IN CALIFORNIA
Masons, Military, and the
Revolutionary War
by Heather Boerner
Exclusive coverage of the 10th Annual California Masonic Symposium
When Grand Master Kenneth G. Nagel was just nine years old, his father walked into the
Masonic lodge on the military base where they lived. It changed the course of Nagel’s life.
“If it weren’t for a military lodge, I might not be a Mason today,” Nagel says.
His father was eventually raised at that lodge, and a few decades later, Nagel was walking
into other military lodges around the world – from Japan to the Diego Garcia Protectorate
in the Indian Ocean – as a member himself.
The week following Memorial Day, he shared this story with the
audience at a spirited exploration of how Freemasonry changed
the course of the young American republic.
The 10th Annual California Masonic Symposium, held
at the San Francisco Scottish Rite Center on June 5, was
titled “Masonry, Military, and the Emergence of American
Democracy.” The program was led by Nagel, Past Grand
Secretary John L. Cooper III, and three scholars on Masonry
and the Revolutionary Age (see sidebar).
Attendees learned that the Masonic ideals of brotherhood,
truth, and tolerance were as important to the American
Revolution as Masonry’s role in raising men to prominence
who might otherwise have been considered too common for
leadership in the Continental army – or the young nation.
Raised from humble origins
Masonry, formerly the seat of the aristocracy in Europe,
became more egalitarian in the colonies. This was largely due
to the advent of traveling warrants: Grand lodges in England,
Ireland, and Scotland gave British officers warrants to set up
lodges wherever they were stationed. Between 1732 and 1813,
about 200 such lodges were established, explained presenter
Dr. Jessica L. Harland-Jacobs, author of “Builders of Empire:
Freemasonry and British Imperialism, 1717-1927.”
These military lodges helped bind together officers
in an unknown land, giving them common purpose and
traditions. Soon, locals joined the lodges, rooting them in
their communities.
