textfiles/magazines/STB/stb-1934-04.txt

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XII   April, 1934   No.4

WHERE WAS LAFAYETTE MADE A MASON?

by: Unknown

Brother Lafayette entered the Grand Lodge Above on May 20, 1834.  
Many Lodges in 1934 will dedicate meetings to a memory only  less 
immortal than that of his friend and brother George Washington.  To 
aid n such undertakings, this Bulletin sets forth the principal 
contradictory testimonies about this Masonic making.
Julius S. Sachse, Grand Librarian if the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, 
learned student and scholar. wrote (Brochure.  1916):
“No original documentary evidence is known to be in existence which 
records the initiation of General Lafayette in the Masonic 
Fraternity, nor in what Lodge or when it took place.  It has always 
been a tradition in Masonic circles that General Lafayette was made a 
Mason in one of the Military Lodges at Morristown, New Jersey, where 
a Festal Lodge was held December 27, 1797, for which occasion the 
jewels and furniture and clothing of St. John’s Lodge No.1 of Newark, 
New Jersey, was borrowed.  The meeting proved a great success, sixty-
eight brethren being present, one of whom was George Washington.
“There is another tradition that General Lafayette was made a Mason 
in a Military Lodge which met at Valley Forge during the winter of 
1777-78, but no official records of such action have thus far been 
discovered.”
Dr. Fredrick W. Hamilton, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of 
Massachusetts, eminent and learned Masonic scholar, write (The 
Builder, March 1921):
“Where and when La Fayette was made a Mason is not known.  There are 
at least two quite different traditions, but neither rests on any 
very substantial basis or historic fact.  Not improbably it was on 
the eve of his momentous diplomatic mission to France when he was 
just twenty-two; almost certainly it was in the Army Lodge; very 
probably it was at the insistence and in the presence of Washington.  
What is more likely than that Washington should have desires to weave 
the bond of Masonic brotherhood around the young man who was to play 
so delicate and important a part in the relations between the great 
Mason who commanded the American Army and the other great Mason, 
America’s greatest diplomat, Benjamin Franklin, who was American 
Ambassador to the French King.?
“When La Fayette made his last visit to the United States the Grand 
Lodge of Pennsylvania received him with distinguished honors, but 
before doing so appointed a committee to investigate and report upon 
his Masonic regularity.  The committee reported that they had made 
careful investigation and were fully satisfied, but unfortunately 
their report gave no information whatever as to the evidence upon 
which this conclusion was based.
“Gould, in the “Library of Freemasonry.’ named the place of ceremony 
as Morristown, N.J., saying, “According to the late C.W. Moore, all 
the American Generals of the Revolution, with the exception of 
Benedict Arnold, were Freemasons.  The Marquis de Lafayette was among 
the number, and it is believed that he was initiated in American 
Union Lodge at Morristown, N.J., the jewels and furniture used on the 
occasion being sent by St. John’s Lodge at Newark, N.J.”
Under the full page portrait of Lafayette which embellishes this 
article, appears this caption:  “The Marquis Lafayette was admitted 
into Freemasonry in American Union Lodge which was held in a room 
over the old Freeman’s Tavern, on the north side of the green, 
Morristown, New Jersey, during the winter of 1777, at which time 
Brother George Washington presided in person.”
As Benedict Arnold “was” a Mason, his name was expunged from the 
rolls after he was proved a traitor; the reader must decide for 
himself how much weight can be given the testimony of “the late C.W. 
Moore.”
Past Grand Master Harry J. Guthrie, Delaware, Contributed a scholarly 
paper on Lafayette to “The Builder”, in March, 1925.  From it the 
following is abstracted:
“General Lafayette arrived in this country on June 14, 1777; received 
a commission (honorary in effect) as a Major General from the 
congress and was later assigned to Washington’s staff July 31, 1777; 
led part of the troops in the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 
1777, where he was wounded in the leg and remained incapacitated at 
Bethlehem, Pa., until the later part of October.  He volunteered for 
duty when scarcely able to place a boot on his foot, was assigned to 
the command of General Green and assisted in a reconnoiter with a 
view of giving battle to Lord Cornwallis, strongly entranced at 
Gloucester Point, N.J.  The fact that the whole country between New 
York and Philadel-phia was held in British grip precludes the 
probability of a gathering of general officers of the American Army 
attending a Masonic function at Morristown, N.J.  between the first 
of November and the fifteenth of December 1777, on which date 
Washington went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pa., where 
Lafayette was quartered until after Dec. 30, 1777, after which time 
he went to Albany, N.Y.
“This should satisfy the mind as to the utter improbability of his 
having taken any degrees at Morristown, N.J. in 1777.  But I am 
inclined to think the printed date of 1777 an error and that it 
should read 1779 in accordance with the tradition.  History and 
government records inform us that on October 21, 1778, Lafayette, as 
a Major General, was granted a leave of absence to go to France to 
return at his convenience.  (Probably on a secret mission)  Lafayette 
left Boston Harbor Fe. 11, 1779 for France; and the fact that he was 
presented with the Congressional sword at Havre on Aug. 24, 1779, 
comes pretty near proving that he arrived in France.  On the return 
trip he sailed aboard the French frigate Herman from Rochelle March 
19, 1780, and landed at Boston April 28, 1780, and on May 13, 1780, 
the Continental Congress considered his return to America to resume 
his command as a fresh proof of zeal, etc., etc.  So it was not 
possible for him to have received the degrees of Freemasonry at 
Morristown, N.J. in December 1779, and that is the reason a reference 
was not made to him and that his name was not included in the Lodge 
register which contained the names of Washington and the other sixty-
seven distinguished visitors.”
Gould, in his “Military Lodges,” says:
“In December, 1777, the Army retired to Valley Forge, and it was 
there - according to evidence which seems to be of a trustworthy 
character - that General Lafayette was initiated.  The French 
Officer, though he had been received very warmly and kindly by 
General Washington, experience much uneasiness from the circumstance 
that he had never been entrusted with a “separate command.”  During 
the winter he learned there was a Lodge working in the camp.  Time 
hanging heavily on his hands, and the routine of duty being 
monotonous, he conceived the idea that he would like to be made a 
Mason.  His wish, on being made know to the Lodge, was soon 
gratified, the Commander-in-Chief being present and in the chair at 
the time of his initiation.
“After I was made a Mason,’ said Lafayette, “General Washington 
seemed to have received a new light.  I never had from that moment 
any cause to doubt his entire confidence.  It was not long before I 
had a ‘separate command’ of great importance.’”
Moore in his “Masonic Biography” states:  “He had already become a 
member of the Masonic Fraternity.”  (This was prior to his coming to 
America.)
Findel, in his “History of Freemasonry,” states that Lafayette 
attended a Masonic meeting December 25, 1775, for the purpose of 
consecrating a lodge named Da La Candeur.  Particular mention was 
made of Lafayette being present.
Brother W.P. Strickland, D.D., stated in his late sixties that 
Lafayette was a member of the Fraternity when he came to America.
Earl B. Dellzell, in the “Grand Lodge Bulletin,” Iowa, November, 
1930, states”
“In the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee of 1825, pages 
133 and 135, the minutes of the Grand Lodge of Wednesday, May 4, 
1825, state: “Our illustrious brother General Lafayette was 
unanimously elected an honorary member of this Grand Lodge.’  Later 
we find:  ‘Our illustrious brother General Lafayette was introduced 
by Bros. Andrew Jackson and G.W.  Campbell, received with Grand 
Honors, and seated on the right of the W.W. Grand Master.’
“’At the conclusion of the Grand Master’s address of welcome, 
Lafayette made a feeling and appropriate reply, in substance as 
follows:’
“’He felt himself highly gratified at being so kindly welcomed by the 
Grand Lodge of Tennessee, and at being made an honorary member of 
that Lodge, in which he had been introduced by the distinguished 
brother Mason who had erected the lines of New Orleans, and, in 
technical language of the Craft, had made them “well-formed, true and 
trusty.”  He had, he said, been long a member of the Order, having 
been initiated, young as he was, even before he entered the service 
of our country in the Revolutionary War.  He had never for a moment 
ceased to love and venerate the institution, and was, therefore, 
peculiarly delighted to see that it had spread its genial influence 
thus far to the west, and that his brethren here were not only 
comfortable, but brilliantly accommodated.  He considered the Order 
as peculiarly valuable in this country where it not only fostered the 
principles of civil and religious liberty, but was eminently 
calculated to link the extremities of this wide republic together, 
and to perpetuate, by its fraternizing influence, the union of the 
States.’”
Contrast this with the statements made by Dr. George W. Chaytor, 
addressing Lafayette Lodge No. 14, A.F. & A.M., Wilmington, Delaware, 
January 18, 1875, on the fiftieth anniversary of its constitution.  
(Quoted from the Guthrie article in “The Builder,” March, 1925):
“He was not a Mason when he landed in America, nor was he a Mason at 
the Battle of Brandywine.  The Army under Washington, in December, 
1777, retired to Valley Forge, where they wintered.  Connected with 
the Army was a Lodge.  It was at Valley Forge that he  was made a 
Mason.  On this point there should be no second opinion - for surely 
Lafayette knew best where he was made a Mason.  We have this 
statement from himself - made at the time he was the guest of the 
Grand Lodge of Delaware, and to members of that Grand Body.  The 
statement he made was as follows:
“He had offered his services to this country from the purest motives, 
and he knew that, in his heart he had no selfish impulses.  He found 
a people struggling for liberty against tyranny, and he put his whole 
soul in the cause.  That Washington  received him in the kindest and 
warmest manner, and never in any direct way showed the he had not the 
fullest confidence in his intentions and ability as a soldier, but 
yet, he could not divest his mind of a suspicion (that at times gave 
him great discomfort) that the General of the American Army was not 
altogether free from doubt in his case.  This suspicion was 
engendered from the fact that he had never intrusted him with a 
separate command.  This fact, he said, weighed upon him and at times 
made him very unhappy.  With this exception, he had not the least 
cause for discomfort.  During the winter (1777-78), as the Army lay 
at Valley Forge, he learned there was a Masonic Lodge working in 
camp.  Time hanging heavy, and the routine of duty being monotonous, 
he conceived the idea that he would like to be made a Mason.  He made 
his wish known to a friend, who at once informed him that he himself 
was a Mason, and would take pleasure in making his wish known to the 
lodge.  This was done, and he was there made a Mason.  He also stated 
that Washington was present and acted as Master of the Lodge at the 
time of initiation.’
“This statement was made to members of the Grand Lodge, from some of 
whom it was received.  I have no doubt that he said what I have here 
given, for the parties making the statement were gentlemen as well as 
Masons, and their public lives show the estimate their fellow 
citizens placed upon their honor and characters.  I know that much 
doubt and contradiction had been bandied about the important point in 
Lafayette’s life.  Various places have been stated as the point of 
his initiation - but an Army Lodge was always the organization in 
which he secured light.
“I have not yet finished his statement - the later part is evidence 
of the former.  In the beginning he stated he felt rather hurt that 
Washington had not shown sufficient confidence to entrust him with a 
separate command.  Now listen to what he said later:
“After I was made a Mason, General Washington seemed to have received 
a new light - I never had, from that moment, any cause to doubt his 
entire confidence.  It was not long before I had a separate command 
of great importance.’”
Past Grand Master Guthrie says of this writer:
“Dr. George W. Chaytor, well and favorably known, was a notable 
physician and enthusiastic Mason.  He was born December 25, 1813, 
initiated September 7, 1841, raised November 2, 1841, and died April 
14, 1878; respected by all men.  He served his lodge as Master and in 
1845 became a permanent member of the Grand Lodge of Delaware and was 
immediately elected Senior Grand Warden, Grand Secretary, 1849-59, 
Chairman of Committee on Foreign correspondence in 1875, elected 
Grand Master of Masons of Delaware in 1875.”
Just how much Dr. Chaytor really knew, and how much he was influenced 
by tradition is now only a matter of speculation.  Even a reliable 
and worth witness may easily be misled in reporting on history a 
hundred years after the fact.  It is interesting, at least, that 
Chaytor and Gould report the same language as coming from the lips of 
Lafayette as far as the “separate command” is concerned.
No attempt is here made to settle a question which has vexed the most 
learned.  That Lafayette was an enthusiastic, loyal and devoted Mason 
no one can doubt; his reception on his final visit to this country 
was one long Masonic Pilgrimage with Grand Lodges and Lodges vieing 
with each other to do him honor.  But just where he was “brought to 
light” is so involved with contradictions, that only further 
discoveries seem likely, finally to settle it to the satisfaction of 
Masonic Historians.
“ADDENDUM”

In “The New Age” magazine for July 1941, Brother Ray Baker Harris, 
Librarian of the Supreme Council, 33 deg., Southern Jurisdiction, 
revealed the acquisition of a rare 18th century program of the 
inauguration of Lodge St. Jean de la Candeur in Paris in December, 
1775
The Lodge had invited to the inauguration ceremonies “the Honorary, 
Regular and Subordinate Officers, and Deputies, of all Lodges 
composing the Grand Orient of France, and all brethren who could be 
recommended as regular Masons.”  Obviously the ceremonies were held 
“In Lodge.”
Attached to the program is a Tableau of 100 “Les Chers Freres 
Visiteurs.”  The Marquis de Lafayette is listed among the visiting  
Brethren.
While this seems to establish conclusively that Lafayette was a Mason 
in 1775 before coming to America, it leaves unanswered the question 
of when and where he was made a Mason.