A Message From The East

Brethren,

Seven Score and twelve years ago the bloodiest war in American history, the American Civil War, ended. During the struggle that nearly tore our country apart, there were many occasions when Freemasons on both sides of the lines remembered their obligations toward each other and, despite their political differences, they risked life, limb and treasure to aid and relieve a brother in need. A remembrance of that time follows:

“My father had been a soldier in the Union Army.
He was made a Mason in a military Lodge. Taken
prisoner at Arkansas Post, he was carried up the
Mississippi River to Rock Island, Illinois. My father
became desperately ill, and made himself known
as a Mason to an officer of the camp. The officer
took him to his own home and nursed him back
to life. When the war ended, he loaned Father
money to pay his way back to his Texas home,
and gave him a pearl-handled pistol to protect
himself. This experience of my father, when
I learned about it, had a very great influence
upon my life; the fact that such a fraternity of
men could exist, mitigating the harshness of war,
and remain unbroken when states and churches
were torn in two, became a wonder; and it is not
strange that I tried for years to repay my debt to
it.”
– Joseph Fort Newton, D.D. in River of Years

Fraternally and Sincerely,
Doug Harper,WM 2017