HenryPrice

HENRY PRICE LODGE

Charter Date: 06/08/1859 VI-250

Precedence Date: 05/19/1858

Current Status: in Grand Lodge Vault; merged with Everett C. Benton Lodge to form Price-Benton Lodge, 11/21/2002. Now part of The Consolidated Lodge.

NOTES

Correspondence with Army Lodge #10, 1864, regarding the donation of regalia

YEARS

1858 1859 1874 1879 1882 1883 1886 1892 1893 1898 1901 1904 1905 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1914 1916 1917 1919 1921 1923 1924 1927 1933 1934 1941 1946 1947 1949 1950 1952 1953 1954 1956 1958 1959 1962 1964 1965 1971 1974 1975 1976 2002

EVENTS

RECEPTION, FEBRUARY 1864

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXIII, No. 5, March, 1864, p. 142:

On Monday evening, 9th ult., the members of Henry Price Lodge, in Charlestown, called upon their Brother Lieut. Lucius H. Warren, commanding Co. I, 32d Regt., now on a furlough for re-enlisting as veterans. Rooms were prepared at the Prescot House for their reception. Soon the Charlestown band appeared and discoursed most excellent music. After an hour spent in agreeable conversation, the company were invited into the dining room, where Col. Bigelow had provided a substantial and most inviting supper. Thos. B. Harris, Senior Warden of the Lodge, in a neat speech, gave a hearty welcome to their Brother who had come home from the war, after eighteen months' hard service, and who was soon to return with his regiment to the field. To this Lieut. Warren replied gracefully, thanking the Brethren for the cordial demonstration with whiuh they had surprised them. Speeches were also made by Judge Warren, Hon. Gideon Haynes, Hon. Francis Childs, Horatio Wellington, Esq. Lieut. Walther Everett, of the City Guard, and others. At a seasonable hour this pleasant interview terminated, and on retiring, the band again serenaded and the company cheered. It wae an occasion which will be pleasantly remembered by those who were present.

On Thursday evening following, our young patriotic Brother was honored with a public ball, and made the recipient of a handsome compliment in the presentation of an elegant a word and equipments, by the company under his command. Sergeant Timothy McCarthy, appeared in the ball-room suddenly during the evening with these in his hand, and addressed his commander as follows:

Lieut. Warren :—It has fallen to my lot this evening to perform the pleasant duly, on behalf of the men of your command, of presenting to you a memorial, fitting, as it seems to them and myself, of our association together, and of our general esteem for you as a soldier and man. During the period we have been under your command, and in fact through all the perils of the field, the march, and the bivouac, through which the Stone Light Guard have passed since the corps first left Charlestown, you have proved yourself worthy of our confidence and esteem, and we therefore improve the occasion to present you with this badge of honorable service in the cause of your country—which is the cause of all mankind. In presenting the sword at this time, we have a double purpose. We desire to express through such an emblem our appreciation of the past, and our confidence in your future. Take it and wear it worthily as we know you will, remembering always the motto of the East: " Draw me not without cause—Sheath me not with dishonor:" and let it ever stand as a memorial between us of our confidence in each other. Whither you bear it, we pledge here to follow ; and may our future be a common one, and may each and all of us contribute something to the fame of our native city and State, which shall give Massachusetts a commanding position when the rise, progress and crushing of this wicked rebellion and of its blind leaders, come to be written.

It remains only for me to-express the wish, that in life you may attain honorable success, and attendant happiness.

Lieut. Warren replied as follows :—

I am deeply sensible, Sergeant, of this unexpected mark of your esteem, and am grateful for this most beautiful sword and accompaniments, which you have been pleased to present to me on behalf of my command. I shall cherish these, not for their intrinsic value alone, but for your approbation of the manner in which I have performed the duties that have devolved upon me. I have endeavored to pursue a straightforward course—knowing no partiality, but treating all alike, regardless of consequences :—always acting, as I thought would be for the best interest of my company and the service. I entered into military life, as most of you did, but little acquainted with military matters. I enlisted with you as a private —because I considered it the duty of every young citizen, that he should learn to be a citizen soldier. The sooner one learns to be a good soldier, the better citizen he will make.

Fellow Soldiers : your conduct has well merited all the praise, which has been bestowed upon you. Nothing could surpass your bravery at Fredicksburg, at Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg. 1 feel proud to command such a company as this ; I have become attached to you as strongly as to my family ; I have endured with you all the hardships and sufferings, which you have passed through, whether on the battlefield, on the march, or in Uie camp. I consider it my hap. py lot to be with you. I rejoice that we were the first from Massachusetts to re-enlist for three years more, and when our term of service is completed, we shall be proud to say, " we belonged to the Army of the Potomac."

Fellow soldiers: I shall preserve this sword in remembrance of the scenes through which we have passed. I shall preserve it untarnished and revere it as "the sword of Bunker Hill."

At the supper, a letter was read from Hon. P. J. Stone, Mayor of the city, enclosing fifty dollars, to be expended as the veterans of this company should think best.

Note: Lt. Lucius Warren, initiated in this lodge in 1860, survived the Civil War and dimitted from it in 1869.

ST. JOHN'S DAY, DECEMBER 1865

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXV, No. 4, February 1866, p. 118:

The anniversary of St. John the Evangelist, was celebrated by Henry Price Lodge, in Charlestown, on Wednesday evening, 27th Dec.; The Lodge assembled at 6 o'clock, and after transacting the business of the evening, with their friends and invited guests repaired to the supper room. At the conclusion of the supper, a handsome silver tea service was presented to Hon. Br. Gideon Haynes, in compliment for kindness and services to Br. Lounsbury, formerly Master of this Lodge. The presentation address was made by Br. W. W. Peirce, and responded to in a feeling manner by Br. Haynes. A silver pitcher and goblet were then presented to Br. Waitt, the retiring Secretary of the Lodge, for past services. This presentation was made by Br. Charles Hurd. A Past Master's Jewel was then presented to Br. T. B. Harris, by Hon. Br. G. Washington Warren. Subsequently speeches were made by Br. Warren, Br. Thomas Hooper (the oldest Mason in Charlestown), Br. George P. Kettell and W. Br. William H. Kent, the latter in reply to a complimentary toast to St. John's Lodge, Boston, of which he is Master. It was a very interesting and pleasant occasion.

GRAVE VISIT, JUNE 1866

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXV, No. 10, August 1866, p. 319:

THE GRAVE OF HENRY PRICE.

Henry Price Lodge of Charlestown paid a memorial visit to the grave of the first Grand Master in America, at Townsend, on Thursday, the 21st of June last. The occasion was one of great interest to all present, fraught, as it must have been, with many pleasant memories and historical suggestions. The officers of the Grand Lodge were politely invited to be present and unite in the ceremonies and festivities of the occasion; but official duties in another part of the State prevented their attendance. Appropriate addresses were made at the grave, and subsequently at the table, by Brothers S. M. Nesmith, Master of the Lodge; L. S. Bancroft of Pepperell; G. W. Warren; W. W. Wheildon; Rev. O. F. Spofford; Gideon Haynes and J. A. D. Worcester of Charlestown; Hon. Charles R. Train of Framingham; E. D. Bancroft of Groton, and others. A full account of the proceedings appeared in the "Bunker Hill Aurora " of the 23d, but did not reach us until after the matter for our present issue was made up. We hope to be able to find room for it in our next.