    
                        FREEMASONRY AIDS RECONSTRUCTION

                            - by - Allen E. Roberts

[Copyright 1990 by Allen E. Roberts]

                               1. Patient Toiling


       The merciful role Freemasonry was to play during the
bitter years of reconstruction started on the day General Lee was
forced to evacuate the trenches in front of Petersburg, Virginia.
A Union Masonic General named Godfrey Weitzel marched his troops
into the Confederate capital and immediately eased the minds of
the inhabitants.

       The General ordered troops to fight the fires which had
been set by the fleeing Confederates; Federal soldiers were used
to subdue the rioting and looting mobs; the homes of women whose
husbands were fighting with Southern troops had guards placed
about them.  Most important of all, Weitzel, on his own
initiative, ordered food rushed to the starving city.

       Major A. H. Stevens, General Weitzel's provost marshal, a
member of Putnam Lodge in Massachusetts, placed Union soldiers
about Masons Hall, the home of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, to
save it from the mob.  He went even further and used his men to
protect the homes of many Richmond Masons.

       The charitable acts of the Masons who captured the capital
city of the Confederacy were talked about throughout the South.
They helped soothe the pangs of surrender and undoubtedly caused
many Southerners to cease fighting earlier than would have been
the case if the inhabitants of Richmond had been treated
brutally.

       The Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of
General Robert E. Lee, surrendered on April 9, l865, at
Appomattox Court House.  On the 10th, Lee bid his command a
sorrowful farewell and left for his home in Richmond.  Grant left
for Washington, leaving behind the Masonic General Joshua L.
Chamberlain to accept the surrender of the Confederate forces.
Chamberlain turned what could have been humiliation for the
Southerners into something they could recall with pride.  He
ordered his men to give the conquered soldiers a full military
salute!

       Chamberlain's brotherly act--a Masonic trait--was
remembered and talked about wherever the former soldiers of Lee's
army traveled.  The South learned there were men who were not
vindictive, but were ready to lend a helping hand whenever
possible.

       Unfortunately, there were men who could not and would not
forgive the citizens of the states that had seceded from the
union of states.  They were men who believed, some of them
honestly, the states of the former Confederacy should be
punished.  A  War had been fought on the principle that no state
had the lawful right to withdraw from the Union.  But when the
war ended, many of those who had proclaimed that principle
refused to let the seceding states return to their former status.

      Abraham Lincoln, before his cowardly murder, made it clear
that he believed the best course for the Federal Government to
follow should be one of moderation.  But even before his death
men such as Sumner, Wade, and Stevens, fought Lincoln's views.
Lincoln's bitter enemies fought his ideas of restoration all
through the war.  Only his martyrdom silenced them.  At the time
of his assassination the radicals within his own party were
planning a campaign against him to ruin the country's admiration
for him.  After he was safely dead, the Republican leaders wanted
the public to overlook their disagreements with Lincoln.

       Andrew Johnson, a member of Greeneville Lodge No. 119,
Tennessee, from the day he was inaugurated President of the
United States, became the target of the radicals in Congress.
They set out to ruin Johnson as they had almost ruined
Lincoln--and they seceded!  Where Lincoln was great, Johnson was
an ordinary man; Lincoln had a fine sense of humor, Johnson did
not; Lincoln could ignore or parry his critics, Johnson fought
them on their own ground and lost.

      Little, surprisingly, is known of the true character of
Andrew Johnson. For many years he stirred up more discussion, and
inspired more people to hatred, then had any man before or since.
Everything he did as a man, as a politician, a General, and as
President, swelled a storm of controversy about him.  His enemies
effectively managed to make the public believe he was a drunken
sot, vulgar, illiterate, intolerable, fool, a tool in the hands
of "Copperheads" and traitors.  So well did they do their work
people today have the same conception of the 17th President of
the United States.

       Actually, Johnson was none of the things the radicals made
him out to be. In a day when hard drinking was the rule rather
than the exception, he drank little.  Lincoln told his Secretary
of the Treasury, Hugh McCullock, "I have known Andy Johnson for
many years. . . Andy ain't a drunkard."  Far from being
illiterate or a fool, he knew more about the Constitution of the
United States than most of those who denounced him.  His defense
of the Constitution was the main reason the wrath of the radicals
descended upon his head.

      While Johnson possessed a few of the assets of personal
charm which causes men to be popular, his oratory could sway a
crowd and he could impress individuals, but he rarely succeeded
in making men love him.  He remained lonely in the White House
while all about him were crowds of people and excitement. Yet, he
was endowed with the Masonic attributes of tolerance and love for
people.  It was his over-abundance of toleration which resulted
in his defeat in his quest for a conservation Congress.

      Johnson is described as being of average height, 5' 10",
broad shouldered and imposing, swarthy of complexion, and with
good features.  His eyes were penetrating and sparkling; his hair
was thick and dark.  He wore a look of distress and
determination.  His voice was mellow, deep in tone, and pleasing,
powerful enough to be heard on the outer edges of any group.  The
vigor and magnetism of his personality when he spoke made his
speeches works of art, but when read in cold print they were not
impressive.

      Born of poor parents, Johnson remained poor until some
years after his marriage to Eliza McArdle, when through the
earnings from his tailor shop he managed to become a man of
property.  He had started work at the age of 10 as an apprentice
in a tailor shop owned by James J. Selby in Raleigh, North
Carolina, where Johnson was born on December 29, 1808.  In 1826
he took his mother and stepfather to Greeneville, Tennessee,
where on May 17, 1827, he was married to Eliza by Mordecai
Lincoln, a cousin of Abraham Lincoln.

      The political career of Andrew Johnson began in 1829 when
he was elected an alderman of Greeneville.  He was returned the
following year, and in 1831 he was elected mayor, a position he
held for three successive terms.  He was elected to the State
Legislature in 1835, defeated in 1837, but returned two years
later.  In 1841 he was elected to the State Senate and in 1843
won the election for a seat in the House of Representatives.  On
October 17, l853, he was inaugurated Governor of Tennessee.  #e
was re-elected for a second term, but refused a third, so the
Tennessee Legislature sent him to the United States Senate.

      Johnson's philosophy was clearly defined when in defending
Polk's administration in regard to Mexico he firmly declared:  "I
care not whether right or wrong, I am for my country always!"  In
the years to follow he proved that time again, in spite of the
fact he was committing political suicide.  The South despised him
for the stand he took in the Senate.  He had stated:  "I am
opposed to secession.  I believe it is no remedy for the evils
complained of. Instead of acting with that division of my
Southern friends who take ground for secession, I shall take
other grounds while I try to accomplish the same end." Many
Northerners hated him because he tried to "accomplish the same
end" by taking other grounds.

      In spite of the efforts of Johnson and many other
Freemasons, in and out of Congress, some of the Southern states
seceded.  The way was paved for the outbreak of civil war.  And
throughout the Civil War Masonry did its best to ease the pangs
of hatred and misery.  When the war ended it was Masonry and
individual Masons who appeared to work the hardest to reunite the
un-united states; to make the period of readjustment one of
restoration rather than the reconstruction it turned out to be.

      While the politicians, most of the newspapers in the
country, and many clergymen were laying the ground work that
would give the country a decade of bitterness, Grand Lodges and
Grand Chapters throughout the United States were asking for a
cessation of all hostilities.  The words of William F. Jefferys
of the Grand Chapter of New Jersey are typical:  "Freemasonry has
now to perform its great mission in this country which is to
'spread the cement of Brotherly Love and Union.'  We believe
there is a Divine Providence in the fact that our Order is at
this time so powerful and numerous, for its influence in the
present crisis must prove most salutary."

      Albert G. Mackey, General Grand High Priest, told his
companions Masonry had done "more than any other organization of
men towards ameliorating the horrors and inhumanity of war."  He
went on to say:  "But although there is no longer a battle of
arms, dissensions still exist.  Bitter feeling is not altogether
allayed.  Some men will remember the past with revengeful or
unforgiving thought."  He called upon Masonry to beseech men to
"lay aside all bitter animosity, to remember that they have a
common language. . . . It is our duty, when hatred lingers in the
land, to seek to overcome that hatred with love."

      The Grand Master of Masons in Georgia, John Harris, called
upon his members to "meliorate the condition of our fellow-men,
to relieve the distressed and needy--to wipe away the widow's
tears, support the orphan, and relieve the distressed from want
and destitution."

      It was a large order Harris was pleading for his members to
undertake. The Grand Lodge of Georgia was almost bankrupt, a were
all of the Masonic Bodies in the former Confederate States.
Their bonds were worthless; many of their farms and homes had
been destroyed; money was practically non-existent, and there
were few ways to earn a living.  The majority of the Grand and
Subordinate Lodges reported zero balances in their bank accounts.

      But Freemasonry proved its universality.  The more
prosperous Northern and Western Lodges sent money and supplies to
the Masons of the South; and they were happy to help.  When C. W.
Nash, Grand Master in Minnesota, reported the dire need of Masons
in the South, asked his members to aid them, and concluded with:
"In the spirit of Masonry, forgive the errors of the past,
remembering that to forget is noble, to forgive, divine; that
indiscretion in them should not destroy humanity in us," those
present contributed $2,292.65.

      Such acts of kindness did more than will ever be known to
eventually cement the country together again.  The thanks
expressed by the Grand Master of Alabama, Wilson Williams, is
typical of what the South had to say.  He reminded his members
that when the war had ended they were powerless to aid the needy,
but "the voice of cheer" from Northern Masons brightened their
lives.  "They bid us welcome to their hearts and give of their
substance to relieve our necessities. . . . By it the gulf of
strife is bridged over, and we enter a land of peace and
harmony."

      Masonic acts were helping to ease the bitter pangs of war,
but political acts were keeping the sections apart.  The shooting
war had ended; a new war, a war of words had taken its place.
Referring to those who did not want the Southern States returned
to the Union, President Johnson stated:  "Before our brave men
have scarcely returned to their homes to renew the ties of
affection and love, we find ourselves almost in the midst of
another rebellion."

      Masonry was to have an uphill battle during the decade of
reconstruction, but it was to win by patiently practicing its
Tenets and teachings.


                      2.  "Friendship, Fraternity, Union"


      What the New York Times called "the most important
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence" in the nation's
history took place in 1865. President Andrew Johnson, the Mason
in the White House, took note of it by writing to David Willis:
"In your joy tomorrow I trust you will not forget the thousands
of whites a well as blacks whom the war has emancipated, who will
hail this Fourth of July with a delight which no previous
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence ever gave them."

      But not all "whites or blacks" agreed with Johnson.  It
would take many years before they did.  The "Carpetbaggers,"
supported by the Radical Republicans, took over much of the South
and caused untold damage.  Years later, when the North awakened
to what had occurred it was appalled at the things that had been
done in the name of the Union.

      Even Johnson did not believe all Southerners should be
"emancipated."  He was to later write to B. C. Truman:  "I shall
go to my grave with the firm belief that Davis, Cobb, Toombs, and
a few others of the arch-conspirators and traitors should have
been tried, convicted, and hanged for treason."  He definitely
wanted to hang Jefferson Davis, former President of the
Confederate States, as an example, but feared it would make him a
martyr.  So Davis was kept in a military prison for two years
without being brought to trial.

      Although Johnson held no sympathy for the former leaders of
the Confederacy, he loved the people and quietly formulated "in
cabinet his plan of leniency for the masses."  His plans were
often made difficult, not only by the Radicals but by Southerners
themselves.  The Southern legislators were almost as unyielding
and uncompromising as were the Northerners who were opposed to
any appeasement.  Johnson pleaded with the Mississippi
Legislature, as well as those of South Carolina and Georgia, to
ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, when they hesitated.  He made
three demands upon the Southern States:  repeal of the ordinances
of secession, ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, and
repudiation of the "rebel" debts, Confederate and State.

      Above everything else, Johnson urged all of the states to
protect the civil rights of all Negroes.

      Through the early months of 1866, the leading Union
generals, the leaders of the country, and the people as a whole,
applauded and supported Johnson's program.  Henry Ward Beecher
wrote Johnson his thanks that "God has raised you up for such a
crisis and endowed you with the ability and disposition to serve
the Nation rather than yourself or any mere party."  But this
situation was to drastically change.

      The opinion of Andrew Johnson had even changed in the
South.  E.A. Pollard, the war-time Editor of the Richmond
Examiner, who had despised both the North and Jefferson Davis,
had written he believed Johnson was a "scrub," a man who was
sprung from a low order of life;" a man who had the shallowness
and fluency of the demagogue."  But Pollard reversed his opinion
and claimed Johnson had changed from the hour he became
President.  "The man who had been twitted as a tailor and
condemned as a demagogue, proved a statesman, measuring his
actions for the future, insensible to clamour and patient for
results."

      Masonic Bodies were also patiently seeking to ease the
pangs of four years of war.  William E. Robinson, Grand High
Priest of Kentucky, told his Grand Chapter:  "I hope that this
Grand Chapter will also take steps to aid in the great work of
reconciliation.  We should extent the hand of 'fraternal love and
affection' to all who desire to discharge their masonic duties,
without any other inquiry than, are they 'worthy and well
qualified?'  Then we will have peace and harmony throughout our
borders."

      The Grand Master of the same State, J. D. Landrum, had been
asked if Masons should attend Masonic funerals of those who
fought for the Confederacy, and whether or not the widows and
orphans of such Masons are entitled to Masonic charity.  To which
he replied:  "Let not politics be mentioned in your Lodges, and
know no difference in men because of political or religious
distinctions . . mantle of masonic charity over the faults of our
brethren, succor the needy, and apply the oil of consolation and
the wine of joy to the afflicted, especially of those of our own
household."

      He went on to congratulate all Masons, because "amid
subsiding kingdoms and crumbling empires, our Mystic Brotherhood
still stands, the great beacon of life  in ages, the friend of
justice, the preserver of peace and humanity."

      Grand Master A. J. Van Deren of Colorado, in one of the few
statements made in that Grand Lodge concerning the war, said:
"Let us exercise due Masonic charity towards those who have been
separated from us by recent national difficulties, and promptly
stretch forth the hand of fellowship, and give them every
facility and offer them every inducement to return to their
former relations of friendship, fraternity and union, and enjoy
with us the prosperity and blessings of our Ancient Order, and of
a free and united people."

      E. H. English, Grand Master of Masons in Arkansas, was
prophetic when he spoke to his Grand Lodge on November 6, l865:
"The terrible storm of war is over, the last faint echoes of its
awful thunders are hushed, its angry clouds are drifting away,
and the sun of peace once more smiles upon our desolate country.
Desolated though it be, yet time, patience, and perseverance in
the pursuit of peaceful and industrial occupations of life will
restore it to its former prosperity."

      William G. Parkhurst of the Grand Lodge of the District of
Columbia wrote poetically:  "Silently, noiselessly, but at the
same time steadily and successfully, has Masonry been pursuing
her great mission, 'to soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with
their misfortunes, to compassionate their miseries, and to
restore peace to their troubled minds.'  Thus may it ever be,
until the arrival of that period, foretold on prophetic vision,
when there shall be no want to relieve, no sorrow to assuage."

      The Grand Chapter of Maryland and the District of Columbia
was told by E. L. Stevens six days later about how Masonry had
been merciful during the days of war and was and would be even
more so during the days of peace.  He ended with words which
prove Freemasonry always had been and always would be a house
undivided:  "We have the most cheering tidings from all portions
of the country; brethren and Companions from the north and from
the south are again gathering around one common altar and
renewing their fraternal vows towards each other . . outside
world may well look in wonder and ak what mysterious power it is
that has such a happy influence upon the hearts and affections of
these men?  Could not the iron hand of pride and of war sunder
the ties and break the knot of love and friendship that united
them in strong fraternal bonds, as it has in religious bodies and
other societies?"

      Freemasonry's philosophy will not admit defeat.  Although
Lodges and Grand Lodges throughout the former Confederacy had
lost all of their money; the men and women of the South rose to
the occasion, tightened their belts, and went to work anew.

      But the Masons of the South were not alone; the Masons of
the North sent tangible proof of their love for their fellowman.
Together they began the long, hard, and agonizing task of
rebuilding and re-uniting the United States of America.

                         3.  The Battle Lines are Drawn


      "Many of the Grand Chapters attest to the kindly power of
the mystic tie in the midst of battle," stated J. Eastman
Johnson, the Grand Secretary of the Grand Chapter of Michigan,
"and this power, ever active cannot but materially aid in
reuniting the hearts of our countrymen, that never should have
been estranged.  This reunion being truly and fully consummated
by the aid, in part, of our Order, our country--great in the
past--becomes greater in the future--one in heart, one in power,
one in its elevating influences, and one in its grand destiny."

      On the same day, January 16, 1866, Thomas Brown, a former
governor of Florida, wrote for his Grand Lodge:  "My Brethren,
our rulers submitted our national difficulties to the award of
the God of Battles, and the issue has been against us.  As
Masons, our influence was exerted on the side of peace.  When war
came, our duty was to be true and faithful to the Government
under which we lived and found protection; and all those
obligations were truly and faithfully discharged, and by our
defeat we have lost all but our honor, which no earthly power can
take from us, if we are true to ourselves and to God.  Then, let
us meet the stern issue like men.  Let there be no murmurings, no
despair, no faintings by the wayside.  Let there be no
crimination or recriminations, or charges of who erred, or who
acted wisely, but like brothers rally together, and show the
world how a brave and magnanimous people can meet adversity and
rise above calamity."

      The world witnessed the people of the South doing what
Brown had suggested.  All classes, those who were poor and those
who were or had been wealthy, labored side by side with grace and
cheerfulness.  Not all bitterness had been set aside, but the
people were grateful for the end of hostilities and the
opportunity to build a new life in the country they loved.

      It was a difficult task the South had undertaken as
evidenced by the report of the Committee on Accounts to the Grand
Lodge of Florida.  It had "examined the books and accounts of the
Grand Treasurer and Grand Secretary. The account books of the
Grand Secretary have been lost.  Those of the Grand Treasurer we
find neatly and correctly kept.  We find in the hands of the
Grand Treasurer $469.18 in Confederate Treasury Notes, which we
recommend be burned and expunged from the books."

      Florida was not alone.  Every Masonic Body in the South was
in the same condition.  The Treasuries contained zero balances.
As Mississippi reported: "(The) cause has gone down, and with it
the money, so that the coffers of the Grand Chapter are now
empty."  So were those of the subordinate Chapters.  But before
Mississippi's convocation was closed, it adopted resolutions
thanking the Masons of the North for their kindness and brotherly
love.

      But the North also thanked the South.  The Grand High
Priest in New York, Horace S. Taylor, told his members:  "The
Masons of the north will ever remember with gratitude the many
acts of kindness of their southern brethren towards unfortunate
prisoners of war who were placed in their power.  Many instances
of their kindness have come to our knowledge."

      An example of how Masons on both sides of the conflict met
in peace and harmony is contained in this report on St. James
Lodge, No. 47, of Louisiana: "without any interruption except
that occasioned by the movement of the military, during the siege
of Port Hudson, (it) has labored up to the present moment, and is
now in a more flourishing and prosperous condition than ever
before in its history.  Situated, as it was, on the very border
of the conflict, it had a delicate mission to perform, and by the
practice of the precepts of our orthodox and catholic religion,
this Lodge earned the respect and esteem of those in authority,
of both sides of the line, and was the only power here
instrumental in mitigating the horrors of war.  That this
confidence was never betrayed or misused, I think we may safely
call on all in authority during that time to bear testimony."

      While Freemasonry was advocating forgiveness and pleading
for unity, the politicians and Northern clergymen were demanding
retaliation against the citizens of the former Confederacy.  This
caused President Andrew Johnson to tell a large audience on
George Washington's birthday in 1866:  "You denied in the
beginning of the struggle that any State had the right to go out.
You said that they had neither the right nor the power.  The
issue has been made, and it has been settled that a State has
neither the right nor the power to go out of the Union.  And when
you have settled that by the executive and military power of the
Government, and by the public judgment, you turn around and
assume that they are out and shall not come in."  He pleaded with
the people to read and study the Constitution of the United
States and promised them:  I will be found standing by the
Constitution as the chief rock of our safety, as the palladium of
our civil and religious liberty."  And he did, although he knew
he was committing political suicide.

      A month later Congress, for the first time in history,
overrode a President's veto of a major measure.  Johnson had
vetoed Senator Lyman Trumbull's civil rights bill, because the
Chief Executive believed it to be unconstitutional and a
violation of the rights of the several States.  From that day to
the end of Johnson's term, Congress overrode many of his vetoes.
But all of his efforts were not in vain.  The University of North
Carolina awarded him an honorary LL.D. degree on June 7.

      Earlier the Congress had upheld a Presidential veto.  The
Freedmen's Bureau bill was sent to the Executive on February 9,
1866; on the 19th the Senate heard Johnson's objections to it.
He felt it was unnecessary, as the existing act had not expired
and its powers were ample; it would prolong military measures
into a time of peace which was not proper; it was
unconstitutional in that it would create tribunals for the trial
of offenders without a jury and without the right of appeal; it
would clothe the President with powers "such as in time of peace
certainly ought never to be trusted to any one man."

      But Johnson's greatest objection was to the taxation
without representation clause of the bill.  He claimed the
Constitution forbade such a clause and 11 States had been
excluded from voting on the bill.

      The bill had originally passed by a vote of 37 for to 10
against, more than the necessary two-thirds to override the veto,
but enough of the Senators switched to make the vote 30 for to 18
against.  The vote stood and the galleries applauded, hissed,
hooted, and were cleared.

      It became apparent to the Radical Republicans, who had
begun work toward impeachment, that steps must be taken to insure
a safe two-thirds majority.  And the leaders cared not who was
hurt.  John P. Stockton of New Jersey had been elected by his
State to serve in the United States Senate.  But he was a
Democrat, so his vote was not considered safe.  It took three
votes by the United States Senate to declare his election void
and his seat vacated.  But it was managed!  The struggle for the
two-thirds majority had begun and before it ended the Senate was
to disgrace the country.

      Thaddeus Stevens had told the Senate why the Southern
States should not be re-admitted to the Union:  "The eighty-three
southern members, with the Democrats that will in the best times
be elected from the North, will always give them a majority in
Congress and in the Electoral College.  They will at the very
first election take possession of the White House and the halls
of Congress."

      Stevens, a bitter cripple who was never troubled with any
reverence for the Constitution of the United States, assumed the
leadership to keep Congress under the control of the Radical
Republicans.  He accomplished his goal by setting forth a program
which claimed the whole subject concerning reconstruction as the
exclusive business of the Congress; to undo all that had been
done by Lincoln and Johnson for the 11 former Confederate States;
to set up a committee of 15 to be the sole judge as to who should
be admitted to the Congress.

      Johnson replied to Stevens program:  "States, with proper
limitations of power, are essential to the existence of the
Constitution of the United States

       So long as the Constitution of the United States endures,
the States will endure; the destruction of the one is the
destruction of the other; the preservation of the one is the
preservation of the other.

      "The true theory is that all pretended acts of secession
were, from the beginning, null and void.  The States cannot
commit treason, nor screen the individual citizens who may have
committed treason, any more than they can make valid treaties, or
engage in lawful commerce with any foreign power.  The States
attempting to secede placed themselves in a condition where their
vitality was impaired, but not extinguished--their functions
suspended but not destroyed."

      Johnson believed all of the States should be invited to
participate "in the high office of amending the Constitution."
He firmly believed all of the States should ratify the Thirteenth
Amendment which outlawed slavery forever. And once that had been
accomplished, the States "whose powers have been so long in
abeyance" be allowed to take "their places in the two branches of
the national Legislature, and thereby complete the work of
restoration."

      The Mason in the White House was to continue to plead for
the rights of all of the States and for the continuation of the
Constitution, while Radical leaders, many of them anti-Masons,
were to continue to fight the President with every fair and foul
means at their command.  Meanwhile, the work of reconstruction
suffered.


                     4.  Bitterness In The Political Arena

      
      The bitterest Congressional campaign in the history of the
United States took place during 1866.  The Radicals in Congress
had to gain their two-thirds control of the House and Senate.
All of their plans depended upon getting rid of the Mason who
occupied the White House because of an assassin's bullet.

      Charles Summer, an anti-Mason, told a large audience in
Boston:  "Witness Memphis, witness New Orleans, who can doubt
that the President is author of these tragedies. . . . Congress
must be sustained in its conflict with the one man power."

      The Memphis and New Orleans affairs he spoke of were blamed
on Andrew Johnson, but the blame was falsely placed.
Provocatively, the third United States colored artillery was
stationed in Memphis in April 1866.  The lack of discipline of
these soldiers was turned into acts of open insolence.  The Irish
policemen of the city were enraged by the contempt and jostling
they had to endure, so on May 1 the police, aided by willing
white citizens, attacked the entire Negro population.  Forty-six
Negroes were killed, many injured, 12 Negro churches were
damaged, four of them burned.

      On July 30, a large procession of Negroes, most of them
armed, marched through the streets of New Orleans.  Shots were
fired, the first by the Negroes, and before the rioting was over
about 200 persons, most of them colored, were dead or injured.
The Northern press condemned what had happened and laid the blame
at the President's doorstep.  Horace Greeley wrote in the New
York Tribune:  "The hands of the rebels are again red with loyal
blood.  Rebel armies have once more begun the work of massacre."
What he and the other Northern editors did not mention spoke
loudly.  More than twice the number of Negroes were killed in the
draft riots in New York three years earlier than had been killed
in Memphis and New Orleans.

      Johnson explained the New Orleans riot to a crowd in St.
Louis:  "Speeches were made . . . exciting . . . the black
population to arm themselves, and prepare for the shedding of
blood.  You will find that a convention did assemble in violation
of law, and the intention of that convention was to supersede the
organized authorities in the state government of Louisiana, which
had been recognized by the government of the United States and
here you will find that another rebellion was commenced having
its origin in the Radical Congress. . . . Every drop of blood
that was shed is upon their skirts and they are responsible for
it."

      These words were spoken during the end of his "Swing around
the circle," which began with his acceptance of an invitation to
participate in the ceremonies of the laying of a corner stone of
a monument in Chicago for the late Stephen Douglas who died in
1861.  Masonic funeral rites had been held for Douglas June 6,
and on the 7th he wa laid to rest with no religious service, but
the Right Reverend James Duggan, Catholic Bishop of Chicago, gave
an eulogy for his warm and close friend.

      Johnson stood toe to toe with his hecklers, which caused an
unfriendly press to undo much of the good he had done.

      But the bitterest pill Johnson had to swallow was U. S.
Grant's desertion of him to accept the patronage of the
Radicals--which was to eventually make him President of the
United States for eight agonizing years.

      Thaddeus Stevens, a violent anti-Mason, fought Johnson and
the South at every turn.  In a speech at Lancaster on September
7, 1865, he stated:  "The whole fabric of Southern society must
be changed . . . . The foundations of their institutions, both
political, municipal, and social, must be broken up and relaid or
all our blood and treasure have been spent in vain.  This can
only be done by treating and holding them as conquered people."

      Stevens' hatred of the South was traceable to personal
injury, according to personal injury, according to J. F. Rhodes,
who wrote:  "During the Confederate invasion of 1863 his iron
works near Chambersburg (Pa.) were destroyed; and common report
had it that this act by which he was again reduced to poverty
increased his virulence towards the South."  The iron works of
Stevens was the only property deliberately destroyed during Lee's
invasion of June-July, 1863.

       During the campaign, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase
traveled throughout New England in opposition to President
Johnson and his policies.  Most of those who opposed the
President did so because after a long and bloody war the North
was in control of the government.  The Northern politicians were
not about to give up their gains without a struggle.  So the
important issues of the day were side-tracked; the Radicals,
using post-war hysteria and dormant bitterness, pushed aside the
true issues which were dangerous to their cause.  For on the
reconstruction issue, when considered on its merits, the majority
of the people supported Johnson, which caused the Radicals to
raise mere shibboleths.

      The dark days of November, 1866 arrived and Wells wrote in
his diary on the 17th:  "The fall elections have passed and the
Radicals retain their strength in Congress.  False issues have
prevailed. . . . President Johnson is denounced as a traitor
because he does not repel and persecute the beaten Rebels."
Stevens and his Radical friends were victorious.  Because of
their victory the next decade became a period of reconstruction
rather than and era of restoration, as Lincoln and Johnson had
wanted.  The groundwork had been laid for the most infamous trial
in the history of the country.

      The intense bitterness throughout the country engendered by
the politicians had its effect on Masonry, but Masons solved
their problems peacefully while the politicians did not.  One
such case arose in New Bern, North Carolina, where Federal troops
had been stationed throughout most of the war.  A group of
Northern Masons desired to form a new Lodge in the city and
encountered many questions of Masonic law, but St. Johns Lodge in
New Bern did approve their request for a dispensation.  The
Worshipful Master, believing the signers of the request for a
dispensation should demit first from their original Lodges,
refused to sign the recommendation.

      Eight of the Northern Masons requested and received demits
and applied to St. Johns Lodge for membership.  They were
rejected, "Proving," one of them stated, "there were men who
forgot the teachings of the order and allowed sectional feeling
to prevail."

      Another request for a dispensation was submitted to St.
Johns Lodge, this one signed only by the eight who had been
rejected for membership.  It was approved!  And the Grand Master
issued a dispensation on September 7, 1866.  The Northerners had
found a Southern Masonic home.

      Freemasonry's role during the reconstruction period was
summed up best by the Committee on Grievances for the Grand Lodge
of Missouri, the State claimed by both the  Federal and
Confederate governments during the war:  "It is not for us, who
preserved relations of loyalty, to pronounce sentence of outlawry
upon brothers, who, wherever they may be, are as conscientious in
their action as we claim to be in ours.  We may grieve that so
many of our brethren entertain conflicting sentiments, that lead
to civil war and carnage; but, as Masons, we hope the day will
never come when our Lodge rooms will be closed against a Worthy
brother on account alone of political opinions."

      But throughout the country political opinions, falsehoods
and half-truths, were to have their affect on the well-being of
the United States for the next century.

                 5.  Bitterness In The Political Arena


      The election of 1866 resulted in a decisive victory for the
Radicals.  But Andrew Johnson would not back down on his
principles.  He knew the voters had decided nothing.  They had no
chance to voice an opinion on any of the issues, not even the
Fourteenth Amendment.  A smoke screen had been effectively laid
by his opponents and all questions about his Southern policy were
evaded.  He believed the public would have backed him if the
issues had been squarely faced.

      Courageous, indeed, would have been the Republican who
stepped up to the open ballot box in the election of 1866 and
dropped in a vote for Johnson.  He would have had to withstand
the scorn, wrath, and social ostracism of his neighbors.  The
secret ballot was more than a decade away and a man would have a
difficult time explaining to his friends and associates why he
was voting for a man whom even a vast majority of Republican
preachers  had condemned.

      While Andrew Johnson, the Mason, was committing political
suicide by upholding the Constitution of the United States, as he
firmly believed he was doing, Freemasonry went about its business
of spreading goodwill and Brotherly Love throughout the country.
While politicians were doing everything in their power to win
votes, regardless of who was hurt (a situation which,
unfortunately, still exists), Masons during the post-war era were
doing everything in their power to heal the wounds still raw from
the war.

      The Grand Lodge of Wisconsin, on June 11, 1867, reported:
"In very many localities in the Southern States, Master Masons,
and the widows and orphans of Master Masons, are in a state of
almost destitution, not having at the present time, the common
necessaries of life, which appeals loudly and earnestly for the
exercise of Masonic charity.

      "And disregarding all questions, differences, and
conditions of a civil or political character, and governed only
by Masonic obligation, your Committee recommends a donation of
ten hundred dollars by this Grand Lodge, out of the charity fund,
for the purpose herein contemplated; and that the sum be drawn,
by the Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master and Grand Secretary, and
so disposed of as shall in their opinion reach the true objects
of Masonic Charity in the Southern States.

      "Your Committee reports further: that we find, from the
best evidence within our reach, that the subordinate Lodges of
this State have donated the sum of $823.50, for the same purpose,
$793.50 of which has been paid in to the Grand Secretary, and by
him disbursed as directed by the Grand Master.  The balance sent
directly, from the several Lodges donating, to the South."

      The Grand Lodge of New Hampshire met the following day and
it, too, appropriated a substantial sum "for the benefit of
necessitous Lodges in the Southern States."  The Grand Master of
Masons  in Minnesota, C. W. Nash, also made a plea: "In this
case, their great hour of need, we should fulfill that great
mission that Masonry teaches, which is to feed the hungry and
destitute; to clothe the naked; to soothe and cherish the
disconsolate; to bind up the wounds of the broken-hearted; and,
in the spirit of Masonry, forgive the errors of the past,
remembering that to forget is noble, to forgive, divine; that
indiscretion in them should not destroy humanity in us."  The
result of his plea--$2,292.65 for the South!

      The Grand Lodge of Alabama, when it met on December 2,
1867, had received some $3,500 from Masons in the North.  Grand
Master Wilson Williams commented: "Just emerging from a long and
disastrous civil strife, in which clouds and darkness were round
about us, with the war echoes and their wail of woe still
tingling in our ears, and longing for peace and tranquillity, we
gathered our clans of scattered craftsmen to comfort those that
mourned, and give aid to the destitute; we could not give aid to
the afflicted, for they mourned those that were not, and
exhausted our means ere the work of relief was well begun.  Thus,
powerless to succor, the voice of cheer comes to us from our
northern brethren-- enemies in war, in peace, friends-- and the
hand of charity is extended to a fallen foe.  They bid us welcome
to their hearts and give of their substance to relieve our
necessities.  We accept with grateful hearts, the aid thus
tendered, and in these acts of fraternal sympathy we recognize
the influence of those noble tenets of our time-honored
order--'Brotherly love, relief and truth.'  By it the gulf of
strife is bridged over, and we enter a land of peace and harmony,
where our feet tread the sacred pavement of the Lodge.  Would
that Masonry were universal; then would all enemies be subdued,
and the nations learn war no more."

      The lessons of toleration taught in Freemasonry appeared to
be lost on the vast majority of politicians, clergymen, and the
press.  As Masons endeavored to ease the pangs of war, others
with the power to unite the country were keeping it divided.
Barefaced lies were spread about the President, although those
who spread them knew his plan was one of conciliation and
forgiveness for the people of the South (but not its war-time
leaders.)  Johnson's adversaries proposed and fought for a policy
of coercion.  Johnson insisted the Constitution be followed to
the letter, so his opponents replied with sweeping amendments.

      Each time the President of the United States vetoed a bill
passed by Congress, it was pounced upon and overridden with
shouts of exultation.  But Johnson was not intimidated or
discouraged by threats or obstructions.  He was grimly determined
to fight for his principles until the bitter end.  And the end
came.

      Johnson fought back with his power of patronage.  He began
replacing officeholders loyal to his opposition with men of his
own choosing.  The House and Senate found themselves attacked
upon their flank.  Party discipline was being destroyed.  Unless
they did something quickly they might have to compromise with
"the great criminal of the White House," or even capitulate. So,
the Tenure-of-Office was quickly passed.  The President was left
powerless to remove any official without the approval of the
Senate.

      The President, deciding to test the Constitutionality of
the Act, and having found the Mason, Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary
of War, an ally of his opponents and no longer endurable as a
member of his Cabinet, sent him a note on August 5, 1867:  "Sir:
Public considerations of a high character constrain me to say
that your resignation as Secretary of War will be accepted."
Stanton refused to "resign the office of Secretary of War before
the next meeting of Congress."

      On August 12 the President appointed General Ulysses S.
Grant to the post of Secretary of War and so notified Stanton,
who replied that "inasmuch as the General commanding the armies
of the United States has been appointed ad interim, and has
notified me that he has accepted the appointment, I have no
alternative but to submit, under protest, to superior force."

      But Grant decided to back up Stanton and did not accept the
office.  On February 21, 1868, Johnson, by virtue of the power
invested in him "by the Constitution and laws of the United
States," again notified Stanton he was removed.  This time Brevet
Major General Lorenzo Thomas was empowered "to act as Secretary
of War ad interim."

      At long last the President had "violated" one of the
obnoxious bills which had been forced upon him.  The House
received the news with exultation!  It was the first time he had
been caught derelict in his duties.  Immediately Johnson's
leading opponents went to work on a bill of impeachment.  But it
did not stop with the removal of Stanton.  The bill became so
ponderous, embracing all of the President's alleged offenses,
"from the misdemeanor of malfeasance in office to the high crime
of bad manners."  It became so all-embracing many people in the
country then, and even today, did not know exactly what Johnson
was guilty of doing, or not doing.

      On Monday, February 24, l868, the House of Representatives
"resolved to impeach Andrew Johnson, President of the United
States, of high crimes and misdemeanors."  The Senate was so
advised and Monday, March 31, l868, was set for the commencement
of the "trial."

      A person viewing the national Capitol on the morning of
March 31st would have believed some great social event was about
to take place.  Fashionably dressed women were arriving in droves
and flocking up the broad stairway.  Their gala attire added
luster to their surroundings in the Halls of Congress.  But only
a few were allowed to pass the doorkeepers of the Senate
galleries.  And those sentinels had a most difficult time for
they were besieged with arguments, explanations, and when turned
away, with unlady-like words of abuse.

      A ticket system had been arranged for the impeachment trial
of Andrew Johnson and those who could not be admitted considered
the system a "gross infringement of American liberty, a
scandalous abuse of political patronage, and generally an
outrage."  It was repeatedly asserted that Congressmen and
Senators had disposed of their tickets to the highest bidders.
It was claimed they had received "fabulous prices" for them.

      Strangely enough, although the rotunda and the lobbies of
both Houses were crowded, few males sought admittance to the
Senate galleries.  Every available seat was occupied by members
of the fair sex long before noon.  Their gay apparel contrasted
strangely with the somber scene upon the floor.  Washington was
represented behind the flutter fans by ladies of every official
walk of life.  Wives and daughters of Congressmen mingled freely
with the social leaders of other sets.  And the galleries buzzed
with chatter and laughter.

      The busy tongues were stilled when the sergeant-at-arms
rose and commanded silence.  The Senators were in their places,
except for one vacancy, but that was quickly filled by a man whom
no one thought would have the nerve to take his place as one of
the judges of Andrew Johnson.  He was Benjamin Wade, the man who
would become President of the United States, if, as seemed most
likely, Andrew Johnson was impeached.  It appeared to many that
the Senator from Ohio had committed a breach of good taste
against everything men held dear and cast doubt upon the
integrity of the Court.

      The Chief Justice of the United States, Salmon P. Chase,
who had campaigned against Johnson, was ushered into the chambers
and faced 54 Senators, representing 27 States and nearly forty
million people.  The counsel for the President followed.  There
were five:  Henry Stanberry, former Attorney-General of the
United States, Benjamin Curtis, former Justice of the Supreme
Court, Thomas Nelson, one of the ablest lawyers of Tennessee,
William M. Evarts, and William Groesbeck.

      "The Honorable Managers on behalf of the House of
Representatives" was next announced and six men walked in in
pairs with arms linked.  They were Butler, the Mason who hated
the President passionately, George S. Boutwell, John A. Bingham,
Thomas Williams, Benjamin Wilson, and John A. Logan.  After they
were seated, all eyes were focused on the entrance.

      A solitary figure of an emaciated old man, leaning heavily
on a cane and dragging a crippled foot along the floor, crept
toward the bar of the Senate. He declined a place at the
manager's table, drew a chair apart from his associates and
settled himself to watch the proceedings.  Thaddeus Stevens, the
anti-Mason and anti-everything, with the hand of death upon his
shoulder, had come to aid in the degrading of one of the men he
hated--Andrew Johnson.

      The Chief Justice said:  "The Sergeant-at-Arms will open
the court by proclamation."

      "Hear ye! hear ye! hear ye!  All persons are commanded to
keep silence while the Senate of the United States is sitting for
the trial of the articles of impeachment exhibited by the House
of Representatives against Andrew Johnson, President of the
United States."

      The most infamous trial in the history of the Republic had
      started.


                  6.  The Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson


      In other times and other lands it has been found that
despotisms could only be tempered by assassination, and nations
living under constitutional governments even have found no mode
by which to rid themselves of a tryrannical, imbecile, or
faithless ruler, save by overturning the very foundation and
framework of the Government itself," stated Benjamin Butler,
Mason, in his opening address for the prosecution before the
Senate in the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, Mason and
President of the United States.

      Some three hours later, a bored, sleepy, and disappointed
audience sighed with relief when Butler finished reading his
tirade against the President.   He had addressed 54 Senators, 44
of whom were able lawyers, during which he had informed them the
Senate, organized as a Court of Impeachment, was not a court;
therefore, it was not bound by precedents; it could make its own
rules of evidence; it could be a "law unto itself."  He then
proceeded to quote precedent after precedent to support his
contention that precedents were not required.

      Butler claimed Johnson was only filling out Lincoln's
unexpired term and Edwin Stanton, Mason, having been appointed by
the latter, could not be removed by the former under the terms of
the Tenure-of-Office Act.  Johnson's term being Lincoln's term,
the President had violated the law by removing the Secretary of
War, claimed Butler.  The Massachusetts Mason roused the sleepy
and bored audience for a time by stormily denouncing Johnson's
opposition to the Congress. He believed that was criminal.

      It appeared as though Butler's research had gone for
naught.  Many of the Senators were openly disgusted and knew in
their hearts the power of impeachment was being misused for party
purposes.  It was even likely the President had gained some
ground and his opponent's case had begun to totter.

      There was plenty of elbow-room in the galleries the
following day, but shortly after the proceedings opened, one of
the most important decisions of the whole trial was made.  For
some unknown reason, the Senate and the Managers from the House
of Representatives were afraid to trust the rulings of Chief
Justice Salmon P. Chase, the man who, in spite of his high
office, campaigned against the President during l866.

      Henry Stanberry, a counsel for Johnson, objected to a
conversation a witness had with General Lorenzo Thomas on the
evening before the general assumed the office of Secretary of
War.  The Chief Justice ruled "the testimony is competent, and it
will be heard unless the Senate think otherwise."  Charles Drake,
a Senator from Missouri, appealed from the decision "of the
Chair."  The debate which followed lasted for several hours.  The
Senate finally decided it, and not the Chief Justice, should, and
would, determine what testimony could be admitted and excluded!

      Before the trial began, William P. Fessenden, a Republican
from Maine and a Mason, received a letter from General Neal Dow
of his home State demanding that the Senate "hang Johnson by the
heels like a dead crow in a corn field to frighten all his
tribe."  Fessenden was outraged and replied:  "I wish you, my
dear sir, and all my other friends, to know that I, not they, am
sitting in judgment upon the President.  I, not they, have
solemnly sworn to do impartial justice.  I, not they, am
responsible to God and man for my action and its consequence."

      From the moment Fessenden's reply was made public, although
he had formed no opinion as to the guilt or innocence of Andrew
Johnson, abuse was heaped upon him.  He finally became sickened
by the farce of the trial, became convinced only political
motivations had caused the impeachment, and announced he intended
to respect his oath and vote for acquittal.  The storm broke
about his head and the impeachers became shameless in their
intimidation against him.

      The betting as to the outcome of the trial fluctuated from
day to day. The New York Herald reported on May 3 the odds were
against Johnson; five days later the odds were even.  And so it
went.

      Manager Boutwell, carrying on for the prosecution, claimed
Johnson's conviction was certain.  He strongly suggested as a
fitting punishment the occupant of the White House be thrown
through the atmosphere to "a vast space which the uneducated call
the hole in the sky."  There he was to disappear forever.
Evarts, one of Johnson's lawyers, recommended Boutwell should be
given the honor of conveying the President to the abode
suggested.

      On Monday, April 27, Thaddeus Stevens rose to speak against
his arch- enemy, Andrew Johnson.  The original plan called for
him to be the last of the speakers for the House Managers, but
although there were two managers yet to be heard, Stevens was a
dying man and they dared not wait any longer.  He had sat
death-like at the managers' table throughout the trial, waiting
for his moment of triumph.  It arrived! and as he moved to the
rostrum to add to the arguments against the President, all could
see his body had lost its strength, but his mind was as cunningly
sharp as ever.  The crowded gallery became uncommonly still.

      Shortly after Stevens had started his speech, he requested
permission to be seated.  A half hour later, his voice failed and
Butler finished his task. Stevens proved he was more convinced
than anyone that Johnson was guilty, but of what exactly the
President was guilty, he appeared to have trouble determining. He
rehashed everything Johnson had done since assuming office in
April, 1865, although every argument he offered had already been
satisfactorily answered. But he appeared to consider disloyalty
to the Republican party as the President's greatest crime.  He
warned all Radical Republicans to vote for impeachment or suffer
the penalty of "infamy which must mark his name, and that of his
posterity!"  That left them wondering what the political
consequences would be if they were rash enough to vote contrary
to Stevens' wishes.  They were soon to learn!

      The final formal arguments were heard on May 6; a brief
session was held the following day, and the court was adjourned
until May 11.  The pressure on doubtful Senators was redoubled.
The President also went into action.  He sent the name of General
John M. Schofield to the Senate to be confirmed as Stanton's
successor.  It was a move designed to appease Radicals and
Conservators alike.

      Each Senator was allotted 15 minutes on May 11 to tell how
he intended to vote on each of the Articles of Impeachment and
why.  The impeachers hoped in this manner to determine how close
they were to winning the long battle. Although the speeches were
made behind closed doors, word about what was transpiring leaked
out to the President and the press.  When the long day was over,
Johnson's opponents could count on 35 sure votes--one less than
enough for impeachment.  So the vote was not taken on the
following day--the Senate was adjourned until the 16th, and an
unrelenting effort was made to add one more vote to the total of
35.

      The Republican convention met on May 21 and Grant was so
certain of winning the nomination he was asking for support to
succeed Benjamin Wade as President.  Wade was so positive of
replacing Johnson he had selected many of the members of his
Cabinet.  Among them was Benjamin Butler who was to become
Secretary of State!  And the Senators who it appeared would vote
"not guilty," received a variety of dire threats.  Lyman Trumbull
was advised "not to show himself on the streets" for fear "the
representatives of an indignant people hang him to the most
convenient lamp-post."  Horace Greely wrote of one of the Iowa
Senators:  "We have had Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, Jefferson
Davis, and now we have James W. Grimes."  And Grimes suffered a
stroke of apoplexy from which he never was to recover.

      Saturday, May 16, 1868, arrived and the chamber was again
filled to overflowing; 1500 people were crowded into a space with
a seating capacity of 1000.  The managers and the lawyers for the
President took their places; the Chief Justice looked over the
room as Senator Howard was carried to the Senate door on a
stretcher.  Fifty-three of the "judges" of Johnson were in their
places.  The Democrats tried to stall the vote, but their attempt
was ruled out of order; there was to be no debate.  It was
quickly agreed to vote first on the 11th Article, it being the
one the impeachers believed held the best chance of passing.  And
as Fessenden was asking for a postponement to await the arrival
of Grimes, he appeared.  All 54 Senators from 27 States were
present for the historical occasion--one never seen before or
since.

      The 11th Article was read; the Chief Justice asked:  "Mr.
Senator Anthony, how say you, is the respondent, Andrew Johnson,
President of the United States, guilty or not guilty of a high
misdemeanor, as charged in this article of impeachment?"
"Guilty," said Anthony and sat down.  So it went until the entire
roll had been called alphabetically.  When every Senator,
including the shameless Wade who expected to ascend to the
Presidency, had voted, the Radicals clamored for adjournment--the
vote stood 35 guilty, 19 not guilty--Johnson was saved by one
vote!  They knew only one course was open to them--delay for
further coercion!

      Again the room was packed on May 26, the day set for the
vote on the remaining Articles.  Instead of starting with the
first, as previously agreed, the Radicals changed the rules, as
they had been doing throughout the "trial." The second Article
was read by the clerk; as before, the Chief Justice asked each
Senator, "how say you?"  They voted exactly as they had on the
16th (see chart of the vote taken at the Impeachment Trial of
Andrew Johnson).  The third Article was read; the question was
asked; the vote remained the same; the Radicals were in despair!
Williams, the floor-manager, threw in the towel:  "I move that
the Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment, do now adjourn
sine die.  It was carried!  The most infamous trial in the
history of the United States was at an end!

      Mrs. Johnson learned of her husband's acquittal when the
news was brought to her in her sick-room.  "I knew he'd be
acquitted!"  she exclaimed through her tears.  If the President
was elated, he did not show it.  His manner remained calm and
dignified, as it had all through the harrowing weeks.

      The Mason in the White House should have left all America
proud of him, but it was to take years before his greatness was
to be recognized--and then only by a few.


      Sixteen Senators were Freemasons; 11 voted guilty, 5 not
guilty, this plus other aspects of the trial and events leading
up to it, discounts the theory that President Johnson was placed
on trial because he was a Mason.  The Masons voting for
conviction were:

   Richard Yates, Sr. (R), Harmony Lodge No. 3, Jacksonville,
   Illinois Oliver Hazard Perry Throck Morton (R), Hiram Lodge
   No. 42 (now No. 417), Centerville, Indiana (EA Degree only)
   Zachariah Chandler (R), Detroit Lodge No. 2, Michigan John
   Milton Thayer (R), Capitol Lodge No. 101, Iowa (now No. 3,
   Omaha, Nebraska) William Morris Stewart (R), Nevada Lodge No.
   13, Nevada City, Nevada James Warren Nye (R), Hamilton Lodge
   No. 120, New York Aaron Harrison Cragin (R), Franklin Lodge
   No. 6, Lebanon, New Hampshire George Henry Williams (R),
   Harmony Lodge No. 12, Portland, Oregon Simon Cameron (R), Past
   Master of Perseverance Lodge No. 21, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
   William Sprague (R), St. John's Lodge No. 2, Providence, Rhode
   Island George Franklin Edmunds (R), Washington Lodge No. 3,
   Burlington, Vermont

      The five Masons voting against conviction were: James Dixon
   (R), St. John's Lodge No. 4, Hartford, Connecticut Willard
   Saulsbury, Sr. (D), Franklin Lodge No. 12, Georgetown,
   Delaware Edmund Gibson Ross (R), Topeka Lodge No. 17, Kansas
   Garrett Davis (D), Lodge not known, but Grand Orator of  Grand
   Lodge of Kentucky William Pitt Fessenden (R), Rising Virtue
   Lodge No. 10, Bangor, Maine


(Note:  The information contained in the following chart came
from the research of Jerry R. Erikson, F.P.S., the undisputed
authority on the Masonic membership of Congressmen.)
