will be provided. Cost is $50 per person. Tickets are available here.

This is not a one-day class. The purpose is to exemplify the degrees. If, however, a grand jurisdiction decides to confer the degree it is exemplifying on its candidates, the Grand Lodge of New York will welcome them to do so. All lectures pertaining to the actual degrees (if any) will be omitted on this day due to time restrictions.

For all other information, please contact RW Stewart C. McCloud II here.

Being a New York Mason, who used to be a “New Jersey Mason,” and who recently saw a Third Degree in Delaware, I know the three systems are very similar, but not identical. It has been eight years since I’ve witnessed any Pennsylvania work, but I know theirs is the noticeably different method. Actually is said to be anomalous in the country. I’ve been told it is like the Bristol ritual (Rite of Baldwin in UGLE), but I have no idea. (Don’t listen to anyone who says it’s based on Scottish Rite. It has nothing to do with Scottish Rite. AASR Craft degrees are similar to what Garibaldi Lodge works. See post below.)

Definitely will see you there.

     

‘Capitol cornerstone commemoration Monday’

    

No red-blooded American Freemason needs to be told Monday is the 230th anniversary of the cornerstone-laying ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, and that Bro. Washington himself led the Masonic rites, but maybe you don’t know that a lodge in Delaware will commemorate the historic event with a re-enactment led by the Grand Master.

Doric Lodge 30 even garnered some media coverage already. Looks like fun, and it will be open to the public. Click here for details.