‘A Friday the 13th Masonic Moment’

    

You’re in luck! Mitch Horowitz will return to Masonic Hall next month for “The Masonic Moment,” a speaking engagement hosted by Aurora Grata-Day Star Lodge 647. From the publicity:

On this special Friday the 13th lecture, historian and scholar of esotericism Mitch Horowitz will explore the origins, meanings, and purposes of modern “secret societies.” Rather than sinister power centers, authentic esoteric thought movements, including Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, and Illuminism, vouchsafe esoteric ideals from deep within ancient and modern traditions and use symbolical philosophy as a means to ethical self-development. Mitch makes particular note of Masonry’s role in instilling values of ecumenism and protection of the individual search for meaning in America—and how Masonry may yet rescue us from the descent of factionalist politics and culture.

As always, Mitch allows ample time for exchange. Following the talk, he will sign copies of his book Modern Occultism.

Tickets, at $40 each, here.

     

‘Rhetoric and the Columbians’ historic membership growth’

    

The Knights of Columbus, the fraternal service order of the Roman Catholic Church, announced recent growth in membership that pushes its enrollment past 2.1 million worldwide, says its senior officer. If this is accurate, and if I’m not mistaken, they now are larger than all Masonic regular grand lodges combined, as the United States accounts for fewer than 900,000 Masons.

Patrick E. Kelly

At their 142nd Supreme Convention, held in Quebec last Tuesday, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly said 92,000 men joined during the past year, making it “one of our best years of growth in a century,” according to La Croix International, a Catholic news source based in France. “In these challenging times, our mission matters. We must start by building up a new generation of Catholic men—men formed in faith and virtue; men prepared to be missionary disciples.”

And that is where it becomes impossible to contrast their gross gain to Freemasonry’s net losses, because the Columbians rally around their church and doctrine, while Freemasons consistently remain confused or uninformed of who they fundamentally are. However, those two states of consciousness produce dissimilar messaging which we can juxtapose:

Freemasonry: 2B1ASK1

Columbians: “Knights come from every stage of life, in countless corners of the world. Join us as we celebrate real role models in a world that needs men who lead, serve, protect, and defend.”

Freemasonry: We make good men better.

Columbians: “No matter what stage you are in your life, we are all on a journey together. Join us as role models in a world that needs men who lead, serve, protect, and defend.”

Freemasonry: Not just a man. A Mason.

Columbians: “You are a key part in bringing a culture of faith to life in your home, council, community, or parish. Let the Knights help you.”

Freemasonry: Where men build meaning.

Columbians: “There is nothing more effective at evangelizing the culture, than regular, everyday people choosing to live their faith in their homes, councils, community, and parish.”

Obviously, Freemasons cannot speak to any particular religious faith, because we are not a religion or an adjunct of any religion, but it is the pride that shines through the Knights’ words that grabs me. They sound assertive, specific, unflinching. We speak timidly in empty phrases from marketing consultants who have no understanding of who we are, because they’ve been hired by leaders who don’t know either.

Furthermore, Freemasonry is tongue tied by a misunderstanding of our own prohibitions of discussing religion and politics. We are enjoined from arguing over sectarian differences and partisan politics, but we can talk ideas. I’ll avoid the word philosophy, because that frightens some of the brethren, but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, may exchange views, impart wisdom, and uphold truth.

We speak of virtue and morality. We too can speak to leadership and service, to protecting and defending.

Coming next week.

The Lafayette bicentenary is upon us; the anniversary of his arrival in New York is days off. Freemasonry is commemorating this, but does anyone not named Chris Ruli know precisely what we’re celebrating?

The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is twenty-three months away. Are we preparing a jubilee for Americanism, a salute to the Freemasons, famous and obscure alike, who risked life and liberty to establish our country? Will we trumpet their ideas, or would doing so mean PoLiTics? 

At the rate I’m going, I can’t say when I’ll finish it, but for months I’ve been drafting a speech that borrows from Masonic oratory of previous generations to portray how Masons once viewed their fraternity, and thereby maybe help today’s brethren find the confidence to talk about the tenets of our Craft. Unlike the Knights of Columbus, Freemasonry cannot speak of any particular sectarian beliefs, but we do speak of God, and we should voice our universal message for free minds and free societies. Masonry has no canonized saints, but we do have our civic heroes who exemplified these concepts, as expressed in various speeches a hundred years ago:

▪︎ Freemasonry is a college of manhood.

▪︎ Its lodges are moral republics and centers of law and order.

▪︎ We offer a sanctuary of friendship and a school for liberty.

▪︎ Masonry is a voluntary league for the promotion of freedom and virtue.

▪︎ We inculcate the principles of equality, the necessity of law, and the excellence of order in all things.

Sensible people who pay attention to life realize we are stumbling through frightening times. Historically, there always have been scary things happening, but today too many institutions we once trusted are corrupted and the social customs that guided us are perverted. We are eyewitnesses to reality being contorted and made nonsensical all day, every day.

‘Rhetoric,’ per the Grand Lodge of New York.

In his Daily Masonic Progress essay today on Substack, titled “Why Freemasons Must Study Rhetoric,” Bro. Darren Allatt writes:

Why does Freemasonry instruct us to study Rhetoric, one of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences? This ancient discipline, respected by great thinkers throughout history, holds the power to transform not only our communication but our very thought processes.

Click here.

As Masons, we are called to improve ourselves in all aspects of life. But how does mastering Rhetoric contribute to this journey and what wisdom can we uncover from this timeless art?

In today’s fast-paced world, the art of effective communication is more crucial than ever. Yet many of us, Masons included, often overlook the importance of Rhetoric in our personal and professional lives. This oversight leads to missed opportunities for growth, influence, and understanding. Without a grasp of Rhetoric, we may find ourselves struggling to express our ideas clearly, persuade others, or fully understand the messages around us.

Decent men are looking for stability, order, real equality, virtue, morality, freedom, and manhood. For everybody’s sake, Freemasons ought to be as unapologetically bold and clear in speaking the truth as are our neighbors in the Knights of Columbus. The kind of man we seek will respond.

     

‘Of Philalethes and fairy elves’

    

The upcoming issue of The Philalethes, the quarterly journal of the Philalethes Society, was emailed to members last week as a PDF in advance of the print version. As usual, there are many interesting points within.

I won’t take you page by page, but if you, like me, are curious about “The Fairy Elves Song,” as printed in Cole’s Constitutions of 1728, then W. Bro. Nathan St. Pierre, of Lodge of Nine Muses 1776 in Washington, has what you seek—and then some.

In his “Whilst We Enchant All Ears with Musick of the Spheres: The Esoteric Significance of ‘The New Fairies: Or, The Fellow-Craft’s Song,’” St. Pierre takes us back several centuries to gain an appreciation of the Masonic dinner song. Maybe you know Matthew Birkhead, but there is much more to early eighteenth century Masonic music than what appears in Anderson’s Constitutions.

A few bars of St. Pierre:

Fairies are complex preternatural creatures appearing in poetry, trial documents, popular pamphlet stories, and demonologies across northern Europe in the early modern period. While often associated with Celtic beliefs and folklore, fairies also appear in Germanic, Nordic, and Eastern European tales. They are sometimes used interchangeably with ‘elves’ and are related to creatures such as goblins, hobgoblins, ouphs, and urchins. Fairies could be seen as magical helpers in healing and finding lost goods or as familiar spirits of witches. The reclassification of fairies as demonic entities became more common after the 1563 Witchcraft Act. Shakespeare’s fairies, particularly in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, exhibit these characteristics, operating both benign and malevolent magic and interacting authoritatively with the human world.

Elves are creatures similar to fairies, or interchangeable with them, forming part of a wider realm of northern European preternatural beings. In Old English, an ælf was a spirit associated with a particular environment or element, such as water. Elves could cause sickness in humans and animals, leading to the need for charms to ward them off.

And:

The first time “The New Fairies: Or, The Fellow-Craft’s Song” is presented in its entirety is in A Curious Collection of The Most Celebrated Songs in Honour of Masonry, published for Benjamin Creake in collaboration with Benjamin Cole. In that publication, the song is indicated, “as sung at the Lodge in Carmarthen South-Wales.” This very likely refers to the constitution of Naggshead and Starr Lodge in Carmarthen, South Wales on the 9th of June in 1726. The pillar officers installed that day were Master, Emanuel Bowen; and Wardens, Edward Oakley and Rice Davis. Brother Oakley would soon take this song to London where it would capture the attention of the Masonic world.

Edward Oakley, initially recorded in 1721, was actively involved in the foundation and operation of Masonic lodges both in Carmarthen and London. By 1724 or 1725, he co-founded the Naggshead and Starr Lodge in Carmarthen and served as its Senior Warden in 1726. He later became a prominent member of the Three Compasses Lodge in Silver Street, London, where he served as Senior Warden in 1725 and as Master. On December 31, 1728, Oakley delivered a significant speech outlining the qualifications and duties of Masonic members, emphasizing the importance of spreading architectural knowledge through lectures and books. This speech was published in Benjamin Cole’s edition of The Ancient Constitutions of the Free and Accepted Masons (1728), thus reaching a wide audience.

Much more information and context awaits you in this deep paper, but I zeroed in on what attracted me.

Click here for membership information.

     

‘Rubicon conference: Shapers of Our Ritual’

    

The Rubicon Masonic Society will be back next month for its twelfth annual festive board and conference, this time rallying around the theme “The Shapers of Our Ritual.” Four Masonic educators will take turns discussing the four historical figures who, indisputably, have the most to say about the degrees and other ceremonies in our lodges today.

This will be the weekend of September 27 at Lexington, Kentucky. From the publicity:

➤ William Preston, presented by RW Andrew Hammer

➤ Thomas Smith Webb, presented by RW Timothy L. Culhane

➤ Jeremy Ladd Cross, presented by RW S. Brent Morris

➤ Rob Morris, presented by W. John W. Bizzack

MW Terry L. Tilton, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota, will deliver the keynote address at the Festive Board, presenting “The Use of Scriptures in Our Ritual.”

Brethren, it is through ritual that Freemasonry connects us and communicates with us harmoniously through the hourglass of time to teach us its aim and purpose. Come and greet old friends, make new ones, and engage in an in-depth exploration of our ritual and the men who shaped it.

The festive board and conference are separate events; for tickets, hotel, and the rest, click here.

     

‘The Compasses, Quadrant, and Sun’

    

My new ALR Past Master apron from Macoy.

I rarely treat myself to material gifts, figuring I have reached the age when it’s best to stop accumulating things, but I couldn’t resist an apron to commemorate my recent ascent to the East of The American Lodge of Research. As Masonic office-holding goes, this is my last stop.

I’ve been deliberating deeply this year on what my future labors in the Craft ought to look like (i.e., what makes me happy versus what leaves me wanting), and I believe I will limit myself to my three research lodges, unless I join a fourth, while quietly easing away from other Masonic commitments. After twenty-seven years of ceaseless hyperactivity, I am burned out, and there are too many responsibilities that drain my time but bring me little pleasure.

Twenty years ago, I was out of the house seventeen nights a month for this and that meeting; this dropped off steeply long ago but, after I leave the East, it will become more like seventeen per year. The pursuit of happiness for me spells quality over quantity. So, I’m looking at three or four meetings a year of The ALR; four at New Jersey’s research lodge; and maybe one or two with Virginia’s Civil War Lodge of Research, provided it sojourns north of 38° latitude. Plus, it goes without saying, there’ll be time for the occasional lecture here, conference there, the odd symposium, etc.—not to mention table lodges and festive boards. And I want to jumpstart Knickerbocker Chapter of the Philalethes Society. Maybe I’ll stick with AMD. So, possibly, not even the seventeen experiences total each year.

Well, you have to look sharp when you’re that particular, ergo my acquisition from Macoy Masonic Supply Co. shown at top.

Member apron.

Macoy fashions The ALR’s aprons. Not only our officer aprons, but also a smart design for members in good standing. Plus, as of now, because this is the first to be produced, our Past Master apron. They worked with us as we sought to recreate The ALR’s regalia from generations ago, using Harold V.B. Voorhis’ PM apron as a starting point:

Harold V.B. Voorhis’ ALR Past Master apron.

Having this inaugural piece made required patience on both ends of the transaction because I had to be perfectly exact in describing how it must look, and they had to be able to decipher my specs. I thought it would be easy to just request the standard Grand Lodge of New York Past Master design, but rendered in the brilliant colors of the unique materials of The ALR collection—except there seems to be no standard GLNY PM design!

I mean, there are rules—this isn’t Nam—such as how purple and gold are reserved for grand rank (that combo is a bit opulent for my taste anyway), and the Compasses, Quadrant, and Sun may not be joined by the Square (as that composition represents our DDGMs), but the rest seems ambiguous.

Publicity’s PM apron.

The apron presented to our new Worshipful Masters at Publicity Lodge, for example, sport the wreath of laurels surrounding the Compasses, Quadrant, and Sun, but other lodges’ PM aprons do not have the wreath. These aprons are white, with blue trim, and the symbols in silver. Grand Lodge’s law book isn’t demanding on this subject—and that’s good—unless I’m missing it because the tome is hard to navigate.

The ALR Tiler apron.

Also, The ALR has a Tiler this year, so I had to buy him an apron too.

For myself, I prefer the cord & tassel over the elastic belt. I hardly think William Preston wore Spandex!

The process of procuring this apron got me wondering how the Compasses, Quadrant, and Sun combination came to be. Sometimes questions like this can be answered by the Book of Constitutions devised upon the uniting of England’s two grand lodges more than two centuries ago, but it’s not so easy this time. You probably know how, in the end, the English adopted the Square with the 47th Problem of Euclid as their Past Master symbol (Pennsylvania uses it too) but, before that, this C-Q-S design was used for Past Master jewels.

Leicester research lodge’s transactions, Vol. 8.

W. Bro. John T. Thorp, Secretary of Leicester Lodge of Research 2429, presented “The Jewels of the Worshipful Master and the Past Masters” at that lodge’s fortieth meeting on May 28, 1900. Delving into the various official and unofficial literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, he found how different rituals, constitutions, illustrations, and other sources document what such jewels supposedly looked like. Several select excerpts:

Here, Thorp quotes the ritual exposure Jachin and Boaz.

And the exposure Mahabone.

And Three Distinct Knocks, obviously.

About that line or string of cords: It surprises me Bro. Thorp was uncertain about this, but then, he didn’t have search engines, but a cord in geometry is “the line segment between two points on a given curve,” according to dictionary.com. Today it is spelled “chord.”

In geometry, the quadrant can give an understanding of the earth’s circumference. In architecture, it is used, for example, in medieval building to add decorative flourishes to already complex designs.

In one understanding of Masonic symbolism, a speech delivered in 1863 puts it beautifully. On November 3 of that year, at Hampden Lodge in Massachusetts, W. Bro. E.W. Clark, upon presenting a Past Master jewel and collar to W. Bro. F.T. Merrick, said, in part:

There is an old adage that “actions speak louder than words.” Accept then, my Brother, this Jewel, not for its intrinsic worth, but as a token of our esteem for you, and when you wear it, may it call to your mind many of those valuable lessons in which you have so often instructed others.

The compass extended on a quadrant will remind you that your sphere of usefulness in this life is only bounded by your ability to perform. Let the Square remind you, although not the symbol of your office, yet God has made all things square, upright, and perfect. And the Sun, in the center of that great light which God has given us to lead us through life, and when you shall have done with life, and shall have passed to your reward, then may that beautiful passage of Holy Scripture be made manifest to you, which says:

‘The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.’

(See The Freemasons’ Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXIII, No. 3, January 1864, for the entirety of that great speech.)

Worthy of a Grand Master, yet fits beneath the driver seat. It’s a ‘half-size’ apron case. Holds an apron or two, writing supplies, cigars, flask, smallish pistol, and sundry items.

Naturally, one needs a case befitting so grand an apron, and I found the above recently via eBay. Sixty-five bucks! Fuhgettaboutit.

So, when you see me in my circumscribed Masonic travels, don’t be surprised if I show off my new regalia. (Andrew says bring your apron to the MRF for the MacBride EA°.) See you around.

     

‘ONYJRW is next month!’

    

UPDATE 9.10.24: Event cancelled.

Buffalo is much closer to Canton, Ohio than it is to New York City. You can’t even compare the two commutes. Canton is about 150 miles nearer to Buffalo. Plus, you could sail most of the way.

Having just learned this, I no longer feel offended by the Buffalo research guys finding partners in Ohio instead of with us in Manhattan, which I’d assumed would have been the obvious choice. That partnership has birthed an event planned for next month that will bring together five research bodies for what they are calling the Ohio-New York Joint Research Weekend. From the publicity:

Call to Assembly

Joint Meeting

September 13-14

Canton Masonic Temple

836 Market Avenue North

Canton, Ohio

The Ohio Chapter of Research, The Ohio Lodge of Research, The Ohio Council for Research and Development are pleased to announce they will host a joint meeting with The Thomas Smith Webb Chapter of Research of New York and The Western New York Lodge of Research.

Friday, September 13

Buffet dinner at 6 p.m., with ladies invited, followed by an evening of paper presentations.

Saturday, September 14

Continental breakfast, followed by additional paper presentations.

Call for Papers: Anyone wishing to present a paper should contact Jeff Slattery here with your title and approximate presentation length. Also, advise if you will need any equipment for accompanying audiovisuals. If possible, please email a copy of your presentation prior to the meeting. Questions may be directed there too.

Click here for hotel information and ideas for activities for the ladies.

I’d go, except it’s way too far.

     

‘Unity Day tickets are on sale’

    

Click to enlarge.

The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania will host Unity Day this time. Tickets went on sale last Thursday ($75 each) for the Saturday, January 25 event at the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia.

Only 600 seats are available (although I’m surprised that quaint little lodge building of theirs can accommodate that many!), so don’t wait too long to book yours. Looks like a great day.

Grand Lodges participating: Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico. Of course, Master Masons from all recognized grand lodges are welcome to attend.

Ritual work:

Entered Apprentice Degree by Garibaldi Lodge 542 of New York.

Fellow Craft Degree by the Masonic Kilties of New Jersey.

Master Mason Degree by the Colonial Degree Team of Delaware.

Open Installation of Officers and the Entered Apprentice/Fellow Craft degrees combined by the Pennsylvania brethren.

Breakfast, lunch, and a commemorative gift are included in your ticket price.

To be honest, I won’t be there. Too far. Too long (7 a.m. to 6 p.m.) a day. Too many people packed inside. I know I wouldn’t enjoy it, but those who attend these things always express their elation and praise, so let that be your guide.

Click here for tickets.

      

‘Simpsonic degree at Buffalo’

    

There’s nothing wrong with making a little time for frivolity, and the Erie County Masons are going to lampoon the Simpsonic parody of Freemasonry. Yes, that’s right, a “Stonecutters Degree” and rib dinner (they ain’t saying what kind of rib) is being planned for August 24.

Unluckily, I’ll be in Philadelphia with the Masonic Restoration Foundation, but if you’re able to be there, it certainly sounds like a fun end-of-summer occasion.

Call 716.668.2755 for tickets.

(Don’t ask me about the malaprops in the advertisement.)

     

‘NOLA: Freemasonry and the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience’

    

Hurd Hatfield in The Picture of Dorian Gray, MGM, 1945.

Second in a series recapping my recent trip to New Orleans.

I fell asleep the night before with the television on and awoke June 5 to Albert Lewin’s The Picture of Dorian Gray from 1945. After breakfast at the Clover Grill (how do they make the eggs like that?!) and while hurrying to get ready for the day of museum hopping, the TV was still on. You see a certain theorem on the chalkboard. The “Non ignoravi mortalem esse” translates, according to some Google hits, to something like “I have not ignored to be mortal,” which could make for a snappy answer to Memento Mori, if you’re an Al Jaffe fan with a better command of Latin.

It was a great day. At 400 Esplanade Avenue, you get two for one: downstairs is the Old U.S. Mint; upstairs, the Jazz Museum. If you ever collected U.S. coins and gathered a Morgan dollar, maybe there is an O on its reverse. That initial means the U.S. Mint at New Orleans struck that coin, as it had in the manufacture of hundreds of millions of dollars in gold and silver coinage between 1838-61, and 1879-1909.

I’ll have to remember to share this with Civil War Lodge of Research: These scraps of fabric are believed to be remnants of the U.S. flag once flown above the U.S. Mint in New Orleans. Early in the Civil War, Commodore David Farragut sent Marines into the city to seize the Mint, for obvious reasons. Mr. William Mumford, with a few accomplices, allegedly managed to steal the flag, and Mumford reportedly wore the flag’s tatters on his jacket henceforth. U.S. Gen. Benjamin Butler had Mumford hanged in front of the Mint on June 7, 1862. An outraged Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered Butler to be executed immediately if ever captured.

Its museum is a small space, but if you or someone you love is a numismatist, it’s worth visiting.

Upstairs is the New Orleans Jazz Museum. During my research before the trip, I thought maybe a museum devoted to jazz and located in New Orleans would be something on a Smithsonian scale, but not quite. Still a must see, but I was hoping for deeper history than what is offered. There actually was a near absence of Louis Armstrong, which the museum explained is the result of its preparing for Satchmo’s birthday—today! August 4, according to his baptismal certificate—with a special exhibit. The Mint building is the site of Satchmo Summerfest this weekend, if you’re in the neighborhood.

I really thought there might be a Masonic clue somewhere in the exhibits, given how many jazz legends were Freemasons, but I missed it if there is.

In late afternoon, after a bite and a beer at one of the ubiquitous Willie’s Chicken Shacks, I roamed the French quarter and did find something Masonic—finally, after stalking the streets for more than forty-eight hours. A jewelry store on Royal Street had these rings in its window:

Typical Masonic supply company catalog fare.

Satisfied somewhat, I took a seat on the steps of the courthouse on Royal, joining a few homeless men, and lit up an Aroma de Cuba Monarch—a fine Fuente product! Also in my research, I found smoking is prohibited just about everywhere, yet the stench of marijuana is ever-present, so I thought quality tobacco should be represented.

I’m rambling because my memory is failing. I thought this was the day I had visited the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, but that actually was June 6. Anyway, I arrived there late that morning and did find a few Masonic items, plus several mentions of famous Masons.

All Masonic historians know how Masonic halls served their neighborhoods in many ways: as schools, post offices, civic meeting spaces, polling places, and even houses of worship.

This is a facsimile of Bro. C.L. Schlom’s Masonic patent from 1902. He was at labor in South Memphis Lodge 118 in Tennessee. It remains of the rolls today, as Memphis 118, and will meet this Thursday at 7 p.m. for its August communication.

And from the Famous Masons Department:

T.R. kicks ass. Typically, when we think of him vis-à-vis Russia, it’s about ending their war with Japan, but apparently he had earlier interactions.

I’ll have to research Jonas Phillips because he was a fascinating figure in Revolutionary America. I believe the quotation above is borrowed from his petition to the Continental Congress of September 7, 1787, in which he lobbied to avoid religious requirements for Federal office holders. During the war, he would write correspondence in Yiddish, confounding the Redcoats who intercepted the letters. A few websites say he was a Freemason as of 1760. Maybe. I’ll check it out.

      

‘Competition for plaid mad Masonic designers’

    

The initiatives of the Grand Lodge of New York under its new Grand Master are coming fast. The latest is a competition to design a tartan for the brethren here. The graphic above has all the info.

Tartans with Masonic meanings are not completely new. The Grand Lodge of Scotland has had its own for more than twenty years, unsurprisingly. Both the General Grand Chapter and General Grand Council in the York Rite have theirs. I bet there are others.

Design is not my field, but I hope the winning entry incorporates New York’s traditional colors: orange, white, and blue. Or maybe purple, blue, and crimson, in honor of GMHA. Nor do I wear kilts, but I’ll sport a necktie proudly. Flat cap too.

     

‘NOLA: Freemasonry at the Civil War museum’

    

First in a series recapping my recent trip to New Orleans.

Speaking of the Civil War (see post below)…

While it is among the smaller museums in a historic city that offers countless places to visit, Louisiana’s Civil War Museum at Confederate Memorial Hall in New Orleans houses the second largest collection of Confederate items in the world. Established in 1891, it is Louisiana’s oldest museum and it is filled with artifacts donated by men who fought in the War Between the States, and the families who survived them.

And there are several items of Masonic interest.

One enters the cathedral-like Romanesque entrance of the sandstone structure and beholds a gorgeous space crafted of Louisiana cypress with meticulously arranged exhibits. Not a cubic inch is fallow, as the walls display battle-torn flags, and numerous display cases exhibit uniforms, an arsenal of firearms and bladed weapons, and personal items of legendary leaders and regular soldiers alike.

There is a helpful staff who can field most questions, but a visitor is free to enjoy a self-guided walk around. It is recommended that one begin with an introductory video that is screened in a small room off the main hall. It was there where I encountered the first Masonic reference.

The short video tells the story of the museum’s origins, including how some of the first artifacts came into its possession. Part of the narrative involves a letter and a box of personal effects sent in 1867 to the mother of a slain Confederate officer. 

Eliza Crosby Field, of Mansfield, Louisiana, wrote to the late Lt. Charles Horton’s mother in New Orleans. Excerpted:

Dear Mrs. Horton,

Charles Horton

I send by my Uncle, Mr. E.H. Crosby, a box Lt. Horton used during the war. I thought you would like it simply because it belonged to your dear son, and also as a relic of Confederate times. I think such things are heirlooms in a family that should be transmitted from one generation to another through all coming time. There were so few things I had to pack, put straw in with them. In a little book, the Masonic Manual, you will find a lock of his hair which I know from experience you will prize above all things.

That parcel contained insignia off Horton’s uniform, remnants of the Confederate flag and regimental colors he was believed to have held aloft when he was cut down in the Battle of Mansfield on April 8, 1864, and other militaria and personal items. Many of these pieces are displayed inside a glass case, with his uniforms, sword, and the above photo of Horton, in the screening room.

The Masonic Manual is not among them, unfortunately, so we cannot see any possible inscription therein that may have identified Horton’s lodge or other clues. I believe the Masonic Manual most likely was that published by Robert Macoy, a pocket-sized monitorial book of exoteric parts of our degrees and other useful literature. There were several editions of that during the 1850s and ’60s, the first, I think, in 1852.

hanna1172

1861 edition available now on eBay.

Earlier this year, Macoy Masonic Supply Co. in Virginia published a painstaking reprint of the 1867 edition. Not merely a facsimile reproduction, but an actual reprinting in a limited edition, handmade on their 1850s letterpress, employing the original hand-carved wooden dies for the illustrations. (A Magpie review is forthcoming.)

There were other Masonic monitors in that period, but Macoy’s showed the title Masonic Manual boldly across the front cover.

Among the items of more prominent Confederate warriors is a collection that had belonged to Gen. Braxton Bragg. The namesake of Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty) is not remembered kindly by history, as he is blamed for repeated defeats during the Civil War and had earned a reputation for disharmony among the officer corps throughout his career in the American and Confederate armies. He was even court-martialed in 1844, but received easy punishment.

Gen. Braxton Bragg display.

This museum exhibits an assortment of Bragg’s belongings, all attractively presented behind glass: a dress uniform frock coat; his sword, scabbard, and sword belt; a telescope; his Bible; a toothpick; and more. That sword and, oddly enough, the toothpick are the Masonic pieces.

Click here to see Winfield S. Hancock’s sword.

Within the decorative metalwork that fills the weapon’s guard, the Square and Compasses are visible. I wouldn’t say prominently—you really have to look at it—but the initiated eye can discern it easily enough.

Gen. Braxton Bragg’s toothpick.

The toothpick may be made of ivory and is in the shape of a pistol. Plainly seen on the “grip” of the pistol is the Square and Compasses in red. (Maybe there’s a bone box joke somewhere in there!)

The potential for more Masonic content in Louisiana’s Civil War Museum at Confederate Memorial Hall is great, especially when considering Freemasonry’s history and diversity in the Pelican State, but the truth is this museum originated as a meeting place for Civil War veterans, so it is not a large place. (The nearby National WWII Museum spans 33,000 square feet in comparison.) But Freemasons who cherish the study of the Civil War, especially from the Southern point of view, will love this museum regardless of any alleged paucity of Masonic memorabilia.

It is located at 929 Camp Street in New Orleans. Click here for more information and beautiful photos.