PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 



643 



the joint resolution of Congress approved Sept. 

 25, 1890, applies. That resolution says: "The 

 distinctive badges adopted by military societies 

 of men who served in the War of the Revolution, 

 the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the War 

 of the Rebellion, may be worn upon all occasions 

 of ceremony by officers and enlisted men of the 

 United States who are members of said organiza- 

 tions in their own right," and is held to refer 

 specially to the 4 societies : the Cincinnati, the 

 War of 1812, the Aztec Club, and the Loyal Le- 

 gion. The following are therefore distinctly ac- 

 cepted as military orders : 



Society of the Cincinnati. This society has 

 for its object 



To perpetuate, therefore, as well the remembrance 

 of this vast event [the War of the Revolution] as the 

 mutual friendships which have been formed under 

 the pressure of common danger, and in many in- 

 stances cemented by the blood of the parties, the offi- 

 cers of the American amiy do hereby, in the most 

 solemn manner, associate, constitute, and combine 

 themselves into one Society of Friends, to endure as 

 lone as they shall endure, or any of their closest male 

 posterity, and in failm-e thereof, the collateral branches 

 who may be deemed worthy of becoming its support- 

 ers and members. 



It was organized on May 13, 1783, by the Ameri- 

 can and foreign officers that served in the Revo- 

 lutionary army. The first meeting of the so- 

 ciety was held in the Verplanck House, near 

 Fishkill, N. Y., then the headquarters of Baron 

 Steuben, and at that time George Washington 

 was requested to act as presiding officer. The 

 first general meeting was held in Philadelphia 

 on May 7, 1784, at which delegates from the 12 

 original States were present, and where an amend- 

 ed constitution was adopted (under which a so- 

 ciety was authorized and organized in France), 

 but which constitution was not ratified by the 

 State societies. Membership was restricted by 

 the proposed amended constitution to 



All continental officers who had served with honor 

 and resigned after three years' service as officers, or 

 who had been rendered supernumerary and honor- 

 ably discharged, in one of the several reductions of 

 the American army, or who had continued to the end 

 of the war, and all French officers who had served 

 in the co-operating army under Count d'Estaing, or 

 auxiliary army under Count de Rochambeau, and 

 held or attained the rank of colonel for such serv- 

 ices, or who had commanded a French fleet or ship 

 of war on the American coast, were entitled to be- 

 come original members. 



This having failed of adoption, the member- 

 ship was restricted to " the eldest male posterity 

 of the officers of the American Army of the 

 Revolution, and in failure thereof the collateral 

 branches who shall be judged worthy of becom- 

 ing its supporters and members," and in failure 

 of direct male descent, to male descendants 

 through intervening female descendants. 



There are at present State societies in Massa- 

 chusetts (1783), New York (1783), New Jersey 

 (1783), Rhode Island (1783), Maryland (1783), 

 South Carolina (1783), Pennsylvania (1783), Con- 

 necticut (revived in 1893), arid a society was or- 

 ganized under the amended constitution of 1783 

 in France which was disbanded in 1793 and re- 

 vived in 1887. The entire membership is now 

 about 500. The State societies meet annually, 

 and the General Society once in three years. On 



the monument at Temple Hill, New Windsor, 

 N. Y., the society has placed a tablet with the 

 inscription: "On this site the Society of the 

 Cincinnati was born, May 10, 1783. at" the last 

 Cantonment of the American Army, and it still 

 lives to perpetuate the memories of the Revolu- 

 tion." The present general officers are : Presi- 

 dent General, vacant (held by Hamilton Fish 

 from 1854 until his death, in 1893) ; Vice-Presi- 

 dent General, Robert M. McLane; Secretary 

 General, Asa B. Gardiner. The colors of the 

 Cincinnati are light blue and white. Its eagle, 

 as the badge is called, is shown in the plate, No. 

 2, and its rosette is No. 2a. 



The Society of the War of 1812. this so- 

 ciety was instituted in New York city on Jan. 3, 

 1826, by a number of officers who fought in the 

 second war of independence, as the War of 1812 

 was then called. In 1848 the society absorbed 

 an organization known as the * Veteran Corps 

 of Artillery," which had been founded by vet- 

 erans of the Revolution in 1790, and which had 

 taken part in the War of 1812 as an attached 

 company of the Third Regiment New York 

 State Artillery (now Eighth Battalion Infantry, 

 N. G. S. N. Y.). In 1890 the 22 surviving veteran 

 members of this society adopted a new constitu- 

 tion and by-laws, and themselves incorporated 

 the society 'under its old name. It is a military 

 society, as defined by the joint resolve of the 

 United States Congress of Sept, 25, 1890, and 

 the only one existing coming under said resolve 

 for the' War of 1812. It has for its object 

 To inspire among the members and among the Ameri- 

 can_ people the patriotic spirit of those who, in the 

 military or naval service of the United States, or in 

 service on private armed vessels of the United States 

 bearing commissions of letters of marque and reprisal 

 from the United States during that war, defended 

 their country against hostile encroachments on its 

 rights and interests, and caused its sovereignty and ' 

 independence to be respected ; to inculcate and main- 

 tain tho great principles of the law of nations for 

 which they contend ; to collect and preserve the 

 manuscript rolls, records, and other documents re- 

 lating to that war, and to commemorate the land and 

 naval victories of the American arms in that war; to 



undertake and assist in the erection of proper merno- 

 thereof; to perpetuate the mutual friendships 



rials 



formed in that war under the pressure of common 

 danger, and to promote fellowship among the mem- 

 bers of every degree ; to participate in the celebration 

 of other historic patriotic events of national impor- 

 tance, and generally to take such measures patriotic, 

 benevolent, and social as may conduce to the gen- 

 eral intendment of this institution and better accom- 

 plishment of the objects thereof. 



It admits to membership as original members 

 Any defender of the country in the War of 1812 who 

 served honorably in the armies or navies of the 

 United States in that war, and who shall solely by 

 reason of said service be entitled, under the laws ot 

 the United States, to have his name placed upon the 

 pension rolls of the United States. 



Also it admits to hereditary membership 

 The proper descendants of commissioned officers, 

 aids-de-camR, and commanding officers of private 

 armed vessels of the United States; and the proper 

 descendants of original and hereditary members of 

 this institution heretofore duly admitted; and the 

 proper descendants of original members in military 

 societies formed prior to Jan. 8, 1856, by_ men^ who 

 served in the armies and navies of the United States 

 in the War of 1812; and hereditary members hereto- 



