

PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 



G39 



National Society are : President-General, Horace 

 Porter ; Vice-Presidents-General, Joseph C. 

 Breckinridge, Thomas M. Anderson, William K. 

 Griffith, Edwin S. Barrett, and John Whitehead ; 

 Secretary-General, Franklin Murphy. The col- 

 ors of the Sons of the American Revolution are 

 blue and white these being the colors of Wash- 

 ington's staff. The badge, No. 1, and the ro- 

 sette, No. la, are shown on the plate. 



Sons of the Revolution. This society gives 

 as its object the following statement, which is 

 contained in its constitution : 



It being evident, from a steady decline of a proper 

 celebration of the national holidays of the United 

 States of America, that popular concern in the events 

 and men of the War of the Revolution is gradually 

 declining, and that such lack of interest is attributa- 

 ble not so much to the lapse of time and the rapidly 

 increasing flood of immigration from foreign countries 

 as to the neglect on the part of descendants of Rev- 

 olutionary heroes to perform their duty in keeping 

 before the public mind the memory of the services of 

 their ancestors and of the times in which they lived : 

 therefore the society of the Sons of the Revolution 

 has been instituted to perpetuate the memory of the 

 men who in the military, naval, and civil service of 

 the colonies and of the Continental Congress, by their 

 acts or counsel, achieved the independence of the 

 country, and to further the proper celebration of the 

 anniversaries of the birthday of Washington and of 

 prominent events connected with the War of the Rev- 

 olution ; to collect and secure for preservation the 

 rolls, records, and other documents relating to that 

 period; to inspire the members of the society with 

 the patriotic spirit of their forefathers; and to pro- 

 mote the feeling of friendship among them. 



It was originally instituted at a meeting held 

 on Feb. 22, 1876, called by John A. Stevens, then 

 reorganized on Dec. 4, 1883, at Fraunce's Tavern 

 in New York city, incorporated on May 3. 1884, 

 and a national organization perfected in March, 

 1890. It admits to membership 



Any male person above the age of twenty-one years of 

 good character, and a descendant of one who, as a 

 military, naval, or marine officer, soldier or sailor, or 

 marine, in actual service, under the authority of any 

 of the 13 colonies or States, or of the Continental Con- 

 gress, and remaining always loyal to such authority, 

 or a descendant of one who .signed the Declaration ot 

 Independence, or of one who, as a member of the 

 Continental Congress, or of the Congress of any of 

 the colonies or States, or as an official appointed by or 

 under the authority of any such legislative bodies, 

 actually assisted in the establishment of American 

 independence by services rendered during the War of 

 the Revolution, becoming thereby liable to conviction 

 of treason against the Government of Great Britain, 

 but remaining always loyal to the authority of the 

 colonies or States. 



Nearly all of the State societies of the Sons of 

 the Revolution have constitutions that permit 

 admission to membership by collateral descent, 

 as shown by the following eligibility clause in 

 the constitution of the New York State society : 



That when there shall be no surviving issue in di- 

 rect lineal succession from an officer, soldier, sailor, 

 or marine who died or was killed in actual service as 

 aforesaid, or from an officer who received, by formal 

 resolve, the approbation of the Continental Congress 

 for Revolutionary services, or frotn a signer of the 

 Declaration of Independence, the claim of eligibility 

 shall descend and be limited to one representative at 

 a time in the nearest collateral line of descent from 

 such propositus, who may be otherwise qualified as 

 herein required and to be designated by the society ; 



and no other descendants in collateral lines shall be 

 admitted in right of any service whatever. 



State societies exist in the following 24 States : 

 New York (1876), Pennsylvania (1888), District of 

 Columbia (1889), Iowa (1890), New Jersey (1891), 

 Georgia (1891), Massachusetts (1891), Colorado 

 (1892), Maryland (1892), Minnesota (1893), Cali- 

 fornia (1893), Ohio (1893), Connecticut (1893), 

 New Hampshire (1893), North Carolina (1893), 

 Illinois (1894), Missouri (1894), Florida (1894), 

 Alabama (1894), West Virginia (1894), Tennessee 

 (1894), Kentucky (1894), Montana (1894), and 

 South Carolina (1894), with a total membership 

 of upward of 4,000 persons. 



In the accomplishment of its purposes, the 

 New York society, with its membership of over 

 1,500 persons, has been most active. Besides ac- 

 cumulating a large fund for the development of 

 the general purposes of the society, it has pub- 

 lished addresses on Revolutionary topics, it has 

 celebrated events of the Revolution, and has held 

 commemorative church services on Washing- 

 ton's Birthday. Besides these, it has marked 

 8 historical sites in the metropolis with bronze 

 tablets, and has erected a heroic statue in bronze 

 to the memory of Capt. Nathan Hale. On Oct. 

 19, 1894, the anniversary of the surrender at 

 Yorktown, it assisted in the unveiling of a mon- 

 ument to the officers and soldiers of the Revolu- 

 tion who are buried in Sleepy Hollow, near Tar- 

 rytown. In common with all the State societies, 

 it has offered gold, silver, and bronze medals for 

 original essays, " to contain not less than 1,775 

 words nor more than 1,895 words/' on the sub- 

 ject of "New York in the War of the Revolu- 

 tion " ; also it has offered a gold medal to stu- 

 dents of the College of the City of New York 

 for an essay on " The Causes that led to the War 

 of the Revolution." By such methods it strives 

 to increase research in American patriotic his- 

 tory, and to give to the youth of the United 

 States a more thorough knowledge of our fore- 

 fathers' patriotism, devotion, heroism, and sacri- 

 fices. The Massachusetts society, at a meeting 

 held early in 1894, appropriated funds from its 

 treasury to pay for the placing of suitably framed 

 copies of Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George 

 Washington in everv school in Boston. These 

 were presented on Washington's Birthday, and 

 the presentation speech was made by the Rev. 

 Edward E. Hale. The Pennsylvania society has 

 also held church services, and has marked by a 

 large bowlder, appropriately inscribed, Gulph 

 Mill, where George Washington encamped in 

 1777 before going into winter quarters at Valley 

 Forge. 



The Common Council of Philadelphia has do- 

 nated the cannon along Water Street and Dela- 

 ware Avenue to the Pennsylvania society for the 

 purpose of placing the same from time to time 

 around the monuments erected and to be erected 

 by the society marking the sites of battles of the 

 Revolution around and about Philadelphia. The 

 Maryland society has offered the Johns Hopkins 

 University for competition a large silver medal, 

 to be awarded by the faculty for the best essay 

 on "The Principles fought for in the War of 

 the American Revolution." The District of Co- 

 lumbia society has presented framed copies of 

 the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washing- 

 ton to the schools in Washington city. The other 



