May 2012 - Hawthorne-Fortitude Masonic Lodge No. 200

Masons in the News
(Continued from page 19) accepted the
appointment in defense
of the Union’s best interests and to ensure the
tranquility of his own neighborhood. He was at a
decided disadvantage in that he had neither military
training nor combat experience. Yet he did not “run
off to Canada” or pursue a pacifist’s role. His country
asked him for his services, and he gave his best.
The month following, he was commissioned a
colonel in the Union Army with orders to organize a
regiment of Home Guards in order to defend New
Castle (12 miles east of La Grange), the duration of
service being 90 days.
It is uncertain whether Morris recruited a full
regiment within Oldham County, but in his
endeavors, he was more successful in La Grange,
Westport, and Eminence than in the communities in
the western area of Oldham County where Southern
sympathy prevailed.
The details concerning the battle of New Castle are
not lacking in verification, but a problem exists
because of two equally valid accounts.
Although Kirby-Smith’s forces, for the most part,
remained south of the Kentucky River, it appears that
on Sept. 21, 1862, Morris confronted not Kirby-
Smith, but an advance detachment seeking new
recruits for the South commanded by Capt. George
M. Jessee: Company A of the Kentucky Confederate
Volunteers, half of whom had enlisted from Henry
and Owen counties. Jessee himself was a native of
Henry County.
In the first account, Morris invaded new Castle and
set up a cannon on the courthouse square, awaiting
the arrival of Jessee’s forces.
When the Confederates appeared, Morris and some of
his Home Guard troops recognized a number of
Jessee’s men as fellow Masons. Initially a few shots
were fired, whereupon Morris, placing himself
between the cannoneers and the Southerners, shouted
“Don’t fire, men! They are our brothers,” and the
Home Guard withdrew.
The other version has it that Morris’ and essee’s
troops met a mile north of New Castle upon the
latter’s return from Bedford in Trimble County after a
recruiting drive.
Morris might have united his troops with a
detachment from Henry County under the leadership
of one Provost Marshal George Dickens. In the
ensuing battle, the Dickens troops were captured.
Again, Morris negotiated a withdrawal.
Personal recollections have been documented that
there was possibly another skirmish in and around the
courthouse, but the accounts indicate there was great
carnage sustained by both Northern and Southern
forces. However, neither the identity of the
combatants nor their commanders was revealed in
these personal interviews.
T W T
“France:Where
Freemasons Are Still
Feared”
Magazines and newspapers all have stories they run
in one form or another, year in, year out. The
details may differ, but the stories are largely the
same everywhere, striking universal chords of sex,
health, and money. A few of these perennials,
however, don’t travel. They drill deep into one
country’s psyche while everyone else scratches
their head and says, “Huh?”
In France, the story that keeps coming back is
about Freemasons. It’s everywhere. Most big
French magazines run at least one big Freemason
cover a year. Books dissect the “state within a
state,” to borrow from a recent title. Blogs abound.
“France has several of these marronniers—
chestnuts,” says Alain Bauer, former grand master
www.twtmag.com
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