An Edition of One Thousand Copies has been printed, of which this is No. 355 The position of eminence, the great respect and the profound reverence in which the name of Washington is enshrined in the hearts of the American people, and particularly so, with the members of this Fraternity, and of all true lovers of liberty and freedom wheresoever dispersed, is the reason, if any be needed, why everything relating to this great man and worthy brother should be preserved for the future generations,

The earliest letter of General George Washington of Masonic Import known is the one written while in camp at Newburgh in New York, dated State of New York, August 10, 1782, to the firm of Watson and Cassoul in Nantes, France, in which his friend, Brother Elkanah Watson was the chief partner, thanking the firm for the Masonic Apron and ornaments sent him from Nantes, France. This apron is now in the possession of the Alexandria-Washington Lodge, No. 22, at Alexandria, Virginia. Elkanah Watson in

The next Masonic Letter of Brother Washington of which we have any knowledge is the one written in answer to a letter sent him, upon his return to civil life by the Brethren of Lodge No. 39, on the register of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, which met at Alexandria, Virginia. December 23, 1783, General Washington presented himself to "The United States in Congress Assembled," at Annapolis, Maryland, and resigned his Commission that he had received on June 17, 1775, as Commander-in-Chief of the

The next Washington letter of Masonic import in chronological order is his reply to an invitation to join the brethren of Alexandria Lodge, No. 39, in the celebration of St. John the Baptist's Day, June 24, 1784, to which Washington sent the following reply, accepting the fraternal invitation. " Mount Vernon , June 19, 1784. [24] " Dear Sir : With pleasure, I received the invitation of the master and members of Lodge No. 39, to dine with them on the approaching anniversary of St. John the Baptis

The next correspondence in chronological order is the letter, sent in reply to the Address delivered by the Brethren of King David's Lodge, No. 1, at Newport, Rhode Island, to President Washington , August 17, 1790, during his visit to New England. By referring to the Minutes of this old Lodge following entry is found:   Following address was prepared and according to local tradition was publicly presented, by the Committee to President Washington , in the Venerable Sanctuary of the Jewish Congr

The next Masonic letter of President Washington was written, in answer to an address by the brethren of St. John's Lodge, No. 2, at Newbern, North Carolina, during his southern tour in 1791. April 7, 1791, Washington started on a tour through the Southern States, by way of Fredericksburg, Richmond, and Petersburg, Virginia; Halifax, Tarborough, Newbern, and Wilmington, North Carolina; Georgetown, and Charleston, South Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia. When advice of this proposed presidential vis

Washington left Newbern, North Carolina, under an escort of horse, April 22, 1791, and arrived at Georgetown, South Carolina, by way of Wilmington, N. C., Saturday, April 30, where he was received with a salute of cannon, and by a company of infantry, and during the afternoon was presented with the following address, by a Committee of Prince George's Lodge, No. 16 (Moderns), of Georgetown, South Carolina. This Lodge was one of the original six Lodges, which had been warranted prior to 1756 in So

President Washington left Georgetown at six o'clock in the evening, May 1, 1791, reaching Charleston, South Carolina, Monday, May 2, in a twelve-oared barge rowed by twelve American captains of ships accompanied by a great number of boats with gentlemen and ladies in them, and two boats with music. [40] Brother Washington remained in Charleston until May 9. Wednesday, May 4, 1791, General Mordecai Gist, an old companion in arms of Washington , and formerly Master of the Military Lodge in the Mar

On the way from Charleston, South Carolina, to Savannah, Georgia, Washington called on Mrs. Greene, the widow of late Brother General Nathaniel Greene, at her plantation called Mulberry Grove, reaching Savannah, Georgia, on the evening of Thursday, May 12, 1791. Saturday, May 14, Washington was waited on by Brethren of the Grand Lodge of Georgia and presented with the following address: [47] " To the President of the United States . " Sir, and Brother , "The Grand Master, Officers and Members of

During the Presidential term of Brother Washington , the President, when in Philadelphia, lived in a large double three-story brick mansion, on the south side of Market Street, sixty feet east of Sixth Street, the site of which is now occupied by three stores, viz.: Nos. 526, 528, 530. The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania then held its meetings in the upper floor of the Meeting house of the Free Quakers, still standing, at the southwest corner of Arch and Fifth Streets; this was but a short distance

"At Grand Lodge held at Concert Hall, Boston, 10th of December, 5792, being a Quarterly Communication it was " Resolved , That the Grand Master, with the Grand Wardens, present to our Most Beloved Brother George Washington , the new Book of Constitutions, with a suitable address."   At the next Quarterly Communication we find that, "Agreeably to a resolve at the last Quarterly Communication, the Grand Master, with his Wardens, reported: "That they had written to our beloved President and Brother

September 18, 1796, President Washington issued his farewell address. His second term was drawing to a close; the term had been a more or less exciting one: The passing of the Neutrality Act; Genet's appeal from the executive to the people; the Fugitive Slave Act; the whiskey insurrection in western Pennsylvania; the adoption of the Eleventh amendment; the purchase of peace from Algiers, Tripoli and Tunis; the troubles with Great Britain about the non-delivery of the military posts and later the

Upon pages 244 and 245 of Washington 's folio Letter Book No. III in the Library of Congress are recorded a letter and address to Washington from the Master of Alexandria Lodge, No. 22, of Virginia, together with Washington 's reply. Washington and his family had left Philadelphia, Thursday, March 9, 1797, for Mount Vernon, and arrived at Baltimore, Sunday, March 12, and at Mount Vernon, March 15, where he again settled down to the life of a private gentleman, free from the cares and concerns of

At a Grand Lodge in Quarterly Communication, held at Concert Hall, Boston, on the evening of March 18, A.L. 5797. "On motion it was Voted, That a committee be appointed to draft an Address, to be presented to our Illustrious Brother, George Washington, Esq'r, when the M.W. Paul Revere, Grand Master, R.W. John Warren, Rev. Bro. Thaddeus M. Harris, R.W. Josiah Bartlett, Bro. Thomas Edwards, were appointed a committee for that purpose."   In response to above resolution the following address was se

In the year 1798, the danger of a war with France had become so imminent, on account of the aggressions of that government towards the United States, that Congress ordered a provisional army to be raised, the command of which was tendered to Washington , with the rank of Lieutenant-General, an honor which was reluctantly accepted by Washington . During the summer a scourge of yellow fever had again visited Philadelphia, which caused Congress to adjourn, July 16, and the public offices to be remo

As to the correspondence with one G. W. Snyder (Schneider), who represented himself as a preacher of the Reformed Church of Fredericktown, Maryland, our late Brother James M. Lamberton, in his address before the Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, at the celebration of the "Sesqui-centennial Aniversary of the initiation of Brother George Washington into the Fraternity of Freemasons," held in the Masonic Temple, in the City of Philadelphia on Wednesday, November the fifth, A. D. 1902, s