Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1906-07-07
SOLDIERS AT HOME.
THEY TELL SOME INTERESTING
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR.
How the Boys of Both Armies WhiIed
Away Life i'm Camp-Eoraging Ex-
perienCes, Tiresome Marches-ThriI-
ling Scenes on the Battlefield.

under General Sheridan, in the last
days of March. 1860, we passed build
ing in rear of our lines in front of Pc
terShurg that had Il Masonic emblem
on It, and | was told by one of the
Army of the Potomac boys that 1t was
the hall of the Mas0us of the Army Of
the Potomac. know that Colonel
Dan McCoOk's brigade, Army of the
Cumberland, got a dispensation from
the Grand lodge of the State of Hi
noiS 10 do Masonic work and make
MaSons. II was named Wallace Mill
tary Lodge and Colonel David ID.
irons, Eighty Illinois Volunteer
! Infantry, was the worshipful master
| Cohnel Allen L. Fahnenstock. senior
deacon (now of Glasford. M, and
Captain 10 Major, treasurer tuow of
Eureka, lll). The names of the other
officers l have forgotten. The lodge
met in the Masonic lodge room ut Muir
freesboro. Tenn, in July, 1863, on
Stone River battlefield.
the next meeting was held March
Lee x Gordon's mill on the Chicka-
manga battlefield April %, 1864. the
third degree of Masonry was conferred
on Colonel Dan McCook In the lodge
room of Lee 4 Gordon's mill. Colonel
Irons died in Nashville Aug. IL, 1863,
| and Major !. +. Thomas. Eighty sixth
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, was mas
ter. Colonel FahneStock was senior
deacon when Colonel Dan was made
Mason. We had a good many Mas0ns
from other commands at our meetings,
| but l have forgotten their names. We
had very little opportunity to hold
lodge meetings after We broke camp
at Chickamauga and started on the At
lantic campaign. There are few men
living who were made Masons in Lee
< Gordon's mill believe Colonel
Dan McCook'S brigade lodge was
unique and stood alone as the only
lodge of Master Masons that held It's
meeting ON battlefieldS where moment
Gus results were brought about. as at
Stone River and Chickamauga, for Pc
! tersburg was not in fact a battlefield,
but a besieged city
THE losses at Stone River and
Chickamauga for the numbers engaged
stand by themselves-so does Wallace
Military Lodge as a battlefield lodge OF
Masons. | served in the Army OF the
Shenandoah, the Army of the James
and Potomac, and the Army of the
Cumberland, but never heard of any
other secret body having an organiza-
ton or holding lodge meetings except
as | have stated.
After we left Lee & Gordon's mills
and fought Johnston back until we
reached Kenesaw, Colonel Dan Nc
Cooks brigade made the assault on the
dead angle of Kenesaw June - 1864
! The brigade made a Judgment within
twenty seven steps of the Confederate
works, and we held our position At
dark our wounded lay between our
lines and the Confederate works. We
removed all our wounded except those
that lay at and near the Confederate
works in the ditch and near the che
val du frieze. in front thereof These
were beyond our reach.
Just before dark two of our Ma
sonic brethren, badly wounded and
sitting near a tree between the lines
and near the enemy'S hreastworks,
made themselves known ms Masons to
the Confederates As soon rs il was
dark Confederate who was u Mason
slipped over their works to rescue our
wounded men. our sharpshoDtcrs had
crawled forward a few feet as vIdcttc
pickets. and believing the Confederate
was intending to rob our dead and dy
ing comrades fired upon and Killed
him. When we had the armistIce to
bury our dead We were informed by
the Confederates that the man who was
killed was endeayOrlng 10 Succor our
wounded Masonic brethren In response
to their own appeals. In other words,
this Confederate Damon. in his effort
to aid his brother Pythias, sacrificed
his life
by the way Major Daniel Nc
Cook, Sr., was the first worshipful
master of Lancaster Lodge, No, 1906, Of
Lancaster, Peoria County. III, organ.
lied in 1851. When his son. Cadet
Alexander Med. McCook, afterward
Major General, graduated from West
Point. and visited his home at Ian
caster he was made a Master Mason.
his father comforting the degrees ~
worshipful master Colonel A. l.. Fab
nestock was senior deacon. Did not
the Majors act make his son bis
brotherf"
DO you know" asked the Major,
that General Keller. now In Congress
from the Springfield COhioD district,
was one Of the last men wounded IN
the Civil War; He entered the yolun-
tecr army in April, 1861. and served
until after eos surrender In TSGI