Collegiate Fraternities and the Civil War

[jarednichols]

Well, although i am not a Mason i have been following several of the Mason threads for authenticity sake. I figured I would add and prompt others to add their comments on some of the other fraternal organizations of the time, I would like to start with my own:

BETA THETA PI

"At 9 o'clock in the evening of the eighth day of the eighth month of the year 1839, eight earnest young men, all students at Miami University, held the first meeting of Beta Theta Pi in the Hall of the Union Literary Society, an upper room in the old college building known as "Old Main."
The eight founders in the order in which their names appear in the minutes were:

John Reily Knox 1839
Samuel Taylor Marshall 1840
David Linton 1839
James George Smith 1840
Charles Henry Hardin 1841
John Holt Duncan 1840
Michael Clarkson Ryan 1839
Thomas Boston Gordon 1840
... of ever honored memory."

Beta was founded prior to the Civil War at Miami College in Oxford, Ohio. At the time of the outbreak of hostilities there were 24 chapters in the U.S. The Fraternity refers to the Civil War as its "darkest hour". Due to the fact that the chapters were located both in the North and in the South. The "founding fathers" of the fraternity were also divided with some serving the North and some the South.

Its worthy to note that Beta Theta Pi was known for its fraternal songs and for singing.... most of the older traditional songs are to the tunes of Civil War camp songs (purposely so, tradition is that after the Civil War the men returned to school but many missed the comraderie of singing in camp....therfore they took their old camp songs and turned them into fraternal songs that are sung to this day)

[jarednichols]

Re: Collegiate Fraternities and the Civil War

During the Civil War Founder John Holt Duncan served in the Confederate army, here is the traditional story that has been passed down about his service

"Founder John Holt Duncan was the first president of Beta Theta Pi, having been selected for the position prior to the founding on August 8, 1839. After graduation, Duncan practiced law in his home state of Mississippi. He later moved to Bexar County, Texas, and became a judge. But in that terrible war that divided the United States, he was called to service by the Confederate Cavalry and became a captain in Company C of Col. Haupt’s Regiment of the Texas Cavalry.

John Holt Duncan was wounded in the leg while “gallantly charging the enemy.” at the Battle of Newtonia" To save him, Confederate surgeons had to amputate his right leg (his wooden leg resides in the Beta Museum.) He was left at a farmhouse where a member of the Confederate army lived. Penalty for harboring Confederates was death and, as fate would have it, the Union Cavalry found Duncan. They took Duncan and the farmer, who had cared for him, stood them up against the barn and killed the farmer in full view of his family and Duncan.

After recovering, Duncan returned to practice law. Though he earned adequate income, he lived very frugally, almost as if he were destitute. On May 27, 1896, John Holt Duncan died in an old soldier’s home in Austin, Texas, virtually penniless. He had deemed it his solemn duty to support and educate the children of the man murdered for his sake. "

[Federal Bummer]

Re: Collegiate Fraternities and the Civil War

You know I can still say that paragragh in the light of a match

kai
Stephen Ewing, Louisville '05
Delta Pi 368

[jarednichols]

Re: Collegiate Fraternities and the Civil War

Steve,

You know.... yeah i think i can too.. good to know a fellow brother is lurking around. Mabye we should post some Beta Songs off the fraternity homepage www.betathetapi.org (i am kidding)

On a serious note, I about fell over when i was a pledge and realized that we were singing to the tune of Battle Cry of Freedom and then realized the song we sang before that was to the tune of Bonnie Blue Flag. Did you ever pick up on all the Civil War connections with the fraternity?

Any other "Greeks" have Civil War stuff to share


~kai~
Jared Nichols
Beta Psi 1852
West Virginia 03'

[vbetts]

Sigma Alpha Epsilon

Some years back I worked on a biography of Col. R. T. P. Allen of the 17th Texas Infantry, commandant of our local POW camp. He was the founder of Kentucky Military Institute outside of Frankfort, and Bastrop Military Institute in Texas. Here's a summary of another fraternity story, taken from the KMI Alumni website:

"It was at the beginning of the war that the story of Lucy Pattie came about. She was a young girl who lived at Farmdale. Miss Pattie was a friend to everyone at the institute. When the cadets went to war, Captain John Kent left with Lucy all the records of their Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. He gave her the grip of the fraternity and accepted her promise that she would not give unless they gave her the same grip. When the war was over, she refused to give the records to anyone unless they gave her the grip. The members of the fraternity were so fond of her that they made her the only woman member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. They awarded her a badge which she wore proudly the rest of her life, even to her grave."
--http://www.kmialumni.org/farmdale_history.html

Vicki Betts

[Federal Bummer]

Re: Collegiate Fraternities and the Civil War

When I get home and look I can get into "Son of the Stars" but off the top of my head. (I'll edit these later so dates are correct)

John Brown Gordon, GA 1840 was the highest ranking Beta on either side

Micheal Clarkson Ryan, Miami 1839 was commissioned Col. of Ohio volunteers
An original recruitment flyer is still kept in the general office today

Thomas Boston Gordon, Miami 1840 was commissioned Capt, CSA volunteers

The Medal of Honor was awarded to a Beta For Personal Efforts at the Battle of Fredericksburg, VA in 1862 (I'll insert the name tonight)

The most remarkable story is the story of YOUNG Joel Allen Battle, Capt 20th Tenn. (Different Joel Allen Battle, Col. of the 20th Tenn, I believe his father).
Joel was killed in the battle of Shiloh. His body lay with the dead being buried by federal soldiers after the battle. By chance, two of his fraternal brothers happened upon him. They transported him away from the burial trenches and buried him alone under a large tree in an unmarked grave. No knowledge of his reburial is known, leading to the belief, he still rests alone under a large tree on the Battlefield of Shiloh.

[jarednichols]

Re: Collegiate Fraternities and the Civil War

Viciki,

Thanks, that was a great one...any other SAE brothers have anything to add to that one??

[jarednichols]

Re: Collegiate Fraternities and the Civil War

When I get home and look I can get into "Son of the Stars" but off the top of my head. (I'll edit these later so dates are correct)

John Brown Gordon, GA 1840 was the highest ranking Beta on either side

Micheal Clarkson Ryan, Miami 1839 was commissioned Col. of Ohio volunteers
An original recruitment flyer is still kept in the general office today

Thomas Boston Gordon, Miami 1840 was commissioned Capt, CSA volunteers

The Medal of Honor was awarded to a Beta For Personal Efforts at the Battle of Fredericksburg, VA in 1862 (I'll insert the name tonight)

The most remarkable story is the story of YOUNG Joel Allen Battle, Capt 20th Tenn. (Different Joel Allen Battle, Col. of the 20th Tenn, I believe his father).
Joel was killed in the battle of Shiloh. His body lay with the dead being buried by federal soldiers after the battle. By chance, two of his fraternal brothers happened upon him. They transported him away from the burial trenches and buried him alone under a large tree in an unmarked grave. No knowledge of his reburial is known, leading to the belief, he still rests alone under a large tree on the Battlefield of Shiloh.

I must say, if thats "off the top of your head" thats pretty damn good. John Brown Gordon was a CS Major General, Senator and Governor of Georgia

, ..ah i found three more Betas of note

Oliver P. Morton was the Civil War Governor of Indiana (Miami 1847)
Durbin Ward was a US General and US (Miami 1843)
John Coburn was a US General (Wabash 1846) ...

[jarednichols]

Re: Collegiate Fraternities and the Civil War

For anyone that is interested i found the story of Joel Allan Battle..... pretty moving stuff. Also attached a picture of him, note the Beta badge he is wearing on his vest.

"Brotherly Love Amidst Civil War

The Civil War caused the greatest crisis in the history of Beta Theta Pi. Before the war ended, more than half of all Betas by 1861 were combatants—split almost equally between the Union and the Confederate armies. Founder Ryan was a Union officer, while Duncan and Gordon served the Confederacy. The War spawned several stories which demonstrated the strength of Beta brotherhood and the character of her members.

The 100th name of the original roll of Alpha Chapter belongs to Joel Allan Battle who came to Miami University in 1855 from his home in Lavergne, Tennessee to obtain an education at the institution which had gained the reputation as the Yale of the West. Young Battle soon befriended John Calvin Lewis whom Battle recruited into Beta Theta Pi. The last time Lewis saw Allan was shortly before his graduation in 1860. When the war broke out Allan joined his father Colonel Joel Battle of the 20th Tennessee regiment to fight for the cause. Lewis became a Captain in the 41st Illinois Regiment and other Miami friends named Ross and Chamberlain joined the 31st Indiana.

In early April, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston led the Army of Tennessee north from Corinth to attack Grant's forces at dawn near Shiloh Church, starting the first great bloody conflict of the war. Young Allan Battle, his arm still in the sling, fought until he was killed in this charge to retake the former position. The next morning his body was found by his Beta brother Lewis and his friends.

Lewis and his comrades buried Allan under the shade of an oak tree and smoothed out the ground to conceal the grave and prevent it from being disturbed. They marked the oak tree but when they returned years later the oak trees had been cut and the battlefield was so changed that they were unable to locate the grave site.

And so today if you go to Shiloh, beside the Visitor Center built near Pittsburg Landing at the site of Grant's Headquarters, you will find the Union Cemetery with the Union dead buried in neat rows with white tombstones identifying virtually all of the men interred there. And when you tour the battlefield, you will come upon several Confederate burial trenches containing all of the unidentified Southern dead in mass graves - all except one that is. That one is young Joel Allan Battle, who lies in his own special secret burial place on the field of bloody Shiloh, probably not far from the Bloody Pond, where he was laid to rest by his Beta Brother-- his Beta Brother in blue."

~kai~
Jared Nichols
West Virginia 03'
Beta Psi #1852