When General Horatio King asked William McKinley how he happen to become a
Mason he explained: "After the Battle of Opequam, I went with our surgeon of our
Ohio regiment to the field where there were about 5,000 Confederate prisoners
under guard. Almost as soon as we passed the guard, I noticed the doctor shook
the hands with a number of Confederate prisoners. He also took from his pocket a
roll of bills and distributed all he had among them. Boy-like, I looked on in
wonderment; I didn't know what it all meant. On the way back from camp I asked
him:
"Did you know these men or ever see them before?"
"No," replied the doctor, "I never saw them before."
"But," I persisted, "You gave them a lot of money, all you had about you.
Do you ever expect to get it back?"
"Well'" said the doctor, "If they are able to pay me back, they will. But
it makes no difference to me; they are brother Masons in trouble and I am only
doing my duty."
"I said to myself, If that is Freemasonry I will take some of it for
myself."
Webmaster's Note:
Received the following information via email from Charles G. Hollingsworth,
PM
"Did You Know" ... In
the link by that name, the reference to President McKinley, the Lodge in which
he received his was Hiram Lodge #21, Winchester, Virginia.
By the way Hiram Lodge still meets on the second Tuesday of each month and
claims to be the
"Oldest Masonic Lodge
West Of The Blue Ridge Mountains".
