Many years after the Civil War had ended, a son of Brother L. J. Williams of Downsville Lodge No.464, N.Y., reported in Lodge of a story his father had told him of a Masonic experience he had.
When the war broke out, the Entered Apprentice and the Fellow-craft degrees had been conferred on him in New York. He went out in defense of his country without having been raised to the Sublime Degree of Master mason. It was his misfortune to be taken prisoner of war while at or near Savannah, GA. While he lay in his Southern prison cell, he communicated through some of his friends in the North. His Lodge in New York, through proper officials, got in touch with Zerubbebel Lodge in Savannah, and made the request that as a favor to the Brethren of the North, confer the Master Mason Degree on the Fellow-craft, Brother L. J. Williams.
One night, my father was taken from his prison cell and conducted to a Lodge Room. It was a remarkable occasion. He wore his bedraggled uniform as a token of his sympathy with the cause of the North. All the chairs were filled with Confederate officers. He was surrounded by men who wore the uniform of an army who was on the opposite side of a struggle to the death, but they were Brethren and there he was raised a Master Mason and acclaimed a friend and Brother by his enemies.
But the more significant feature of the story was yet to follow. One night my father escaped from his prison cell and joined up with his company. I have visited Savanna since then and looked up the records of that night in question.
On the same page that records the fact that the degree was then exemplified on my father, there was this brief annotation: “On this night Brother Williams escaped from prison.” I have talked with my father about his “escape” and he always smiled peculiarly. You may put it that way he told me, but it wasn’t an escape, strictly speaking. For on that night, men came to my prison. The put me in a boat and carried me off some distance and deposited me on some neutral soil between the lines. From there I made it back to my friends.
Who my rescuers were, I have never learned. It is their secret and it has never been disclosed. But in my mind I know exactly to whom I may thank for my “escape.” His name is Hiram.
All content on this site is the property of Oakley Lodge #668 F&AM, unless otherwise noted. ©2007