The Better Angels of Our Nature: Freemasonry in the American Civil War

6 A More Decent Interment

6 A More Decent Interment The Masonic historian Albert G. Mackey observed, “when a Mason has reached the third degree, he becomes entitled to all the rights and privileges of Ancient Craft Masonry. . . . These are the rights of membership, of visitation, of relief, and of burial.”1 The rights of visitation and membership concern Masonic rules and customs for visiting and participating in lodges, and touch our subject only peripherally. The right of relief, and the ways in which Masonic assistance was offered during wartime, we have already explored in chapter 3. The last of these traditional Masonic rights—the right of burial—was also a part of the influence of Masonry during the Civil War, and Masonic burials figured prominently during the conflict. In part because of the religious overtones of the fraternity, and in part because the ritual and traditions of Freemasonry focused on the transition from life to death, Masonic funeral services were popular among members in the nineteenth century, as they are today. Writing in 1855, Mackey commented that the origins of the Masonic funeral traditions were obscure, but that it was the right of every third degree (Master) Mason to be buried with Masonic honors if he desired it. After a very careful examination, I can find nothing in the old charges or General Regulations, nor in any other part of the funda- More Decent Interment / 129 mental law, in relation to masonic burial of deceased Brethren. It is probable that, at an early period, when the great body of the craft consisted of Entered Apprentices, the usage permitted the burial of members, of the first or second degree, with the honors of Masonry. As far back as 1754, processions for the purpose of burying Masons seemed to have been conducted . . . But the usage since then, has been greatly changed; and by universal consent, the law . . . is now adopted . . . “No Mason can be interred with the formalities of the Order, unless it be at his own special request, communicated to the Master of the Lodge of which he died a member—foreigners and sojourners excepted; nor unless he has been advanced to the third degree of Masonry, from which restriction there can be no exception . Fellow Crafts or Apprentices are not entitled to the funeral obsequies.”2 During the Civil War, many soldiers took advantage of the right of burial. In most cases, these honors consisted of a funeral service officiated by fellow fraternity members, who assembled graveside in white aprons to give their final farewells. Period accounts list hundreds of notices of these Masonic funerals in newspapers and periodicals, and many fallen soldiers buried far from home, or who could not be transported home for interment for one reason or another, also received a Masonic ceremony if their affiliation could be discerned.3 Even during active campaigning, it was not uncommon for Masons to assemble and give a brief Masonic funeral service on the battlefield. At Malvern Hill, on 1 July 1862, for example, Capt. John E. Beam of Battery B, 1st New Jersey Light Artillery, was directing fire from his battery ’s position near the West house onto rebel batteries 1,500 yards away. The New Jersey cannoneers were effective in, “knocking these batteries to pieces” and forcing their retreat, but the tenacious Confederate gunners soon reappeared with more cannon, and a furious artillery duel developed. During this fusillade, Beam was killed. A prominent member of St. John’s Lodge No. 2 in Newark, Beam was well respected by his men. While the 130 / Chapter 6 battle was still raging, but presumably after Battery B had fended off the rebel attack, some of Beam’s men took his body to “the orchard in the rear and buried him with Masonic honors, the rattle of musketry and the roar of cannon being the funeral dirge.”4 The importance attached by Masons to funeral rites is central to understanding the nature of the fraternity. Although a Masonic burial service is not a requirement of the fraternity, many members choose to receive it, and the “lecture” given at the grave by the Master of the Lodge is emblematic of the teachings of the fraternity. Masonry, then as now, teaches its members to “circumscribe our desires and keep us in due bounds with all mankind, but more especially with a brother Mason,”5 and the funeral service serves to reinforce those admonitions with the hope of a reward in the afterlife. Although the fraternity promotes tenets that...