National Heritage Museum

Don't Miss Our Lecture: Michael Halleran on Civil War Freemasonry

We would like to remind our readers about the next lecture in our Civil War series. Michael Halleran will join us this Saturday, April 28, at the special time of 1 p.m. to speak on "Gentlemen of the White Apron: Freemasonry in the American Civil War." To learn more about the talk and the speaker, read our previous blog post about Halleran.

Here at the Museum, staff has done quite a bit of interesting research on the Civil War. Take a look at some of these previous posts - they are sure to engage your interest. If they do, Michael Halleran's lecture on Saturday may be just the way to flex your historical imagination this weekend.

Have you heard of silver badges worn by Freemasons fighting on the battlefields of the Civil War? We have some in our collection. Were they really used to identify a wounded Mason, so he could receive aid and comfort from Masonic brothers fighting under the opposing flag?

What do the Confederate imprints in our Van Gorden-Williams Library reveal about Masonic activities in the Confederacy during the American Civil War?

How hot was an 1863 discussion of what to do about a newly commissioned Confederate officer who was a longstanding member of a Masonic lodge in Indiana? 

What did we learn about a Union soldier's entry into the world of Freemasonry during the Civil War?

What did inquisitive Museum staff discover about a mysterious Civil War POW powderhorn that entered our collection without a history?

During the Civil War, federally issued currency included gold and silver coins. How did the world of commerce respond when those valuable metals disappeared into hoards and legal tender became scarce?

How did the Harper's Ferry arsenal bell end up on Marlborough, MA's town common?

Help us solve a mystery - If the men in our 19th century photo were not Civil War soldiers, who might they have been?

The Museum is offering the lecture as one in a series dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The series is designed to explore the history of this divisive conflict, and its meaning for our nation today. It is sponsored by Ruby W. Linn.

For more information about visiting the Museum, call 781-861-6559 or see our website, www.nationalheritagemuseum.org.

Photo credit:

Powder horn, ca. 1863, Henry S. P. Rollins (1832-1869), Tyler, Texas, Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, 77.11.2.  Photo by David Bohl.

Michael Halleran on Civil War Freemasonry, 4/28

Michael A. Halleran, a freelance historian, practicing attorney and Freemason, sets the standard for scholarship on Freemasonry in the Civil War. On Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 1 pm, he will present a talk entitled “Gentlemen of the White Apron: Freemasonry in the American Civil War.” The lecture will reveal the history behind the many mythical stories of Masonic Brotherhood across the Civil War battle lines. A signing of his acclaimed book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, will follow. Admission is free.

Halleran's research has helped Museum staff better understand objects in our collection, such as silver Civil War identification badges that display Masonic symbols. Read our previous blog post about how pleased we were to learn more about these objects. 

Halleran received the Mackey Award for Excellence in Masonic Scholarship by the Scottish Rite Research Society for his article on Civil War Freemasonry in that society’s journal, Heredom. He is a member of the Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle, and the Scottish Rite Research Society where he studies American military Masonry and the traditions of military lodges worldwide.

The Museum is offering the lecture series on occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The series is designed to explore the history of this divisive conflict, and its meaning for our nation today. It is sponsored by Ruby W. Linn.

Upcoming lectures in the series are:

Among the Ruins: Charles F. Morse and Civil War Destruction - Saturday, September 29, 2 pm. Megan Kate Nelson of Harvard University will unfold the Civil War experience of one Massachusetts soldier, Charles F. Morse, an officer in the 2nd Mass. Rgt. His letters, drawings, and other contemporary images will draw us into the world of ruin and destruction that participants in the war found themselves confronting.

Quilts for Civil War Soldiers: Stories from the Home Front and the Battlefield - Saturday, October 20, 2 pm. Pamela Weeks, Curator of the New England Quilt Museum, knows the stories behind the rare surviving Civil War quilts made by caring hands for soldiers fighting for North and South. Learn about the quilts, their makers, life on the home front during the war, and about how civilians organized to get desperately needed aid and supplies to the battlefield.

For more information about visiting the Museum, call 781-861-6559 or see our website, www.nationalheritagemuseum.org.

Photo credit:

Courtesy of Michael Halleran

Where - and When - Is This?

Ever since I first came across this photograph in the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library’s collection, I’ve had a soft spot for it. I especially love the railing with its square and compasses decoration!

This particular view shows a Masonic building with a group of men wearing uniforms in front and on the porch. A handwritten note on the back suggests that the building is located in Petersburg, Virginia, and previously museum staff noted that the soldiers were serving in the Civil War. So, when I added it to the checklist for our “Inspired by Fashion” exhibition (which closed on March 24, 2012), I thought I would do some research to see if I could confirm the building’s location – and ascertain whether it is still standing.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to complete my research prior to the opening of the exhibition, but recently, with the help of staff from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, I discovered that the building is actually located in Pocahontas, Virginia, and it is still standing (see image at right). Unfortunately, the railing with those wonderful square and compasses symbols has been removed, but many of the building’s other features are still in place. The Petersburg attribution seems to stem from the fact that an area along the Appomattox River – and adjacent to Petersburg – was known as Pocahontas and was added to Petersburg in 1785.

Pocahontas, Virginia, where this Masonic lodge stands (and Pocahontas Lodge No. 240 still meets there) is located in Tazewell County, in far western Virginia, on the West Virginia border. Once coal was discovered in the area, development followed: the town was named in 1881 and the railroad reached Pocahontas in 1883. Pocahontas Lodge No. 240 received a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Virginia in 1883. The building was dedicated on November 24, 1886.  So, not only was our information about where the building stood wrong, but the idea that these are Civil War soldiers is also incorrect; given the date that Pocahontas was settled, this photograph must have been taken long after the Civil War was over.

So, while I have solved the mystery of this building’s location, questions remain: when was this photograph taken? Who are these men? What kind of uniforms are they wearing? If you have any ideas, please let us know in a comment below! And, you can look at more photos from our collection via our website, just click here.

Masonic Building, ca. 1900, Pocahontas, Virginia, Collection of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Special Acquisitions Fund, 81.17.

Masonic Building, ca. 2011, Pocahontas, Virginia. Courtesy of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

Deadlines Looming for April 28 Symposium - Register Now!

Register now for the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library Symposium, Perspectives on American Freemasonry and Fraternalism, on Saturday, April 28, 2012.   Discounted hotel rates MUST be booked by MARCH 25, 2012, and the registration deadline is APRIL 14, 2012. 

The symposium seeks to present the newest research on American fraternal groups from the past through the present day. By 1900, over 250 American fraternal groups existed, numbering six million members. The study of their activities and influence in the United States, past and present, offers the potential for fresh interpretations of American society and culture.

Seven scholars from the United States, Britain and Belgium will fill the day’s program:

• Jeffrey Tyssens, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, “The Goatee’s Revenge: A Founding Myth and a Founder’s Cult in American Fraternalism”

• Yoni Appelbaum, Brandeis University, “The Great Brotherhood of Toil: The Knights of Labor as a Fraternal Order”

• Adam G. Kendall, Henry W. Coil Library and Museum, “The Shadow of the Pope: Anti-Catholicism, Freemasonry, and the Knights of Columbus in 1910s California”

• Samuel Biagetti, Columbia University, “A Prehistoric Lodge in Rhode Island? – Masonry and the Messianic Moment”

• Alyce Graham, University of Delaware, “Secrecy and Democracy: Masonic Aprons, 1750-1830”

• Bradley Kime, Brigham Young University, “Masonic Motifs in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”

• Kristofer Allerfeldt, Exeter University, “The Significance of Fraternalism in Three Criminal Organizations of Late Nineteenth Century America: The Mollie Maguires, the Ku Klux Klan and the Mafia”

All Symposium attendees are invited to a public lecture by Michael Halleran, Independent Scholar, “Gentlemen of the White Apron: Freemasonry in the American Civil War,” at 1 PM, in the Maxwell Auditorium. This presentation is made possible through the generous support of Ruby W. Linn.

The symposium is funded in part by the Supreme Council, 33°, N. M. J., U.S.A. Registration is $65 ($60 for museum members) and includes morning refreshments, lunch and a closing reception. To register, complete the Registration Form and fax to 781-861-9846 or mail to Claudia Roche, Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, 33 Marrett Road, Lexington, MA 02421; registration deadline is APRIL 14, 2012. For more information, contact Claudia Roche at croche@monh.org or 781-457-4142.

ACCOMMODATIONS: A block of hotel rooms has been reserved at Staybridge Suites, 11 Old Concord Road, Burlington, MA, at the discounted rate of $110/studio suite; $120/one-bedroom suite; and $145/two-bedroom suite (taxes not included). To make a reservation, please call 781-221-2233 and mention the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum Symposium. DEADLINE for the discounted rate is MARCH 25, 2012. Limited shuttlebus service will be available between the hotel and the Museum.

Masonic Emblematic Chart, 1840-1850, probably New York, Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Special Acquisitions Fund, 90.20.  Photograph by David Bohl.

 

The "John Brown Bell" in Marlborough, MA

On Saturday, March 10 at 2 PM the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library Inc. (National Heritage Museum) will be offering a free lecture with Tony Horwitz, author of Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War. To learn more about the talk, read our previous blog post about this public program.

The history and story of John Brown abolitionist and militant has captivated audiences for over 150 years. Not only is it a Virginia story but it has a Massachusetts connection. Perhaps the speaker or members of the audience already know about the “John Brown Bell” of Marlborough, Massachusetts.

In the summer of 1861, members of Company I, 13th Massachusetts Volunteers were camped by the Potomac River, near Harpers Ferry. Some of these enlisted men were members of the Marlborough Volunteer Fire Department.  The militia was ordered to cross the river and seize anything of value for the US Government, and diligently searched the arsenal for items that might be of use or profitable. Others had had already been there before and taken anything worth confiscating.

Not wishing to return completely empty-handed, the men entered the engine house at Harpers Ferry that had served as Brown’s headquarters during the raid.  The militia spotted the bell in the engine-house and decided to take it home to Marlborough.  The bell, it was reasoned, could be presented to the city’s Hook and Ladder Company, who found themselves bell-less at the time. 

Was the bell Federal property that should be handed over to the government or was it a war souvenir?

In 1862 the company  did not have sufficient funds to send it home and the on-going military conflicts also  prevented them from getting the bell to Marlborough.

From 1862 to 1892 the bell resided in Williamsport, Maryland. Mrs. George Snyder, a local resident, had kept the bell for the company. In 1892, former members of Company I, now organized in a Grand Army of the Republic chapter, returned to Williamsport and, after finding the bell still in Mrs. Snyder’s possession, raised the necessary money to have the bell shipped to Marlborough.

Over thirty years after its removal in 1861 from the engine-house in Harpers Ferry, the bell was eventually  placed in the “John Brown Bell Tower” in Union Common at the intersection of Main and Bolton Street in Marlborough, Massachusetts, where it resides to this day. To learn more, visit the Marlborough Historical Society website.

Should a bell of such historic importance be located in Harpers Ferry, Marlborough or elsewhere?  We look forward to hearing if Tony Horwitz has something to add on this subject.

Photo credits:

Courtesy of Claudia Roche

 

"Expel him and expel him quickly": A Union response to a Brother joining the Confederate Army

In a previous post, we took a look at Masonic Confederate imprints in the Van Gorden-Williams Library and Archives's collection. In the world of bibliography and rare books there's really no such thing as a "Union imprint" but I thought it'd be worth dipping into some Proceedings published by Masonic bodies in the Union during the Civil War to see what interesting topics might turn up. It didn't take long before I found something quite interesting. Namely, the thorny question of whether a Mason belonging to a lodge in the Union should be kicked out of his lodge if he heads south and joins the Confederate Army. As you will see below, there were differing opinions on how to address this real-life issue.

In the 1863 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Indiana, the "Address" by Grand Master John B. Fravel (1814-1876) looked at the question of whether a Mason who left the Union to join the Confederate Army should automatically be expelled from Freemasonry. His opinion on the matter appears below the heading Decision as to the Expulsion of a Disloyal Mason and is focused on an actual case, brought to him by the Master of a lodge in Allensville, Indiana:

On the 12th of July, 1862, the Worshipful Master of Allensville Lodge, No. 81 submitted to me the following question:   

"A Brother in good standing in this Lodge has gone South, joined the Confederate Army, received a commission therein, and is now in arms against the Government of the United States. Can the Lodge expel him?"

My answer was that for that act alone, he could not be expelled. This decision is founded upon the express declarations set forth in the Second Chapter of the Ancient Charges...

Fravel then goes on to quote the passage, and ends by saying, "This question possesses much interest to us at this particular time; and as such I esteem it to be my duty to lay the whole matter before the Grand Lodge, not that I apprehend in the least that they will reverse the decision made, but that the Craft may know the precise position which we, as Masons, occupy to the legally constituted Government."

Despite Fravel's belief that no one in the Grand Lodge would reverse his decision, there was, in fact, a strongly worded response to Fravel in the "Reports from the Committee on Masonic Jurisprudence," which contained a section entitled, On Expulsion of Disloyal Brethren. After a polite introduction, in which the Committee states that the matter was referred to them by the Grand Master and that while he "quoted the law as anciently recognized correctly," they did not believe that "in the decision, as reported by the M.W. Grand Master, the law is correctly applied." The report goes on to ask that if Canada or Mexico "should call together a large army, and with munitions of war advancing towards our borders, threatening to burn and destroy our cities, lay waste to our country and rob and murder our citizens," whether the Grand Master would rule the same way as he did with regard to the Confederacy.

The report ends with little question as to what the Committee on Masonic Jurisprudence thought should be done with a Mason who left the Union and joined the Confederate Army. The heat of the language makes clear how strongly passions burned on this topic in 1863:

Expel him and expel him quickly; and should you ever catch him engaged in his unholy purposes, treat him just as you would the assassin who, in the dead hour of night, would, with stealth, enter your bed-chamber, and there, while carrying out his purposes of robbery, plunge the dagger to the heart of the wife reposing on your bosom.

Your Committee deny, in the most emphatic terms, that there is any law of Masonry contravening or setting aside the first law of nature, 'Self-Preservation.'

As can be seen from the example above, although Masons met during the Civil War, the war was never far from their minds - and sometimes called upon them to address questions unique to this period of American history.

Photo caption:
Portrait of John B. Fravel in A History of Freemasonry in Indiana from 1806 to 1898. Indianapolis: Grand Lodge of Indiana, 1898.   
Call number: 17.9755 .M167 1898
National Heritage Museum, Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives

Registration Now Open! April 28, 2012 Symposium

Plan now to join us on Saturday, April 28, 2012, for the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library Symposium – Perspectives on American Freemasonry and Fraternalism, Lexington, Massachusetts.  Registration is now open!  Visit our website for a registration form.

The symposium seeks to present the newest research on American fraternal groups from the past through the present day. By 1900, over 250 American fraternal groups existed, numbering six million members. The study of their activities and influence in the United States, past and present, offers the potential for fresh interpretations of American society and culture.

Seven scholars from the United States, Britain and Belgium will fill the day’s program:

• Jeffrey Tyssens, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, “The Goatee’s Revenge: A Founding Myth and a Founder’s Cult in American Fraternalism”

• Yoni Appelbaum, Brandeis University, “The Great Brotherhood of Toil: The Knights of Labor as a Fraternal Order”

• Adam G. Kendall, Henry W. Coil Library and Museum, “The Shadow of the Pope: Anti-Catholicism, Freemasonry, and the Knights of Columbus in 1910s California”

• Samuel Biagetti, Columbia University, “A Prehistoric Lodge in Rhode Island? – Masonry and the Messianic Moment”

• Alyce Graham, University of Delaware, “Secrecy and Democracy: Masonic Aprons, 1750-1830”

• Bradley Kime, Brigham Young University, “Masonic Motifs in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”

• Kristofer Allerfeldt, Exeter University, “The Significance of Fraternalism in Three Criminal Organizations of Late Nineteenth Century America: The Mollie Maguires, the Ku Klux Klan and the Mafia”

All Symposium attendees are invited to a public lecture by Michael Halleran, Independent Scholar, “Gentlemen of the White Apron: Freemasonry in the American Civil War,” at 1 PM, in the Maxwell Auditorium. This presentation is made possible through the generous support of Ruby W. Linn.

The symposium is funded in part by the Supreme Council, 33°, N. M. J., U.S.A. Registration is $65 ($60 for museum members) and includes morning refreshments, lunch and a closing reception. To register, complete the Registration Form and fax to 781-861-9846 or mail to Claudia Roche, Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, 33 Marrett Road, Lexington, MA 02421; registration deadline is APRIL 14, 2012. For more information, contact Claudia Roche at croche@monh.org or 781-457-4142.

Masonic Confederate Imprints

In the world of printing history, Confederate imprints occupy their own special category. Defined as anything printed within the Confederate States of America during its existence, Confederate imprints were, broadly speaking, printed between 1861 and 1865. These dates vary state by state, depending on date of secession and whether they were under the government control of the Confederate States of America at the time of printing. I was curious to find out whether we had any Masonic Confederate imprints in our collection. Unsurprisingly, I turned up a number of them, most being annual proceedings of various state-level Masonic organizations.

The Masonic Confederate imprints in our collection contain a trove of primary source material related to Masonic activities in the Confederacy during the Civil War. Many of the Grand Lodge Proceedings include "annual returns" of various local lodges that not only list the number of members, but include the names of the men who were members of the lodge. In some cases, like the 1864 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, the individual lodge returns contain a heading that reads "In the Army," listing the members of the lodge that were in the service. These same Proceedings also list the the 19 military lodges that had been chartered by the Grand Lodge of Georgia, lodges created specifically during wartime so that Masons could convene while away from home at war. Owing to the uncertain nature of war, the Proceedings note that the military lodges' "present officers or location are generally unknown at this time."

Perhaps it's no surprise to find that within these Masonic Confederate imprints there is evidence of Masonic organizations in Confederate states seceding from organizations in the Union that they had previously belonged to. One example can be found in the Proceedings of the Grand Chapter of Alabama at Two Annual Convocations Held in the City of Montgomery in December 1861 and 1862. Reprinted in the Proceedings is a letter received from S.A.M. Wood, Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Alabama (and later Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army starting in January 1862 ) who was unable to attend the meetings because he was serving in the Confederate Army as Colonel of the Regiment Alabama Volunteers. In the letter, dated "Head Quarters Forces, (Near) Chattanooga, November 29, 1861," Wood writes, in part:

"The troubles to which our beloved South has been brought by the fury, blindness, and fanatacism of the North, have so occupied my mind and energies, that I have been able to do but little this year in the way of masonic study or action." He goes on to write that he had read and heard that both the Grand Chapter of Georgia and the Grand Chapter of Tennessee had severed ties with the General Grand Chapter. (Most of the state-level Grand Chapters in the United States both before and after the Civil War work under, and comprise a part of, the General Grand Chapter.) Wood goes on to write that "My own opinion is that we in Alabama should sever our connection [from the General Grand Chapter] at once, and, to prevent any trouble in the future, that we should never unite with any General Grand body of a masonic character."

It's not too much of a stretch to see Wood's proposal that his state's Grand Chapter "never unite with any General Grand body" as a sort of Masonic "state's rights" argument, favoring the sovereignty of the state-level Masonic organizations over any national or federal body.

The Civil War is ever-present in these otherwise-often-dry Proceedings. The 1862 Proceedings of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar and the Appendant Orders of the State of Alabama are all of two pages long, reporting, essentially, that on both days of the annual meeting, there wasn't a quorum present, so they could not have a meeting. Sometimes simply the location of the meeting speaks volumes. The 1863 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Mississippi begins:

"On Monday, the 19th Day of January, A.D. 1863, A.L. 5863, the M.W. Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Mississippi, assembled in their Forty-fifth Grand Annual Communication, in the Senate Chamber, in the City of Jackson, (their Hall being used as a Hospital for the sick and wounded soldiers of our army)..."

It isn't suprising to read in the 1865 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Mississippi, under the heading "Destruction of Property, etc." that "the Masonic temples of our State have been robbed and desecrated by the Vandals of the North." But what is surprising is, reading further along, one finds this: "I am truly sorry, brethren, and regret exceedingly, that our own troops, in some instances have done worse than the fiends of the North," with a further explanation that two Mississippi lodges were broken into by Confederate troops and the contents of the lodge mutilated or stolen.

The Van Gorden-Williams Library and Archives strives to collect complete runs of Proceedings of every American Masonic body (i.e. Grand Lodge, Grand Commandery, Grand Council, etc.). These Masonic Confederate imprints exist within these larger runs of Proceedings, which we continue to collect today.

From top to bottom:
Proceedings of the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Alabama held in the City of Montgomery, Commencing December 2d, 1861. Montgomery: Advertiser Book and Job Office, 1862.

Proceedings at the Forty-Third Grand Annual Communication of the M. W. Grand Lodge...of Mississippi, held at the Masonic Hall in the City of Vicksburg, January 21, 22, 23, and 24, A.L. 5861, A.D. 1861. Natchez: Daily Courier Book and Job Office Print, 1861.

Proceedings of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Florida, at an Annual Convocation Begun and Held in the City of Tallahassee, Monday, January 11th. A.D. 1864. Tallahassee: Office of the Floridian & Journal, Printed by Dyke & Sparhawk, 1864.

Proceedings of the Grand Chapter of Alabama,at the Annual Convocation held in City of Montgomery, Commencing December 6th, 1864. Tuskegee: "Semi Weekly News" Book and Job Office, 1865.

 

Richard Hatcher to Speak on "The Flags of Fort Sumter," Sept. 17

Fort Sumter, the scene of the first shots exhanged in the U.S. Civil War, still has vital significance for how Americans define themselves today. In April of 1861, South Carolina had seceeded from the United States, while Fort Sumter remained a bastion of Federal military authority in Charleston's harbor. An immense 34-star United States flag flew over the garrison. After Union forces were bombarded into surrendering the fort to Confederate troops, its new occupants replaced the garrison flag with not only the Confederate colors, but the palmetto flag of the new Republic of South Carolina.

Richard W. Hatcher III, as the National Park Service's historian at the Fort Sumter National Monument, is entrusted with helping present generations better understand the site and its role in our national history. Moreover, he knows the symbolic power of these two flags, now part of the site's curatorial collection. Hatcher will share his knowledge with us at the Museum on Saturday, September 17 at 2 PM in a talk entitled, "The Flags of Fort Sumter: National Symbolism in the Civil War." He will offer insight into what new flags such as the palmetto meant to secessionists and how American flags that formerly signified national unity now became divisive. Join us for a lively illustrated talk that traces the history of the Civil War-era flags in the Fort Sumter collection.

This lecture is part of a series that celebrates the National Heritage Museum’s own treasured 15-star flag and explores the changing history of the American flag. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Ruby W. Linn, the lecture is free to the public. For more information about this public program, visit our website or call the Museum during business hours at 781-862-6559.

Richard Hatcher has had a deep and rich career as an historian with the National Park Service. Since 1992, he has served at Fort Sumter - Fort Moultrie National Monument. As site historian, he has played a leading role in reframing of how the Park Service interprets Fort Sumter to the visiting public. Over the past two decades, Hatcher and site staff have developed an engaging and inclusive story that does not shy away from some of the knottier dilemmas of the causes of the Civil War. Hatcher is the author of numerous Civil War-related books and articles. He is also a National Civil War Museum Advisory Council member and a regular speaker at Civil War Roundtables.

Photo credits:

Palmetto Guard Flag, 1861, courtesy of the Fort Sumter National Monument collections.

Courtesy of Richard W. Hatcher III.

Flag-raising ceremony at Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina, 1865. Library of Congress.

 

Is This a Masonic Painting?

Can you tell what makes this ship painting a “Masonic painting”? Look very closely at the flags it is flying and you’ll be able to make out the square and compasses symbol on the blue one atop the ship’s mizzenmast (third from the left - if you click on the picture, you can see a larger version of the image). One of the most well-known Masonic symbols, the square and compasses signify reason and faith.

The painting depicts the bark Isaac Rich as it entered the port of Leghorn, Italy, in 1876. The artist, Luigi Renault (1845-ca. 1910), was active in Leghorn from 1858 to 1880 and was appointed marine painter to King Victor Emanuel.

Ships might fly a Masonic flag if the owner or the captain were Freemasons. In the case of the Isaac Rich, the ship’s captain, William Bartlett Sheldon (d. 1903), joined New Jersey’s Burlington Lodge No. 32 in 1863. Sheldon served in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. While Acting Master of the gunboat steamer U.S.S. Flambeau in South Carolina, he was captured in May 1863, but was exchanged in June 1863 and continued serving until October 1865. See our previous post about the preferential treatment that some Masonic prisoners received during that conflict.

If you would like to see the painting in person, please visit our current exhibition, Curators’ Choice: Favorites from the Collection.

The Bark Isaac Rich, 1876, Luigi Renault (1845-ca. 1910), Leghorn, Italy, National Heritage Museum collection, Special Acquisitions Fund, 90.14.