Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-07-13
SOLDIERS AT HOME.
THEY TELL SOME INTERESTING
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR.
How the Boys of Both Armies Whi1ed
Away Life in COMPROMISING Ex-
periences, Tiresome Marches-Thri1-
ling Scenes on the Battlefield.

company, we had a full fiedged Ma
sonic lodge in the army. When we
were swinging around to Five Forks
under General Sheridan, in the last
days of March, 1866, we passed build
ing in rear Of our lines in front of Pc
tersburg that had a Masonic emblem
on it, and l was told by one of the
Army of the Potomac boys that it was
the hall of the Masons 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 llll-
nois to do Masonic work and make
Masons. 1t was named Wallace Mill
tary Lodge and Colonel David D.
Irons, Eighty sixth Illinois Volunteer
Infantry, was the wOrshipful master;
Colonel Allen L. FahnenstOck, senior
deacon (now of Glasford, I'LL, and
Captain 10 Major, treasurer (now of
Eureka, ILL.,. The names of the other
officers l have forgotten. The lodge
met in the Masonic lodge room at Muir
freesboro, Tenn, in July, 1868, on
Stone River battlefield.
'"The next meeting was held March
6, 1864, in one of the upper stories of
Lee & 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 & Gordon's mill. Colonel
Irons died in Nashville Aug. II, 1868,
and Major J. +. Thomas, Eighty-sixth
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, was mas
ter Colonel Fahnestock was senior
deacon when Colonel Dan was made
Mason. We had good many Masons
from other commands at our meetings,
but I 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 its
meeting on battlefelds where moment
Gus results were brought about, as at
Stone River and Chickamauga, for Pc
tersburg was not in fact battlefield,
but besieged city.
THE losses at Stone River and
Chickamauga for the numbers engaged
stand by themselves-so does Wallace
Military Lodge as battlefield lodge of
Masons. l 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 l 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 q, 1864.
The brigade made 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 breastwOrks,
made themselves known as Masons to
the COnfederateS. AS soon as it was
dark a Confederate who was a Mason
slipped over their works to rescue our
wounded men. Our sharpshooters had
crawled forward a few feet as vidette
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 endeavOring to 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, ST., was the first worshipful
master of Lancaster Lodge, No. 1O6, of
Lancaster, Peoria County, ILL.,, 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 d Master Mason,
his father comforting the degrees as
worshipful master. Colonel A. L. Fab
nestock was senior deacon. Did not
the Majors act make his son his
brother?''
do you know" asked the Major,
that General Keifer, now in Congress
from the Springfield (Ohio) district,
was one of the last men wounded in
the Civil War? He entered the volun-
teer army in April, 1851, and served
until after Lees surrender In 1866.
In all that time he received three
scratches, but shortly after the sur