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VOLUME XL
NUMBER TEN
Enthralling' History of Society of
^ Cincinnati ^
Its,Origin, Its Brilliant Roster and Checkered Career in the Revolution and Latter-Day South
IN TWO PART 5-PART ONE
By T Cuyler smith
Writ ten. for Sonny Sooth
MMirB origin and subsequent
history of «-« Society of
Cincinnati, for romance,
brilliance and picturesque
Intensity, easily surpasses
any of the historical novels
“which the last half century
has given the literary
world. Claiming In Its dra
matis personnae some of
the best loved and most
famous names In Ameri
can, especially southern,
chronicles; painting an In
delible image on the mind In actual colors
from the rainbow palette of patriotic fer
vor and achievement and throwing on
the canvas vivid passages from Ameri
can and European annals—It is yet a sub
ject concerning which the majority of
readers are comparatively ignorant.
The society Is one of the most honor
able to which an American can belong,
members being especially honored In
France, where many of the French offi
cers who fought under Bochambeau,
D'Estalng and Lafayette transplanted It.
Thesse French generals were all members
and constantly wore Its badge, the blue
and white ribbon with the golden eagle.
Tho original society was organised In
1783, by the officers of the continental
army at the Hudson river headquarters
of Baron Steuben, the German soldier
Who taught our raw militia the tactics
which enabled them to stand the charge
of the British regulars In open field.
General Knox drafted the constitution.
There being present at this meeting the
general, officers then In camp ail'd regi
mental delegates from the respective
lines, the baron presiding as the senior
officer. The name was chosen to signify
that the members desired to Impress on
posterity the sterling virtues exemplified
in the life of that great Roman patriot,
Lucius Qulntlus Clnclnnaitus, who was
bom a,rlch patrician and was a senator.
At the time of Rome's war with the
Aequi and Volscl, the armies of the en
emy had hemmed in the Romans un
der the consul, Lucius Mlnuclus, In a
narrow path and were proparlng, with
the remainder of their forces to advanoe
on Rome.
At this time Clnclnnatus was plowlnt
In his fields beyond the Tiber. Five
horsemen broke through the ring of steel
around the consul’s men and dashed away
to the senate, who Immediately upon
hearing of the critical plight of the con
sul's army, declared Clnclnnatus dictator.
The messengers rushed on to inform him
of the honor and found the great man yet
at his plow. Hastily throwing on his
toga he received tho message; bade his
wife and children farewell, assembled an
army and after the shortest and most
brllliarg campaign In Roman hlstosy,
which lasted only twenty-four hours, sur
rounded and defeated the enemy and
freed —e city. He then laid down his
absolute power and resumed bis plowing.
He might have been king had he chosen
to follow fame and neglect the furrow.
Again, when 80 years of age, he was
called from his peaceful
pursuits and again vested
with ttie absolute power
in order to save Rome
from the ambition of
Spurlus Maetlus, who
was attempting to make
himself king. After a hard fought cam
paign of twenty-one days the old hero
killed Maetlus and restored“peace. For
the second time he laid aside his power,
and the crown wnlch he might have had
for the asking, and returned to finish
■his last furrow. Such were the virtues
that the brave continentals emulated and
the principles they desired to ir'still Into
the minds of posterity. They Intended
that the nation just bom under the pro
tection of their blades might ever find
among the membership of the Cincinnati
men who would leave the plow to save
the republic in the hour of her danger,
asking no rewttrd. seeking no office, re
ceiving no pension, but proud to fight for
their native land and content with the
sweet satisfaction of having performed
deeds that brought their own rewards.
The constitution of the society, in 1783,
declared: "That the officers in the Amer
ican army associated themselves into
one society of friends. toӣndure as long
as they shall endure, or any of their
eldest male posterity; and in the failure
thereof, the collateral branches who may
be Judged worthy of becoming Its sup
porters and members." This was the
famous clause which brought out all the
Jealousy and finally open opposition that
resulted, in many instances. In bloodshed.
Members were forced to deny their con
nection with the society. Mobs stoned
their houses and pamphlets were isaied
against them, and capital was made In
elections of this "Infamous and traitor
ous s.tempt to found within our borders
a military despotism which will surely
enslave us as England's peers once did,”
declared one fiery Rhode Islander. It was
A High
Type of
the
Pare
Patriot
General Lachlan McIntosh
charged In the newspapers that this was
an attempt to form an aristocracy, with
the absolute right of inheritance on the
principle of the law of primogenture.
At the first meeting appropriate badges
and ornaments Were devised and adopt
ed, the badge being a golden eagle, with
wings outspread, bearing on his breast a
seal, on which was engraved the scene
of the messengers calling Clnclnnatus
from his plow. Surrounded by the motto
"Omnia Rellnqult Servare Rempublican,”
the eagle being suspended frpm a wreath
of laurel attached to the famous blue and
white ribbon, which was chosen In com
pliment to the combined arms of the
colonies of France, through which Amer
ican Independence, had been achieved.
Numbers of the French officers re
ceived life memberships. These gen
tlemen soon returned to France
Just in time to take part In the revolu
tion which was breaking, out in their
native land, and we find the blue and
white so well known in Paris that the
James Jackson
editor Camille des Moulins cried out on
that fatal spring day in the boulevards:
"My comrades, let us now choose a
color that we may make cockades to
know one another when we meet Shall
It be blue—blue the color of freedom—
the color, of the Cincinnati—or shall It be
green, the color of hope?" The mob.
howled for the green, some shrilly piped
for the blue. But those up In the trees
tossed down leaves, the swaying, howling
masses seized them and soon every cap
bore a fresh green leaf. Green it was;
who knows but what if those emotional
people had chosen blue that they might
have absorbed some of its pure patriot
ism and thus the hideous horrors of the
French revolution might have been miti
gated? Smaller things than the color of
a bit of ribbon have wrought greater
changes.
During all those days at Versailles,
General Lafayette wore the eagle and
blue on his breast, and the French trl-
colored cockade in his
Lafaretto. hat. No doubt but that
Napoleon, he often 'sighed for the
Pinckney America where he had
and flee won the eagle, and hoped
.Society that his frenzied country
might soon know Amer
ica's peace and freedom. The emblem
of the Cincinnati was again seen In
France In 1797, when the three commis
sioners, Guerry, of Massachusetts; Pinck
ney, of South Carolina, and Marshall,
of Virginia, were sent from the United
States to treat with the wily Talleyrand
In regard to the .difficulties our young
nation was endeavoring to avoid. Na
poleon demanded that we assist the
French In their war against England in
return for their aid' to us at Yorktown,
Brandywine and Savannah
The emperor asked If this society did
not encourage men to fight, thinking that
' it was America's Indifference to combat
rather than desire to avoid an entangling
alliance- which prevented us rendering the
aid requested. Pinckney is said to have
replied: "Yes; we enoourage the mili
tary spirit among the members of the
Cincinnati, hut onTJ' that they may de
fend American liberties, not to enlist in
forefgn service.”
The bitter animosity against the society
prevailed In some states to such an extent
that charters were refused, the public
believing that there was concealed in the
Cincinnati the germ of a hereditary aris
tocracy ready to break forth at the first
opportunity and demand the sanction and
support of the general government. Per
haps 17 would be Just as well for the
people of the union nowadays to be more
Jealous of their liberties and scan more
closely the dally encroaching power of
arrogance and wealth. In these now rest
the dangers wrongfully charged to the
Cincinnati In days of the republic's in
fancy. American patriotic societies do
not rest a newly acquired wealth, nor do
their members aspire to seize the reins of
government.
Immediately after the close of the revo
lution the town of Savannah, having been
surrendered to the colonial troops under
Generals Wayne and Jackson, a chapter
of the Society of the Cincinnati was or
ganized in 1783 by the officers who had
served In the continental line from ®ie
state of Georgia, with General Lachlan
McIntosh as first president, and Major
John Berrien as secretary. The society
continued to flourish until about 1829,
when It was discontinued, tile" funds on
hand going to the national society.
The Georgia chapter d*\s reorganized
in Savannah on March 17, 1898, through
the efforts of F. Apthorpe Foster, of
Massachusetts. The following gentlemen
were elected members at the time, and
with several additional names, sow com-
pase the Georgia Cincinnati:
William N. Habersham, In right of
Colonel Joseph Habersham.
McQueen McIntosh, In right of Lieu
tenant Colonel John McIntosh.
L. C. Berrien, in right of Major John
Berrien.
W. H. Habersham, in right of Major
John Habersham.
S. C. Smith, in right of Major John
Carroway Smith.
W. H. Milton, imright of Captain John
Milton.
W. G. Charlton, in right of Lieutenant
Frederick Schick.
They elected the following state offi
cers: W. N. Habersham, president; W.
G. Charlton, secretary and treasurer; T.
A. Foster, attorney and assistant secre
tary, and William : Harden was elected an
honorary member.
There are other , members of the Cin
cinnati resident In Georgia, but their
membership is established In the Chapters
of other states^
The' original Georgia society held Its
annual meeting on July 4, unless that day
fell “on Sunday, when a banquet was
served, officers elected and reports made
to .the. general society.. The “Georgia Ga
zette,” of February 13. 1800, contains this
notice:
"Cincinnati Society: The members of
the. State Society of the Cincinnati of
Georgia are Informed that a meeting of
theisociety Is particularly requested at
'Major Brown's coffee house in Savannah
on Thursday, the 29th of this month, at
11 o'clock, when business extremely Inter
esting will be laid before them. It is
hoped and expected that the members
will avail themselves of this notification
and give their attendance.
’•JOHN BERRIEN, President."
In The Georgian, March 6, 1822, appear
ed this notice:
“At a meeting of the Cincinnati So
ciety on the 2d instant the following gen
tlemen were chosen officers for the ensu
ing year: General John T. McIntosh,
president; John McPhogjon Berrien, vice
president; John T. Lord, treasurer; Jo
seph C. Habersham, secretary."
This is a list .of the original members
of the society in the state of Georgia.
Descent from any member entitles the
descendant to membership in the Cincin
nati:
General Samuel Elbert, General Lach
lan McIntosh, General George Mathews,
General Anthony Wayne, Colonel Richard
Wylly, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Hab
ersham, Lieutenant Colonel Jk>hn McIn
tosh. Major John Berrien, Major Jacob
Price, Major Ichabod Burnett, Major John
Burroughs, Major Richard Call, Major
Alexander Daniel Cuthbert, Major John
Skye Eustace, Major Benjamlne Fish-
bourne, Major Robert Forsythe, Major
John Habersham. M%Jor Phillip Love.
Major John Lucas, Major Willia.lt McIn
tosh, Major Nathaniel Pendleton. Major
Emanuel Pierre de la Plaigne, Major John
Carroway Smith. Captain Edward Cowan,
Captain John De Coins, Captain Francis
Fennlll, Captain James Gunn. Captain
Lachland McIntosh, Jr.. Captain John
Martin, Captain John Meanly, Captain
John Milton, Captain Ferdinand O'Neal,
First Lieutenant Cornelius Collins, First
Lieutenant James Fields, First Lieuten
ant Benjamin Lloyd, First Lieutenant Ed
ward Lloyd. First Lieutenant Nathaniel
Pearre. First Lieutenant John Peter
Ward. Second Lieutenant Paul de la
Beaune, Second Lieutenant Paul d'Ange-
ly. Second Lieutenant Baron de Malves,
Second Lieutenant Arthur Haynes, Seojnd
Lieutenant Christian Hillary, Second
Lieutenant Ebenezer Jackson, Second
Lieutenant William Jordan, Second Lieu
tenant Frederick Shick, Second Lieuten
ant John Peter Wagnon, Ensign Charles
Jackson, Brigadier Chaplain Abraham
Baldwin, Brigade Chaplain John Holmes.
Surgeon Peter Fayeroux, Surgeon James
Hunter, Surgeon James B. Sharpe, Sur
geon Benjamin Tetard, Surgeon Goodwin
Wilson, Jr.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
The Rupture Between Jackson and Calhoun
Colonel Colyar, of Nashville, who is
whiting a comprehensive life of Andrew
Jackson, is one of the most gifted
writers in the south. In his historical
work he has devekiped an Intensely in
teresting phase of John Calhoun's his
tory- with which he makes the reader
familiar In the following story:
in-v — a
Col Jt S Colyar
-
Written for 8Kw Junnr Sooth
HE "Jacksonian period" de
veloped .nothing more in
teresting than the relations
and rupture between J Gen
eral Jackson and Mr. Cal
houn, and certainly nothing
more .surprising than, the
facts as they are now to
be found in .the public
records and private letters
of public men of that time.
The most striking feature
of that day of big events,
after : ■General * Jeokww's
report to the secretary of war on the
8th of January, 181B, that he 'had killed
1,500 British soldiers. Including two major
generals, and lost six men killed and
seven wounded, is the rupture between
Jackson and Calhoun seriously implicat
ing the honor of the latter. A train of
circumstances depending “upon the evi
dence of General Jackson, James Monroe,
William H. Crawford and an admis
sion of. Mr. Calhoun himself, taken in
connection with known historical fact3,
leads so pointedly to a dishonorable pub
lic act of Mr. Calhoun that no man with
a knowledge of Mr. Calhoun’s high char
acter could afford to state It as a con
clusion without giving the evidence on
which It Is based.
Critical or even onijf careful readers
of that period have long known that the
gossipy stories so voraciously sought
and so readily accepted, that the Mrs.
Eaton affair or the nullification episode,
sometimes one and sometimes the other,
broke up General Jackson’s cabinet,
were without foundation: that the one
was a dead gossip long before the cabinet
went to pieces, and the other occurred
long after the new cabinet had been
formed.
The breaking up of the cabinet was an
outcrop of the strange story now to be
related, the details of which, with cir
cumstantial exactness, will be found—that
is, the evidence—running through several
chapters of the life of Jackson now being
revised for the press, and were found by
a careful and painstaking study of the
Jackson Impeachment In 1819 for his con
duct In the Seminole war the year pre
ceding.
The final rupture between them did not
occur until 1S32, when one was president
and the other vice president, and both
candidates for presidential succession.
Jackson was attacked first in the house
and then in the senate In 1819 for his
conduct In the Seminole war. The charge
was luat Jackson had pursued the In
dians Into the Spanish forts. Involving us
in trouble with Spain; that he had done
this In violation of orders, the Spanish
government treating It as an act of war;
that he had Involved us In trouble with
England by the execution of Arbuthnot
and Ambrestter.
After a protracted and bitter dlccus-
slon In the house, led by Mr. Clay, the
house refused, by a big majority, to sus
tain the charge, and the senate proceed
ing was abandoned. About this time a
cabinet secret filtered out to the effect
that a resolution had been offered by
Mr. Monroe’s cabinet to have General
Jackson arrested for pursuing, the In
dians Into the Spanish fort. This Gen
eral Jackson attributed to Mr. W. H.
Crawford, a member of the sabtnet. So
sure was he that Mr. Crawford had taken
steps to have him arrested that he de
clined speaking with him for twelve
years, during all of which time there was
nothing positively known, while General
Jackson had been on the most intimate
terms with Mr. Calhoun. At the end of
this time a Mr. Hamilton, son of the
statesman, said to William B. Lewis;
Jackson’s close friend, that General Jack-
son was mistaken In supposing that Mr.
Crawford had proposed In Mmroe's
cabinet to have him arrested for entering
the Spanish forts, that Mr, Crawford had
written a letter to that effect and said
it was Mr. Calhoun, who had also been
a member of the cabinet, and upon being
pressed said he had seen the letter In
the hands of a New York man to that
effect. This Generaly Jackson refused to
believe, asserfng his long continued
friendship with Mr. Calhoun.
But on reflection he sent a friend to
• New York, who saw the letter, but did
not get ft. Thereupon a letter was .writ
ten to Mr. Crawford to
know the facts, who re-'
Letting plied that it was not he,
the Cat Osat but' Mr. Calhoun, who .
of tlae Ba^ proposed in Monroe’s
■cabinet to have Jackson
arrested for. pursuing the
Indians into the Spanish forts. When
these facts were made known to General
Jackapa by letter he immediately fur
nished them to Mr. Calhoun and notified
him that unless they were denied their
friendship ended. They were not denied,
but Mr. Calhoun turned on Mr. Craw
ford for disclosing a cabinet secret.
This led to a dissolution of the cabinet,
and afterwards Mr. Calhoun resigned the
office of rice president and gave notice
that he was out of general politics and
should look after the Interests of South
Carolina, but was soon elected to the
United States Senate.
General Jackson was aroused and se
verely arraigned Mr. Calhoun. He col
lected and preserved a great volume of
facts to the following effect: that as ma
jor general, he then being at the Her
mitage, 'he was ordered to raise an army
from the states adjacent to Florida
through the executives of such states
and proceed to Florida and assume com
mand in place of General Gaines. Copies
of orders previously given General Gaines
for prosecuting the war were given Gen
eral Jackson which gave full reason for
suppressing a»d putting down the up
rising of the Seminole Indians with only
one limitation on his power, that was If
the Indians took shelter in the Spanish
forts he (General Gaines) should stop
and confer with the government at Wash
ington before pursuing. These orders
were turned over to General Jackson be
fore be left the Hermitage.
He Immediately wrote the president that
the order requiring General Gaines to
wait in an enemy’s country until a mes
senger could be sent to Washington and
return, the enemy being protected by a
nominally friendly power would be de
structive to his army and unreasonable
and in war he must be allowed to pursue
the enemy, wherever he took shelter.
The letter further said to the president
if he did not want to commit the gov
ernment in advance to the policy of pur
suing the enemy Into the Spanish forts
that he might Indicate his purpose to a
much-trusted member of ' 'ingress, John
Ray, who would Inform him. The pres
ident received this letter when his sec
retary of state, Mr. Calhoun, was pres
ent. Twelve years afterward when this
skeleton was found In the cabinet se
crets, Mr. Monroe and Mr. Calhoun had
forgotten It, but when Mr. Crawford
showed that the president had produced
the letter at the time the resolution was
offered proposing the arrest of Jackson
and which had been used as a part of the
pamphlet prepared by Mr. Calhoun, they
both took the ground that the letter
had been pigeon-holed and never' an
swered. This was startling, that such
a letter should not be answered. But
before Jackson got Into Florida he re
ceived a letter from Mr. John Ray say
ing the president had directed him to
write General. Jackson , that he approved
of his suggestion about pursuing the In
dians into the forts. Moreover, when
the question arose about the twelv^-year-
old skeleton In the cabinet, Jackson pro
duced a correspondence between him
and the president at the time war was
threatened by Spain for Jackson's con
duct in the Seminole war, the substance
oi which was that Mr. Monroe wanted
Jackson to assume all responsibility for
entering the forts, saying It would, les
sen complications as he could make a
better defense for him (Jackson) than
he could for the government. This
Jackson refused to do and for two
reasons, that the general order to sup
press the Indian war authorized It and
because he had special authority In the
Ray letter.
He further said the president had re
quested him to destroy the Ray letter,
which he had done, and showed by both
Ray and Judge Overton the substance of
the letter and showed a memorandum
made In a book of Its destruction at a
time when there was no controvefsj
about It. Mr. Crawford not only showed
that It was Mr. Calhoun that proposed
the arrest, making a speech In support of
it, but that he made the motion after the
president had looked up and brought he
original letter of General Jackson In. Mr.
Crawford said that when this was done,
the letter produced, it changed his mind,
because even if the letter wag not an
swered, the failure should be taken as ap
proval. There does not seem to be se
rious dispute over these facts. They are
mostly In writing, and General Jackson
wrote and signed a paper setting them
forth, which Mr. Calhoun, after It was
shown him, declined replying to. General
JSckson requested that If the story of h*s
life were ever written this statement
should go Into It. Which request both
Mr. Parton and Mr. Sumner denied him.
Fiction Will Figure Largely
In Next Week’s Sonny Sooth
"Dick Sands, Convict,’’ by F. Hopklnson Smith, a dramatically written story In
this author's best style, covering one of the most pathetic phases <Jf convict
life. Illustrated.
‘Tlie Red Chalk Man,” an unusual story, it would be robbery to the reader to
outline It here.
"Hugh Kinnersley's Romance,” a narrative of love and Intrigue. Illustrated.
In addition to other well-written fiction pieces, will be published?
The second installment of the story of the Society of the Cincinnati. The
article here reaches Its most Interesting point. Unforeseen additions to
it may compel the publication of a thlnl Installment. Illustrated.
The second In the series of prose poems, contributed by Frank L. Stanton.
Unusually bright departments by L. L. Knight and Mrs. Mary E. Bryan.
Seasonable articles from Frank G. Carppenter and Dr. R. J. Massey.
DISTINCT BTTlf