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

Preface

Preface The Better Angels of Our Nature: Freemasonry in the American Civil War is a myopic view of the American Civil War. No battles are dissected here, nor are grand strategies explained; rather, this study examines the intersection of Freemasonry and warfare. I have striven, to the extent possible, to rely primarily upon two types of original sources: narrations by individual soldiers and civilians, nearly all of whom witnessed the events firsthand, and Masonic and other fraternal books and circulars that were in print during the nineteenth century. In most cases I have reproduced the statements and assertions of the witnesses verbatim, without altering the text or correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, or usage. Fraternal sources have been accorded the same respect, generally being reproduced in full to illustrate a particular point, with any abbreviations or omissions noted by the use of ellipses. In some cases, for the sake of clarity, I have included editorial corrections (of proper names or identifications of regimental affiliation, fraternal titles, place names or dates), indicated by the use of brackets, but my object has been to interfere with the quoted passages as little as possible. The decision to reproduce original source material has resulted in some quoted passages that are lengthy; my intent has not been to overwhelm the reader with tedious inclusions, rather to present the material unfiltered, allowing x / Preface the original author the opportunity of addressing the reader in a more intimate fashion. It should be noted that upon joining, Freemasons take an oath to never reveal the secrets of the Order, and I may fairly comment upon this fact, for I am a Freemason. This oath, which has been in place since at least the seventeenth century and probably much longer, is the subject of considerable popular fascination that is outside the scope of our subject, but which complicates the role of the historian. Soldiers and civilians who witnessed the events and who were members of the fraternity do not report any details that would violate this oath. Thus period accounts will refer, for example , to a soldier giving “the Masonic distress signal,” but will omit stating what exactly that signal is. Critics may find that a Masonic author, such as myself, cannot objectively write an academic history about the fraternity . Perhaps this is so, but that argument can be countered by the assertion that only a Mason can write a history of this nature where the allusions to Masonry are couched in terms that only a member of the fraternity can recognize. An example illustrates this: while conducting research at a university library for this book, I was privileged to examine the personal papers of an officer who served in the Union Navy. Among the many boxes of material was a small leatherette memorandum book, about the size of a pack of playing cards, described in the catalog as a military codebook. Upon examination, I found that it was not a military cipher. Rather it was a Masonic aide-mémoire—encoded simply by using the first letter of each word for Masonic ritual. When I read some of the more innocuous words to the research librarian, the astonishment was palpable. None of the library staff were Masons, had they been, the contents of the memorandum book would have easily been discovered. While there exists certain advantages in my Masonic experiences, there are also corresponding disadvantages. I have omitted descriptions of Masonic ritual that conflict with my fraternal obligation, not because they are too important to reveal, but simply because I took an oath and I intend to keep it. The purpose of this monograph is not to be an exposé of fraternal secrets. Discussion of ritualistic events that occurred during the war Preface / xi and the inclusion of ritualistic information from various fraternal exposés here are done to provide the reader with some perspective on Masonry itself . This perspective necessarily includes commentary on fraternal ceremonies , and where Masonic ritual can be explained by references to other fraternal orders’ customs and traditions, I have included them to illustrate the concepts. Fortunately for the non-Mason, Masonic secrets, far from being impenetrable, are widely available to the general public in any of a number of books and on the Internet for anyone willing to take the time or trouble to seek them out. And while the secret history of the Freemasons has been a subject of endless, and sometimes breathless, fascination by the popular press since the 1700s (and more...