Richard Cox, John Missing and William W. Crause. The necessary working tools, aprons and paraphernalia were obtained and so constructed as to take up the least possible space, and so as to be packed away easily and carried with the regiment, but no opportunity was given these enthusiastic brethren to do any Masonic work, as they were kept in constant motion and always "on the jump," until finally the first communication was held in a tent at Camp Hamilton in Virginia. After this the regiment was ordered to Fort Monroe, where, in a double casemate in the western face of the fort, the brethren met and did due Masonic work. The small space in the casemate was often thronged with brethren from other regiments, who came to witness and participate in the Masonic work, and often gray-clad soldiers were seen in these gatherings, enemy without, but brethren within the Lodge room, and in all the time this Lodge was kept up not a single instance is recorded where the Masonic obligation was violated or where the military discipline was transgressed. In all thirty-two Masons were made in National Zouave Lodge, who afterward returned to civil life and joined various Lodges. Many of these are still active Masons now and are gathered in the folds of the Masonic Veteran Association, as well as in the Veteran Battalion of the Regiment and Grand Army posts. Among these are Brother Charles H. Ludwig, from whom much information for this article was learned; also Brother Biddle, Marscrop Westlake, William H. McMurray, Putnam Field, William A. McNulty and R. W. Herman Cantor. Many interesting reminiscences are related by the brethren of this military Lodge, which was kept in existence from June 1, 1861, to May 25, 1862, and was prolonged by M. W. John J. Crane, then Grand Master, to May 25, 1863. In December, 1861, the Lodge held a St. John's festival, with ball, banquet, etc., which was a great event in camp. At a fire which occurred in the village of Hampton in July, 1861, some members of the regiment, members of Zouave Lodge, saved the regalia, working tools, etc., of the local Lodge, and under military rule delivered them to Gen. Butler, then commanding the department, and they were by him carefully packed and sent under flag of truce to the commanding officer at Sewell's Point, to be forwarded to the Grand Lodge of Virginia.

At the capture of Fredericksburg some soldiers discovered the rooms of the local Lodge, and in a spirit of fun dressed themselves in the regalia found there and started to parade the streets. Gen. and Brother John E. Bendix saw them and drove them all back to the Lodgeroom and made them carefully replace all the emblems and regalia,

which were afterwards also forwarded to the Grand Lodge of Virginia.

In sanctioning the movement for these military Lodges, Grand Master King was not animated by any desire to swell the ranks of the fraternity or even to contribute to the social or other privileges of those who already belonged to it, but to try to make Masonic influences active at times and in places where it was peculiarly needed. "On the battle field," he said, "by the hospital couch of the wounded and dying, in the widow's home of desolation and in the squalid abodes of want and poverty let the light of Masonic charity and mercy shed forth its cheering beams, bringing balm to the sufferer, comfort to the sorrowful and sustenance to the poor and hungry, and not only will the dark picture of our country's sad condition be greatly enlivened and relieved, but we shall have the threefold comfort and satisfaction of having been faithful and true to our God, our country and our order." It was felt, however, after due time, that all this could be accomplished with equal readiness and perfection when undertaken by individual brethren than when attended to by Lodges, especially by those whose organization at best was only intended to be temporary. That Grand Master King was in error in his suppositions and expectations in supporting the formation of such Lodges and that the Grand Lodge in authorizing them really violated one of the most cherished of the American Masonic landmarks, is clear to us, but only so because removed as we are by the soothing hand of time from the feelings engendered by the conflict, we can study the question calmly and with a knowledge of all its details. It is possible, nay it is easy, to take a philosophic view of murder in the sanctity and security of our study, but our philosophy is apt to be thrown to the winds when we find the murderer's hands grasping our throat as we pass along the highway. The nation in 1861 was aflame, it had but one object in view and that

object sent men of all shades of politics side by side into the tented field. The angry passions of men were aroused, and if in the hope of performing deeds of mercy the Grand Lodge violated a landmark, it was done at a time when many cherished landmarks on all sides were being thrown down. At the same time there is no getting away from the fact that in issuing dispensations empowering Lodges to work in territory covered by other Grand Lodges it had departed from one of the laws which had ruled American Masonry from the time that Grand Lodges began to be formed. It did not matter that rebellion existed, or that Grand Lodges were inoperative in the territory where such Lodges were expected to sojourn. According to Masonic custom the territory was secure from Masonic invasion while the Grand Lodge within it existed. The government did not declare war against States, did not acknowledge that States had seceded. It simply declared war against individuals who had taken arms against its authority.

Besides, in the very nature of things, these dispensations were only issued to bodies which were not intended to be permanent, and in this they differed from the old military Lodges, to which American Masonry owes more than can ever be fully realized. These old Lodges in regiments were permanent institutions or were so designed. The one issued in 1776 to the Coldstream Guards still exists and one given to the 52d Regiment was operative from 1761 to 1825, to give two random instancesand territorial jurisdiction was never a distinct landmark of European Grand Lodges as it is among those on this side the Atlantic. Again these old Lodges were not enlisted "for the war," they were as permanent as those expressly located in London, and they served a decidedly useful purpose, inasmuch as they were actually Masonic missionaries, holding aloft the light of Masonry in whatever part of the world military duty or necessity called the command in which they

were located. No better proof of the influence of these old military Lodges exerted can be afforded than a study of the early history of our Grand Lodge under the Rev. Brother Walter. The Lodges brought to the front by the civil war never possessed, never were intended to possess, influence enough to add one iota to the dignity, the honor, the beneficence of the fraternity in general.

All this was clearly perceived by Clinton F. Paige, and when he became Grand Master, in 1863, he steadily set his face against granting or continuing such dispensations, and if this distinguished brother had performed during his long Masonic career no other service to the craft than this he would have deserved to have been held in kindly remembrance for putting a stop to these military Lodges and thus removing from New York a bit of folly, undertaken in the heat of pardonable enthusiasm, which might have led to disastrous consequences in the long run. In 1864, in reviewing his official career during the year that had passed, Paige spoke on the subject and defined his position in words. which should be regarded as a landmark if a like condition of affairs should ever confront the Grand Lodge and the country— which God forbid should ever be:

I have received several applications for the formation of military Lodges to be attached to regiments in the field, and one to be located at the headquarters of one of the military departments in a Southern State. I have never regarded these organizations with favor, and my observation of the manner in which the majority of those heretofore granted by us have conducted their affairs has confirmed me in the opinion that the objections far exceed any advantages resulting from their establishment. But aside from the question of expediency there is an unsurmountable objection to my mind in the fact that, when the military organization to which such a Lodge is attached removes from beyond the limits of our State an infringement of the jurisdictional rights of other Grand Lodges is inevitable and unavoidable.

The right of exclusive jurisdiction within the political territory where there is a Grand Lodge already in existence is now universally recognized

and implies full authority and exclusive control over all Lodge organizations and labors of the craft within the limits of that territory; and I can discover no principle of Masonic law nor equity that will justify us in sending one of our Lodges into another jurisdiction temporarily that would not with equal propriety allow us to establish a Lodge permanently therein. Entertaining these views I declined granting dispensations, and submit the question to the better judgment of the Grand Lodge.

These forcible words brought about the desired result and a resolution was passed declaring "that the further establishment or continuance of military Lodges is inexpedient on the ground both of right and utility."

The war, as it proceeded, furnished many examples of the beneficence of Masonry and of its influence in subduing the angry passions of many of the contestants, individually, on both sides. It stayed many a rifle shot, it bound up many a wound, it ministered in all stages to the sick and the dying, it carried many a last loving message to bereaved homes, South as well as North. In its presence sectional lines were obliterated, and when all else was sacrificed to the ruthless exigencies of war we find more than one instance where Masonic properties were preserved intact and finally restored to their owners. A hundred instances illustrating all this might be recorded, but this is neither the time nor the place adequately to enter into such details.

as it stands on record in the annals of the New York Grand Lodge. Among the prisoners taken at the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, was Private Edwin Cole, of the 71st New York Volunteers, a member of Hope Lodge, No. 244. After a while he was removed to New Orleans where his sufferings were intense. His captivity was shared by eight other members of the fraternity and when their standing and condition became known I. Q. A. Fellows, Grand Master of Louisiana, came to their assistance with clothing, medical attendance and other necessities, and above all gave them that fraternal sympathy which was in itself a comforting and strengthening elixir, better than all that an apothecary could prepare. When this act of kindness was brought to the attention of the Grand Lodge of New York, it acknowledged it in the following words:

Whereas, The exhibition of this true Masonic feeling under the embarrassing conditions of our country is in the highest degree commendable and demands some special notice from this Grand body; therefore

Resolved, That the fraternal acknowledgments of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York be and are hereby tendered to Most Worshipful Brother Fellows for the fraternal kindness and Masonic hospitality on this occasion referred to and that it is accepted by the Grand Lodge as another evidence of the universality of Masonry, and that its tenets and inculcations are illimitable and im

TOWARD the close of Finlay M. King's term the Grand Lodge lost. several valued members by the hand of the Grim Reaper. James Hyde, who was Junior Grand Warden in 1854-55-56, died at Richfield Springs on May 1, 1862, at the age of 68 years. He was a zealous craftsman and "through good report and ill" an outspoken and devoted exponent of Masonry, one who sought to show by his daily walk and conversation anu by his blameless life that its influence tended to bring to the front all that was good and beautiful in human character. In the same month died Past Grand Treasurer John Horspool, a tried and trusted keeper of the treasury in the five years between 1844 and 1849, when the office was beset with peculiar difficulties. Oren Brown, Grand Pursuivant, and a faithful servant of the craft, also passed away in the spring of 1862. Later in the same year the death was announced of the Rev. James H. Perry who in 1854 and 1855 was Grand Chaplain, and in that as well as in other respects, was an invaluable officer. Despite his holy office, his zeal for the Union cause was such that he was one of the first to volunteer for active service at the front and he was in command of a regiment of volunteers when, on June 18, 1862, he succumbed to disease contracted in the field. Another lamented death of that year was that of James M. Hatch, who had served as Junior and Senior Warden, respectively, in 1852 and 1853. In reporting his death the Grand Lodge Com

mittee on Deceased Brethren well said: "He was known among his peers for his firmness and decision of character. His allegiance to the fraternity was strong; he was replete with accurate Masonic knowledge, and was deeply devoted to the great principles of justice to all men. His sincerity and zeal proved obstacles to his advancement of position, but he did more than yeoman's work as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence."

Finlay M. King was succeeded as Grand Master, at the annual meeting in June, 1862, by Dr. John J. Crane. He was born at Middleton, Conn., in 1820, and graduated at Princeton, completing his studies in New York, where he entered upon his profession as a physician and slowly built up an extensive and lucrative practice. In 1873 he married the daughter of Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, and her wealth added to his own enabled him to retire into private life. His wife died and he married a second time; that union also added to his wealth, and his later years were spent mainly in travel and at his country seat near New Haven, Conn., where he died March 4, 1890.

During his later years Crane took little direct interest in the craft, but for a long time. before he was elected Deputy Grand Master, in 1861, he was one of the most active brethren in the Metropolitan district. In 1851 he was initiated in Holland Lodge and, according to the records of that Lodge, was elected the same year Junior Warden and became

its Master in 1852, and was re-elected in 1853 and 1854 and again in 1858 and 1859. His services to Holland Lodge, tendered and performed at a very critical period in its history, were of the most valuable description, and it was well said by Joseph N. Balestier in his "Historical Sketches of Holland Lodge," that "if Van den Broek was the chief builder of our temple, Crane was its chief restorer."

The tide of battle which rolled over so large a portion of the country during the year of Crane's Grand Mastership and the consequent excitement throughout the nation, prevented any great or important business being enacted, as might have been expected under so gifted a leader. But the energies of the country were directed toward the prosecution of the war and Masonry felt the drain which the conflict was making upon the resources of the land. Progress was certainly made in the craft, but it was slow, for many of its most enthusiastic devotees were away in the front fignting for the defense of the principles of their heart and the government of their choice, and every mail brought news of some one having allen, some light gone out, some home plunged into mourning.

The war was still prosecuted during the two years, 1863 and 1864, during which Crane's successor Clinton F. Paige occupied the Grand East, but when he addressed the brethren for the last time as Grand Master in June, 1865, peace had been restored, Lee had surrendered at Appomattox, Johnston had lain down his arms at Raleigh and the flag of the Confederacy had been furled. Peace reigned and there was rejoicing, although the rejoicing was tempered by the knowledge that he whose arm had guided the ship of state through these four years of anxiety and bloodshed and fraternal hatred and wrong, had been struck down by a contemptible coward just when the ship had crossed the breakers outside and was sailing into the harbor.

O captain, my captain, our fearful trip is done The ship has weather'd every rock, the prize we sought is won.

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

O, the bleeding drops of red
Where on the deck my captain lies,

Fallen, cold and dead!

But the death of Lincoln, mourned in every home north of Mason and Dixon's line and regretted, at least, in every Southern heart whose finer principles had not been crushed out by the horrors of years of warfare and the sting of defeat, tempered, but could not stop the gladness felt when the cry was repeated that "the war is over!"

In addressing the brethren in 1865 Grand Master Paige said:

Under Providence the truth and right have come out of the fierce trial undimmed and triumphant. No longer will the soil of the republic tremble beneath the shock of contending armies, no longer will brother meet brother upon the battlefield, nor the misguided children of our common country be found in hostile array against the government of our fathers. The angel of peace has at last unfolded her spotless wings, and, as her gentle influence resumes its wonted sway, the reunited millions, forgetting their animosities and remembering only the glory and perpetuity of our free institutions, will hail the standard of the Republic as the symbol and token of trials and difficulties overcome in the past, of concord, amity and union in the future. * * * Masonry is the daughter of peace, striving always and ever to promote conciliation and friendship, to unite men in acts of benevolence, to turn their minds from the bickerings and strife of the world and to prepare them for the coming of that day when there shall be no war; and she bows only in sorrow before the inevitable necessities that call for the cannon and the bayonet to vindicate national authority and preserve national existence. If her sons point the instrument of death or apply the torch of desolation it is because God and the country ordain the sacrifice; and there is scarce a battlefield of our civil war but will attest that Masons have been the first to bind up the wounds of the fallen, and to accord the rites of sepulture to the dead. And ours be it now, my brethren, to bury in the grave of the dead past the heart burnings and animosities that have been engendered in the strife; ours to extend the hand of conciliation and forgiveness to the repentant; ours