| FREEMASONRY, TREASON AND THE FLORIDA COW CAVALRY Copyright 2001, by Kyle S. VanLandingham Freemasonry, a centuries-old fraternal organization bringing together men of many faiths and backgrounds, has always been controversial. Condemned in the past by the Roman Catholic Church and in recent years by fundamentalist Protestant groups as "unchristian," the once influential organization has declined in membership during the past few decades. But during the mid-19th century, Freemasonry was a powerful fraternity and included many of the political and business leaders of the country. Masonic lodges were popular meeting places in every town of any size. Tampa, Florida, was no exception. Hillsborough Lodge No. 25, Free and Accepted Masons, was organized in 1850. During the next few years it included such local luminaries as John Darling, William B. Hooker, James McKay, James Gettis and James T. Magbee. Whigs and Democrats met at the lodge, usually in a spirit of brotherhood. The Civil War, which began in 1861, was a time of great turmoil in west-central and southwest Florida. In May 1864, Union troops briefly occupied Tampa. During the raid, they sacked the Masonic Lodge building and briefly expropriated the lodge's tools and emblems. In April 1862, the Confederate Congress enacted a conscription law, requiring military service for men ages 18 to 35. William Alderman was 23 years old when the law went into effect. He had not volunteered for Confederate service and he decided he was not going to be drafted. Like many other men who felt they had no stake in the success of the Confederacy and wanted to be left alone, Alderman was forced to "lay out" from time to time in the back country to avoid conscript officers. Relief came in October 1862, when Congress approved a draft exemption for one person for each 500 head of cattle. William, a cattleman and son of a leading stock owner, was now able to resume a normal life. By 1863, William Alderman was living in Manatee County. On February 9, 1863, the County Commission appointed him as "agent to purchase corn for [Confederate] soldiers families." There is a certain irony in that, considering William's Union sympathies. In late 1863 or early 1864, he enlisted as a private in Capt. John T. Lesley's company, which became Company B of the Florida Special Cavalry, also known as Munnerlyn's Cattle Guard Battalion. The job of the "Sandpipers," as Lesley's company was known, was to gather cattle and drive them north so they could be transported to the beef-hungry Confederate armies. The Confederate Congress had repealed the draft exemption for cattlemen in February 1864, so the formation of the Cow Cavalry made it possible for men to remain in Florida, herd cattle and still satisfy their military obligation. Other men, on hearing of the repeal of the exemption, left their homes and moved their families to Fort Myers, which Union forces had occupied in January 1864. The Union 2nd Florida Cavalry was organized and many Southern men from Manatee, Polk and Hillsborough County joined up. William Alderman was in Tampa on August 20, 1864, when he was inititated an Entered Apprentice in Hillsborough Lodge No. 15, F. & A.M. He was examined, balloted upon and passed to the degree of Fellow Craft on October 15, 1864. The Lodge minutes from February 18, 1865, are extremely interesting: "The Worshipful Master informed the Lodge that William Alderman, a Fellow Craft of this Lodge, and a member of Capt. J. T. Lesley's Company of Mounted Men in the service of the Confederate States in the present war with the United States, has deserted and gone over to the said enemy of the Confederate States, and inquired whether the Lodge would deal with the said deserter for his desertion as an offence against or breach of Masonic Law and principles;--After some conversation upon the subject, a committee was appointed consisting of Bros. Gettis, Givens, W. B. Henderson, and Darling, with instructions to make a report to the Lodge as to whether or not the Desertion of a Mason being a citizen or soldier owing allegiance to the Confederate States to the enemy during the present war is an offence against or breach of Masonic Law or principles." A letter was sent from the committee to the Most Worshipful Samuel Benezet, Grand Master of Florida Masons, in Tallahassee, asking that very question. Grand Master Benezet responded on March 15, 1865: "Is desertion a Masonic offence, and if so, what law of Masonry has a deserter broken? I know of none. He has committed a political offence--an offence with which Masonry has nothing to do. The crime is not a moral one, and belongs to that class which is called 'prohibited,' but does not belong to that class which is called 'mala in se,' or bad in itself. It is a civil crime only, and the deserter has placed himself in an attitude of rebellion against his Government. Having arrived at this conclusion, it only remains to quote the law upon the subject as laid down in the 'Ancient Charges'... "The person having left the country and jurisdiction of the lodge, you can strike his name from the roll; further than this your Lodge cannot do." On April 1, 1865, just eight days before Lee's surrender, the committee reported to the lodge. "On motion, it was ordered that the names of Thos. B. Jackson, MM, and Wm. Alderman, FC, be dropped from the rolls of this Lodge because of their desertion to the enemy." But William Alderman did not give up. He appeared at the lodge meeting on September 16, 1865, explained and responded to the charges and was examined in the Fellow Craft degree. He passed and was reinstated to receive the degree of Master Mason. The minutes from October 7, 1865, state that William Alderman had asked the Worshipful Master that his petition to be raised to Master Mason be read at every meeting until the charges were dropped. Brother James Gettis, prominent Tampa lawyer, moved to expunge the record. The motion stood over until the November 4, 1865, meeting when the proceedings were expunged. But William Alderman had apparently grown tired of the whole matter for there is no record that he ever pursued it further or was ever raised to the "sublime degree of Master Mason." Why would William Alderman, so late in the war, desert the Confederate service and go over to the Union? He had been known as a Union man and had sold cattle to the Union garrison. He even hunted deer at Pine Island to supply the Federal troops and their families. It is known that the exodus of Manatee County people to Fort Myers continued until early 1865. Whatever the case, Alderman went on to become a wealthy cattleman and later moved to Basinger, on the Kissimmee River. An astute individual, he never allied himself with the other Unionists during the post-Civil War period. Sources: Hillsborough Lodge No. 25, F. & A.M. 1850-1976, no date; Hillsborough Lodge No. 25, F. & A.M., Minute Book 1850-1852/1864-1867; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Florida: At its Several Grand Communications, from A.D. 1860 to 1866, Inclusive (Tallahassee, FL, 1866); Alderman family notes in possession of author. |