STB-DE91
Bro. John Patience is a Past Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of Quebec and is now serving as Editor of "Le
Journal" the official publication of the Grand Lodge of
Quebec.
We at MSA thank him for letting us share the story
of "A Lodge in Captivity" with you.
Editor
A LODGE IN CAPTIVITY
by John Patience, PG.M.
Early History of Minden Lodge # 63
Warrant No. 63 was originally issued by the
Grand Lodge of Ireland on January 20, 1736
to the 20th Regiment of Foot. On December
20, 1748 the Grand Lodge of Ireland issued
a duplicate warrant to Lord George Sackville,
Colonel of the 20th Foot as Worshipful
Master, with Lt. Col. Edward Cornwallis and
Capt. John Milburne as Wardens. Lord
Sackville was later to become Grand Master
of Ireland in 1741-52 and Cornwallis was a
founder of Freemasonry in our neighbouring
jurisdiction of Nova Scotia, where he had
established a Lodge in 1750.
To learn how Lodge No. 63 received the
name of Minden requires a recapitulation of
historical events in the middle of the 18th
Century.
When Frederick the Great of Prussia, in
1740, seized the Austrian Province of Silesia,
he set off a powder mine that had been laid
by the world-wide rivalries of European
powers and alliances. The struggle spread from
Austria and Prussia to all of Europe and finally burst over the whole world.
In the war of The Austrian Succession of
1741-48 Maria Theresa, the young ruler of
Austria, made two vain attempts to regain her
stolen lands. Then in 1756, having won new
support from the powers of Europe, she decided to try a third time. But before she and her
allies could strike a blow, Frederick the Great
of Prussia invaded the unfriendly, but neutral,
land of Saxony and so himself began the 3rd
Silesian, or Seven Years War.
When the conflict began, a diplomatic shift
had brought a reversal of alliances, with
Prussia now allied with her old enemy
England. Maria Theresa sought aid in France
against her real enemy, Prussia. France listened, hesitated, and then joined Austria. On one
side were Austria, Russia and France and on
the other Great Britain with its powerful navy
and Prussia with its well prepared army, plus
the statesmanship of Pitt and the military
genius of Frederick the Great.
In North America the conflict had begun
the year before it broke out in Europe and is
known to us as the French and Indian Wars.
It was to have far-reaching effect, even on us
today, for the most spectacular and most important victory in North America was the capture of Quebec in 1759 by General Wolfe,
which sealed the fate of France in North
America and resulted in her being ultimately
forced to hand over all of her possessions in
Canada to England.
In the same year, on August 1, 1759, the
combined English and Prussian forces were
engaged against the French in the memorable
Battle of Minden.
The battle was actually fought at
Todtenhausen (Germany) about 3 miles north
of the old town of Minden and about 55 miles
south of Bremen.
The 20th Foot, which had served in Germany from June 1756 under the Duke of
Marlborough and Prince Ferdinand of
Prussia, were in the British line and were very
heavily engaged and suffered great losses, but
their discipline, bravery and devoted gallantry,
it is said, were never excelled in the long annals
of British Service.
For their victory at Minden, the 20th Foot
was decorated with the Laurel Wreath,
emblem of victory, and dubbed "The Heroes
of Minden". The name Minden was added to
their colours and the Lodge, in memory of the
regimental engagement, henceforth became
known as Minden Lodge No. 63.
Masonic Relief
It is of interest to note in the history of Old
Dundee Lodge No. 26, on the English Registry
that the Lodge on St. John's Day, December
27, 1759, voted the sum of œ21.0.0 (twenty
guineas), a substantial amount of money in
those days, to the widows and orphans of
those slain in Minden and Quebec, the money
being paid into the hands of Sir Joseph
Hankey & Co. (Bankers), and a further f20.0.0
(twenty pounds) towards clothing the French
prisoners.
The great Dr. Samuel Johnston wrote the
introduction to the "Proceedings of the Committee for clothing the French Prisoners" and
while there is no extant proof that Dr.
Johnston was a member of Old Dundee No.
26 it seems more than co-incidental that
Boswell remarked that Dr. Johnston would
frequently go out "to take the air at Wapping" and Old Dundee No. 26 met at Wapping.
The Regiment in North America
The Regiment continued to serve in Germany until 1762 when it returned to England,
and in 1775 was ordered to North America to
take part in the attempt to subdue the Colonists which resulted in the War of
Independence.
It is reported as having been in Quebec in
1776 and the following year at Ile aux Noix.
Recruiting for the war in America was laggard and the Crown, being short of troops,
came to an agreement with Duke Charles of
Brunswick by which the latter agreed to supply
4,300 men (3,964 Infantry and 336 Cavalry)
under the command of Major General
Frederick Adolph Riedesel. The force left
Brunswick in two divisions in February and
May 1776 and arrived in Quebec in June and
September of that year and were placed under
the command of General Bourgogne.
It was then that the friendship forged at
Minden with the 20th Regiment was revived.
When General Bourgogne had to surrender at
Saratoga to General Gates on October 12, 1777
the Brunswickers and the 20th Foot were in
the bag together. Von Riedesel had the colours
removed from their poles, the poles were
burnt, and the colours were sewn in the mattress of his wife's bed.
She, who was affectionately known to the
troops as " Lady Fritz", slept on them
throughout the captivity and the colours
ultimately reached home safely.
At first all the troops were quartered on the
Winter Hill near Boston but on the approach
of the British Fleet in 1778, they were marched to Virginia. They arrived at Charlottesville
in January 1779, after a long and difficult
journey, as the winter was particularly severe.
There they had to erect their own wooden barracks, as no provision had been made for their
arrival.
It is from this point that events take a turn
that is of significance to Masons, for in the
Brunswickers were 9 Freemasons from the
Lodges Jonathon and St. Charles, the remainder of 14 who are recorded as having left
for America, von Riedesel, himself a Mason,
having been exchanged in September 1779; and
in the English prisoners was Minden Lodge
intact and complete with its Irish Military
Warrant No. 63. It was natural that the
Brunswick and Irish brethren should soon
become on friendly terms with each other and
the Brunswick brethren visited the lodge
meetings of Minden No. 63. The Irish Lodge,
undoubtedly on the recommendation of the
Brunswick brethren, initiated 4 candidates on
January 4, 1780. Among them was Johannes
Heinrick Carl von Bernewitz, at that time an
Ensign, who was later to play an important
part in the Masonic world in Brunswick. A
further 3 candidates were initiated on February
22, 1780.
It is probable that few, if any of the Germans understood English sufficiently well to
follow the ceremonies with ease and so it is
natural that they soon felt the desire to work
in German. A meeting was called on February
22nd to deliberate whether the Masonic Constitutions allowed them to meet, to undertake
Masonic work and to elect a Master Mason
as a temporary Worshipful Master. The
minutes of that meeting were preserved by von
Bernewitz and brought back from America by
him and handed to Brunswick Lodge.The
minutes are in the possession of Carl zur
gekronten Saule Lodge, Brunswick, constituted 1744, and the minutes read as follows:
''Actum Barracks bey Charlottevill
Albemarly County'' in Virginien
XXII
17________________80
II
i.e., 22nd February, 1780
Thirteen Brethren were present, including the three Candidates who had
been initiated together in the Irish
Lodge, six being Master Masons and the
remainder Entered Apprentices.
Ultimately Bro. Lieutenant and Regimental Quartermaster Rohr was elected
Master. On accepting Office he stated
that "he only did so in order to hold
Lodges of Instruction, that he could
undertake no initiations, and that as the
Brethren considered him as their Master
he would hold the Lodge in accordance
with the Laws of the Order, without any
responsibility on his part."
He thereupon opened the Lodge in the first
degree, held a short address recommending
Secrecy, Morality, Uprightness, Faithfulness,
and Love (Menschenliebe) as the ideal of the
Order, and appointed two Wardens, one
Deacon and an Almoner. He continued by
going through the lecture, and explained in
German the obligations which the Brethren
had undertaken in the English Lodge.
Before closing he asked whether any Brother
had anything to report, whereupon an Entered
Apprentice rose and recommended the case of
a Sergeant in poor circumstances, blind in one
eye, with a wife and two children, one of them
with a rash and in a miserable state of health,
and asked for relief as his barracks had just
been burnt down. This was unanimously
agreed to, and 118 paper dollars and three
shillings were collected, and two Brethren were
instructed to hand over the money to the
"poor people".
The lectures were thereupon again gone
through, and the Lodge closed "with the
customary ceremonies." After this a "Table"
Lodge was opened, which was conducted in
the most perfect order, the Master as usual
proposing the "Fires." These were four in
number: 1, To our Master and reigning Prince
Charles; 2, to Prinz Ferdinand; 3, to all regular
and perfect Lodges on the "surface"; 4, To all
Brethren in distress "the highest and high
health fired with all honours." Finally, the
"Table" Lodge was closed with all ceremonies,
high Xll, and all returning to their barracks
contented.
Editor's note: (The story that has just been told relates
to an existing Lodge, Minden #63, holding a meeting
which included several Brethren not familiar with the
English language. These Brothers, the Brunswickers, then
held another meeting and elected one of their own as
Master. No record exists of any warrant being requested
or issued during this period of time, but this Lodge
meeting was recorded in minutes now in the possession
of Brunswick Lodge constituted in 1744).
The Brunswick Officers were allowed to
rejoin the Army in Canada at the end of October 1780 and the Corps returned to Brunswick
in 1783 when peace was signed at the Treaty
of Paris.
The brethren of Minden No. 63, I1 believe,
were held until the peace was signed, and the
Lodge is known to have worked until 1786, but
was included in the list of erased warrants in
1801 as Grand Lodge had heard nothing of it
since the former date 1786. Considering that
the regiment was almost continually on active
service it is hardly surprising since it was in
Holland in 1801, Egypt in 1803, Malta 1804,
Naples 1805, Sicily 1806, Gibraltar 1807, St.
Helena 1819 and India 1821. Obviously the
Lodge survived, for on February 25, 1812 it
was granted a renewal, free of charge.
We next hear of them in Kingston, Ontario
where the Regiment arrived on September 25,
1847. On December 27, 1848 the brethren of
Minden No. 63 met with the brethren of
Kingston and vicinity to celebrate the Festival
of St. John the Evangelist and to com-
memorate the centenary of the re-issue of their
warrant. At 2:30 p.m. the members formed in
Masonic order and were joined by the brethren
of St. John's Lodge No. 491 (English Registry)
and Leinster Lodge No. 283 (Irish Registry)
and preceded by the band of the Regiment,
paraded to St. George's Church to hear an eloquent sermon delivered by Rev. Mr. Brent. The
brethren returned to the Lodge Room and ad-
journed until 6:00 p.m. when about 90 of them
sat down to a sumptuous repast and entertainment at Mr. Bamford's Hotel. At 10:30 p.m.
the brethren retired, delighted with the day's
proceedings.
192 names were registered in Minden No. 63
up till the early months of 1851 and the end
of this tale is contained in a letter to the Grand
Lodge of Ireland dated December 8,1868, that
the Warrant, jewels, etc. had been lost in India during the mutiny.
But what of von Riedesel and Lady Fritz,
who slept on the Regimental Colours in
Virginia? The answer lies closer to home. On
his release, Von Riedesel, prior to returning to
his homeland, took up residence in Sorel
(Canada) and it was there on Christmas Eve
1779 that Lady Fritz, seeing a pine tree in her
garden outlined against the velvet blue of a
starry night, conceived the idea of putting
small lighted candles on her Christmas tree
and thereby wrote a charming page of Canadian History by giving Canada its very first
illuminated Christmas Tree, a sight so familiar
to us all at the Festive Season.
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