THE BUILDER MARCH, 1918

FREEMASONS IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
BY BRO. CHARLES S. LOBINGIER, 33d HON., DEPUTY FOR CHINA

BROTHER J.E. Morcombe in a series of scholarly papers once declared
(1) that after "a very serious course of historical reading
extending through several months and covering (the?) period of the
last three centuries" he was regretfully forced" to reject "as
mainly mythical the alleged participation of American Masonic
Lodges, as such, in affairs of the Revolution."

A statement like this, coming from such a diligent and
distinguished Masonic student, deserves consideration and analysis.
If correct it destroys many cherished beliefs; if incorrect it
ought, in justice to the craft, past and present, to be so
declared.

My own investigations have led me to a somewhat different
conclusion. And while I am not prepared to say that the direct
"participation of American Lodges" in our struggle for nationality
was extensive, still I cannot but feel that their indirect
assistance was great and their actual participation at certain
stages determining. I will, therefore, state the results of my
survey (2) of this field in language employed when it was first
completed and, that my readers may themselves be enabled to judge
of the soundness of my conclusions, I will, for each important
statement, cite my authority.

At the outbreak of the Revolution Masonic lodges in America were
few and feeble. The oldest of them had existed less than half a
century (3) and the membership was exceedingly small (4). But what
was lacking in members was more than supplied in quality. The
Freemasons of that period included the flower of colonial
citizenship and their very fewness was a source of strength. In a
small lodge all could know and trust each other; all felt the need
of absolute secrecy in deliberation--of solidarity in action. Hence
it is not strange that some of these colonial lodges became the
centers of revolutionary propaganda (5).

ST. ANDREW'S LODGE

Foremost among these was the Lodge of St. Andrew at Boston. Founded
in 1756 and chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1760, it
began its career independent of English influence and just in time
to share in the opening scenes of the war for independence. Joseph
Warren was its Master, Paul Revere one of its early initiates and
secretaries and later its Master, and on its rolls were the names
of John Hancock, and James Otis and many others who are now
recognized as the leading characters of that eventful epoch. And
almost every important movement in the patriotic cause in Boston,
preceding and precipitating the Revolution, may be traced back
directly or indirectly to St. Andrew's Lodge.

The famous "Sons of Liberty," organized in 1765 to resist the
enforcement of the Stamp Act, were but an offshoot of this Lodge,
and was also the "North End Caucus" (6) to which was committed the
execution of some of the most daring plans of the patriots. Both of
these organizations met at the Green Dragon Tavern which was owned
and occupied by St. Andrew's Lodge, and the members of the latter
were leaders in the former. It was at this tavern that the historic
Boston Tea Party was planned by Warren, Revere and other members of
St. Andrew's (7). The records of the lodge disclose that on the
evening after the tea-laden ships arrived in Boston Harbor there
was an adjournment on account of small attendance and the secretary
adds the significant note that "consignees of tea took the
brethren's time." The minutes of December 16, 1773, the date of the
tea party, show that the lodge was again adjourned until the next
evening (8). Its members were among that band of enthusiasts who
had boarded the ships and were rapidly heaving the obnoxious tea
into the waters of Boston Harbor.

In the stirling days which followed it was Paul Revere of St.
Andrew's Lodge who earned the title of "The Patriotic Mercury" or
"The Messenger of the Revolution." Thousands of miles he rode on
horseback, spreading the news of the destruction of the tea,
bearing despatches to other colonies, to New York and Philadelphia,
to Provincial and Continental Congresses (9). And on that memorable
night before the battle of Lexington it was by order of the Master
of St. Andrew's, Joseph Warren, that Bro. Paul Revere set out upon
his famous ride to Concord to warn his countrymen of the foe's
approach--a ride which has been immortalized by the magic pen of
Longfellow who tells us that

"Through all our history to the last 
In the hour of darkness and peril and need 
The people will waken and listen to hear 
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed 
And the midnight message of Paul Revere."

And when at last the storm, which for years had been gathering,
burst in all its fury, it was St. Andrew's Lodge which furnished
the first great martyr to American liberty. Joseph Warren, Major
General in the Continental Army, fell at Bunker Hill; and thus the
lodge which had almost initiated the war gave up its Master in the
battle which determined forever the supremacy of the American arms
in Massachusetts. No other organization, civic or military, of its
numbers, can be compared to St. Andrew's Lodge in the extent of its
contributions to the American cause. The title "Cradle of Liberty,"
which has been applied to Faneuil Hall, rightfully belongs to the
Green Dragon Tavern where gathered that little band of Masons who
precipitated the American Revolution.

THE OTHER PATRIOTIC LODGES

But there were other lodges which rendered valuable services in the
war for independence. St. John's Provincial Grand Lodge at Boston,
the older rival of St. Andrew's, furnished, in the person of its
Deputy Grand Master Ridley, the engineer who planned the American
fortifications at Bunker Hill (10). St. George's Lodge at
Schnectady, N. Y., where many Revolutionary officers were made
Masons, honored itself and the order by appropriating lodge funds
for the support of the families of its members who had been taken
prisoners (11).

The intimate connection between Masonry and the patriotic movements
is also shown by the growth of the order at this time. Master's
Lodge alone, at Albany, received eighty-three new members during
the historic year 1776 (12).

MILITARY LODGES

But the most important service, after the Revolution was fairly
launched, was rendered by the lodges formed in the Continental
Army. There were ten of these (13), they were scattered among the
camps from Massachusetts to North Carolina, and their growth was
fostered and encouraged by the Commander-in-Chief. Washington
himself attended their communications frequently--now as a visitor,
meeting soldier brethren on the level (14) and now as Master
sitting in the Oriental chair and bringing a candidate to Masonic
light (15). It was in one of these lodges--American Union at
Morristown, N. J.--that Lafayette is believed to have received his
degrees  (16). Lodge meetings were sometimes held in officers'
tents (17) and sometimes, as in the case of the army encamped on
the Hudson, in a permanent building specially erected for that
purpose (18). And so active were these military Masons that a
movement was started and several conventions held at Morristown
with a view of establishing an American General Grand Lodge and
making Washington Grand Master of the United States (19).

It is difficult to overestimate the strategic value of these army
lodges. In the first place they promoted fellowship and solidarity
in the ranks and sympathy between officers and men. In an army
where the humblest private might sit in lodge on a level with the
Commander-in-Chief there arose a spirit of self-sacrifice, mutual
helpfulness and devotion--an esprit du corps--which no hireling
soldiery could have. Where the distinctions or rank were lost in
the ties of brotherhood, even the sufferings of that terrible
winter at Valley Forge might be made endurable.

Again, the prevalence of Masonry in the patriotic army insured
secrecy in the plans of campaign and fidelity in their execution.
Councils of war it is said, were frequently held in the lodge room
where their deliberations were under the double seal of Masonry and
patriotism. Generals could entrust their dispatches to couriers who
were brother Masons and feel certain that nothing would be
divulged. Thus our eighteenth century brethren formed the strong
arm of the Continental service. It is claimed that nearly every
American general was a Mason (20); certainly the leading ones were.
Even the allies, Lafayette, the Frenchman, and Steuben (21) and
Dekalb, the Germans, were members of the order. John Paul Jones,
the founder of our navy, is known to have petitioned St. Bernard's
Lodge at Kirkcudbright, Scotland, and probably was a member of it
(22). Had the Freemasons been withdrawn from the Continental forces
the Revolution must have been a dismal failure.

OUR BRETHREN OF THE OPPOSING FORCES

But we must never forget that not all Freemasons of the Revolution
were enrolled in the patriotic ranks-- that they were numerous in
the opposing army as well. Peter Ross, the historian of the Grand
Lodge of New York, records as operating during the war in that
state more than thirty British military lodges (22a). And to the
fact that Masons were actively engaged on both sides is due some of
the most gratifying incidents of the war. It has been said that the
fairest flowers are those that bloom over the wall of party; but
how much more must be said of those that bloom amid the strife of
armies.

Early in the war an event occurred that proved the strength of the
Masonic tie. At the battle of the Cedars near Montreal, Col. John
McKinstry, a Freemason, was captured by a band of Indians, allies
of the British, whose chief was the celebrated Joseph Brand, also
a Mason. In accordance with savage custom the prisoner was bound to
a stake, fagots were piled around him, and the torch was about to
be applied, when he gave to Chief Brand the sign which Masons know
the world around--the grand hailing sign of distress. Indian though
he was, the chief recognized the sign and ordered the torture to
cease, and he and his captive became fast friends for the rest of
their lives (23).

Again, in 1779, Joseph Burnam, a Mason who was held by the British
as a prisoner of war in New York City, escaped and sought shelter
in the Green Bay Tree Tavern, kept by another Mason named Hopkins.
This tavern served as a meeting place for St. John's Lodge, which
was composed mostly of British officers. The fugitive was secreted
in the tavern garret which was just above the lodge room, and while
he was reclining at night on the planks which formed the garret
floor these gave way and precipitated the unfortunate guest into
the center of the lodge in the very midst of its deliberations. The
landlord, who was also the Tiler, was called upon for an
explanation, and he, like a good Mason, made a clean breast of the
whole affair. Whereupon the members of the lodge took up a
contribution for the fugitive brother and, though his enemy in war,
assisted him to reach the American lines across the Hudson River
(24).

Another instance of Masonic magnanimity occurred when the brave
Baron DeKalb, our German ally, was slain at the battle of Camden in
1780. Although he had crossed the Atlantic to take part in a
quarrel that was not his, against the British, he was buried by
them with both Masonic and military honors (25).

But perhaps the most significant illustration of the effect of
Masonry on the war was the action taken by the Grand Lodge of
Scotland. It is well known that the war was unpopular in many parts
of Great Britain; but some of the subordinate Scottish Lodges,
urged perhaps by government officials, had offered bounties for
recruits to the army. When the Grand Lodge met it condemned this
practice in unmistakable terms and in its instructions declared:
"Masonry is an order of peace and it looks on all mankind to be at
peace or at war with each other as subjects of contending
countries." (26)

RECIPROCITY IN THE AMERICAN ARMY

These are illustrations which, thanks to Masonic teaching, reveal
the foe in a better light than some are wont to think of him. Let
us notice some expressions of the same spirit on the American side.

At the battle of Princeton, 1776, Captain William Leslie, a Mason
and son of the Earl of Leven, of the British Army, received a
severe wound. He was taken in charge by Dr. Benjamin Rush, the
celebrated surgeon who was then on Gen. Washington's staff, but was
found to be "past all surgery." He was also buried with Masonic and
military honors and this fact was announced by Col. Fitzgerald,
Gen. Washington's aide, who entered the British Camp for that
purpose under a flag of truce. Later Dr. Rush erected a monument,
which may still be seen, at Brothel Leslie's grave "as a mark of
esteem for his worth and respect for his noble family (27)."

Lodge Unity was a military lodge in the 17th foot of the British
army. In 1779, while the regiment was engaged in a skirmish, the
constitution and jewels of the lodge were lost, but were returned
to it by Col. Parsons of the American Union Lodge in the opposing
army, with a letter reciting that:

"As Masons we are disarmed of that resentment which stimulates to
undistinguished desolation; and however our political sentiments
may impel us in the public dispute, we are still brethren, and (our
professional duty apart) ought to promote the happiness and advance
the weal of each other." (25)

An even more striking instance occurred when the Masonic chest of
the 46th British infantry was captured by the Americans. Upon
hearing of it, Gen. Washington ordered the chest and other articles
of value returned to the owners accompanied by a guard of honor
(29). The London Freemason's Magazine, commenting on the
circumstances, from an English standpoint, says:

"The surprise, the feelings of both officers and men may be
imagined when they perceived the flag of truce that announced this
elegant compliment from their noble opponent but still more noble
brother. The guard of honor, their flutes playing a sacred march,
the chest containing the constitution and implements of the craft
borne aloft like another Ark of the Covenant, equally by Englishmen
and Americans, who, lately engaged in the strife of war, now
marched through the enfiladed ranks of the gallant regiment, that,
with presented arms and colors, hailed the glorious act by cheers
which the sentiment rendered sacred as the hallelujahs of an
angel's song."

Thus, above the storm and stress of armed strife. the soothing
spirit of Masonic fellowship brooded like a bird of calm. If Masons
precipitated and promoted the struggle they likewise mitigated its
horrors and made possible the disclosure of the noblest traits in
both American and Briton. It is the proudest heritage of
Revolutionary Masons on both sides that the fraternal tie was one
which not even the shock of arms could sever, and that amid the
fiercest passions engendered by war they never quite forgot they
were brethren. The record of this forms the fairest, brightest page
in the history of the Revolution.

IN THE COUNCILS OF STATE

When we turn from scenes of carnage to the more peaceful haunts of
diplomat and statesman, during the Revolution, we find Freemasons
there active and influential. It is a notable fact that the
earliest suggestion of a Federal Union of the American colonies
came from the first American Grand Master, Daniel Coxe, who in 1730
received a deputation as Provincial Grand Master, made this
suggestion in a work published as early as 1716, (30) and may
therefore properly be called the first Federalist. It was this
idea, adopted later and advocated by another eminent Mason and
Provincial Grand Master, Benjamin Franklin, that grew into the
union established by the constitution framed two generations later.
The Declaration of Independence, it has been declared, (31) was the
work of a Mason and many of the signers of that instrument are
believed to have been members of our order (32). Freemasons were
foremost in the Philadelphia Convention that framed the Federal
Constitution and thus completed the work of the war. Besides
Washington, the President, and Franklin, the Nestor, of that body,
Hamilton, the genius of the Convention, was a Mason (33).

AT THE COURTS OF EUROPE

But after all it may be that Masonry's most effective service to
the American cause was rendered not at home but abroad. We know
that the aid of France was a powerful, if not indispensable factor
in the outcome of the war and that the sympathy of other
Continental powers was advantageous. But why should these haughty
monarchists of Europe look with favor upon the struggling republic
of the New World ? Why did they not turn the same deaf ear as
recently to the Boer envoys? There seems to have been some
mysterious influence which changed their once hostile attitude into
one of friendship; and recent investigations have led to the belief
that this influence was the Masonic order (34).

When Franklin, the Freemason, went to Paris to plead the American
cause at the court of St. Germain, he naturally sought out the
members of the fraternity. At the "Lodge of the Nine Muses," where
he often attended, he met the intellect and statesmanship of the
gay French capital, and it is believed that partly, at least,
through these influences he was enabled to reach the ear of Louis
XVI, to secure for us the French fleet and army, and thus to turn
the tide of the war in favor of the American cause at its darkest
hour. And thus the record of Masonic service in the Revolution is
complete. There was no part of it in which Masons did not share and
no important phase which would probably have succeeded but for
them.

But we fail to grasp the full significance of this noble record if
we see in it only a source of pride and gratification. It is all
this but much more; for every page imposes duty, obligation,
responsibility. If it be true, as the record seems to teach, that
American nationality was largely brought about by Masons, and that
to this end the best energies of the craft were devoted in the
trying times of the Revolution; if our predecessors gave "their
lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor" to start the republic
on its glorious career, surely we can best prove true to the
traditions of American Masonry by continuing the work which they
began. Our advantages, if not our opportunities, are greater than
theirs. The feeble fraternity of that day has become a powerful
order now--from a few thousands it has grown to nearly two
millions, carefully selected from the ranks of American
citizenship. Its representatives are found in every official
station (35) from Presidents (36) down. What possibilities for good
government and high political ideals do these facts express; what
a mighty leverage for civic progress and reform ! And this is the
highest lesson taught us as a craft by Freemasons of the American
Revolution: To place patriotism above partisanship, to preserve and
extend the free institutions of the republic, to maintain the honor
and dignity of the nation at home and abroad, and thus to realize
the lofty ideals of our eighteenth century brethren, bequeathing
them as a priceless heritage to generations yet unborn.

REFERENCES:

(1) Record of Intolerance, 21 Am. Tyler-Keystone 549. See a reply
in Vol. 22 of the same periodical, page 113.

(2) Undertaken while preparing an address as Grand Orator before
the Grand Lodge of Nebraska.

(3) The earliest American Lodge is claimed to have been St. John's
at Philadelphia, formed about 1730. See Gould, History of
Freemasonry, Vol. IV, p. 233, et seq.

(4) Bro. Ross, historian of the Grand Lodge, concludes (N. Y. Grand
Lodge Proc. 1900) that there were not more than 250 members of New
York Lodges during the Revolution.

(5) There seems every reason to admit what has been so often
claimed by our historians, that the Masonic Lodges scattered
throughout the country were as beacon lights of liberty, and that
within our tiled doors the Revolution was fostered and
strengthened." -- Ross, Historian of Grand Lodge, N. Y. Proceedings
(1900), p. 315.


(6) Goss, Life of Paul Revere, (1891), pp. 117, 121-2.

(7) Centennial Memorial of the Lodge of St. Andrew, and the
Massachusetts Grand Lodge (1870).

(8) Goss, Life of Paul Revere, (1891), pp. 121-2; Gould, History of
Freemasonry, Vol. IV, p. 347.

(9) Id. p. 118 et seq.

(10) Gould, History of Freemasonry, Vol. IV, p. 220.

(11) Ross, Historian of Grand Lodge, N. Y. Proceedings (1900) p.
313.

(12) Id. p. 315.

(13) Gould, History of Freemasonry, Vol. IV, pp. 222, 227.

(14) Ross, Historian of Grand Lodge, N. Y. Proc. (1900) pp. 298,
305; Hayden, Washington and His Masonic Compeers; Capt. G. P. Brown
in American Tyler, Dec. 15, 1900; Mackey, Encyclopedia of
Freemasonry, p. 869.

(15) Ross, Historian of Grand Lodge, N. Y. Proc. (1900) p. 308.

(16) Gould, History of Freemasonry, Vol. IV, p. 224.

(17) Id.; Ross, Historian Grand Lodge, N. Y. Proc. (1900) p. 308.

(18) Capt. G. P. Brown in American Tyler. Dec. 15, 1900, says:
"American Union Lodge was the banner lodge of the Continental Army.
It had a very large membership, including several of Washington's
foremost generals. In 1782, while the patriot host was encamped on
the banks of the Hudson the attendance of that renowned lodge
became so large that it was necessary to erect a building for its
regular meetings. At a stated assembly of the lodge the question
arose. General Washington was among the large number of visitors
present and spoke at some length on the erection of a suitable
building for Masonic purposes. And it was but a few days later when
the noble-hearted commander-in-chief and eminent Freemason ordered
the erection of a wooden structure. It was nearly sixty feet long
and of the old style, one-story plan. It formed a complete oblong
square. It had but one door, which was on the west end; its windows
were fairly good size, square and over six feet from the ground,
thus to keep off the cowan and eavesdropper which were so plenty in
the Continental army at that time.* * * One of the many noted
Masonic celebrations held within those sacred walls was the
festival of Saint John the Baptist, June 24, A. L. 5782."

(19) Gould, Vol. IV, pp. 224-5; Ross, pp. 304-5; Mackey,
Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 870.

(20) Gould, Vol. IV, p. 224. G. P. Brown, in the article last above
quoted, gives the following list of those who participated in the
celebrations there mentioned: "Generals Washington, Gist, Putnam,
Hamilton, Jackson, Armstrong, Parsons, Heath, Thompson, Patterson,
Clinton, Dayton, Greaton, Brooks, Huntington; Colonels Cilley,
Gridley, Burbeck, Nixon, Bradford, Clarke, Parke, Gray, Johnston,
Sherman; Captains Marshall, Brown, Hait, Coit, Redfield, Lacey,
Chapman, Ten Eyck; Lieutenants Heart, Hosmor, Hobart, Buxton,
Russell, Barker, Sherman, Curtis, Heath, Bush, Spear, Cleveland,
Palmer and a host of petty officers and privates. General John
Stark, the hero of Bennington, was a Mason, initiated, according to
Brown, in St. John's Lodge, No. 1, Portsmouth, N. H.; according to
Ross, in Master's Lodge, Albany, N. Y.

(21) Baron Steuben was a member of Trinity and an honorary member
of Holland Lodge, both of New York. See N. Y. Grand Lodge Proc.
(1900), p. 309.

(22) See American Tyler, Vol. 15, p. 478

(22a) See also Sachse, Old Masonic Lodges of Pennsylvania,
1730-1800, especially the chapter on Unity Lodge No. 18, A. Y. M.,
abstracted in the New Age, XXIV, 539.

(23) Stone, Life of Brant, (1838), Vol. I, pp. 18-33; Vol. II, p.
156; Gould, History of Freemasonry, Vol. IV, p. 221; Ross, N.Y.
Grand Lodge Proc. (1900), 307.

(24) Ross, N. Y. Grand Lodge Proc. (1900), 302, giving an extract
from the printed history of St. John's Lodge; Mitchell, History of
Freemasonry (1817), p. 501.

(25) Gould, History of Freemasonry, Vol. IV, p. 222.

(26) Lyon, History of the Lodge of Edinburgh, p. 83; Mackey,
Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 868.

(27) Sachse, Old Masonic Lodges of Pennsylvania, abstracted in New
Age, XXIV, 539.

(28) Ross, 2, 98, 99. The letter is reprinted in the New Age (XXIV,
639), from Sachse, Old Masonic Lodges of Pennsylvania. This Lodge
Unity appears to have received successive warrants from the Grand
Lodges of Ireland, Scotland and Pennsylvania.

(29) Ross, 299, 300.

(30) The work was entitled "A Description of the English Province
of Carolina." See Gould, History of Freemasonry, Vol. IV, pp.
231-2; Ross, N. Y. Grand Lodge Proc. (1900), pp. 295-6.

(31) Capt. G. P. Brown, of Boston, in a private letter, furnished
the information on which this statement is based

(32) P.G.M. Baird in THE BUILDER (II, 351), mentions twenty-three.
Cf. Gould, History of Freemasonry, Vol. IV, p. 220; N. Y. Grand
Lodge Proc. (1900) p. 81; John Carson Smith in American
Tyler-Keystone, XXIII, 300.

(33) Ross, N. Y. Grand Lodge Proc. (1900), 305

(34) The late Gen. John Carson Smith, of Illinois, to whom I am
indebted for favors, conducted these investigations.

(35) In a recent enumeration of the Massachusetts and New Hampshire
Legislatures more than one-third of the members were found to be
Masons; in one branch the proportion was one-half. 15 Annals of
American Academy 81.

(36) P.G.M. Baird in THE BUILDER (II, 351), presents a list of
seventeen Presidents who were Masons, and mentions another (Grant)
who may have taken the E. A. degree. This is more than two-thirds
of the whole number.

