By T.S. Akers
By the 1820s the southwestern border of the United States
reached to Fort Smith, Arkansas. In order to protect the border, Colonel
Matthew Arbuckle established Fort Gibson in 1824 at the confluence of the Grand
and Arkansas Rivers. After the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the post would take
on a peace keeping role between the Plains Indians and the Five Tribes who came
to call the new Indian Territory home. The placement of Fort Gibson proved to
be a detriment to the Army as the post flooded often and many a soldier died of
disease; but the post was in relative proximity to Tahlequah, capital of the
Cherokee Nation, and Park Hill, home to several leading Cherokee statesmen.[1] It
was here that Freemasonry arrived in the Indian Territory and a charter was issued
to Cherokee Lodge No. 21 on the 9th of November, 1848, by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas.[2] In
time the Fraternity would flourish across the Five Tribes, including the
Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
While Tahlequah was fast becoming a bustling tribal capital,
Fort Gibson was the center of military operations and commerce in the Indian
Territory. Though Fort Gibson was just twenty-five miles from Tahlequah, the
distance often made it difficult for the Masons there to attend lodge without
interfering with their duties on post. As such, it was in 1850 that Fort Gibson Lodge No. 35 was chartered. Within two years another lodge was
established near a frontier post, Choctaw Lodge No. 52 at Doaksville, near Fort
Towson. The desire for Freemasonry amongst the Cherokees was further fueled in
1853 when Flint Lodge No. 74 was established at Flint near present day
Stillwell. As can be discerned, the majority of the lodges established were composed
mostly of Cherokee and Choctaw citizens. Though several Muscogees were Masons, they
chose not to affiliate with lodges in the region.[3]
Old Creek Agency in the 1850s
An oil painting by Vinson Lackey
(From the collections of the Gilcrease Museum)
It was in 1855 that prominent Muscogee citizen George W.
Stidham led the movement to establish a lodge within the Creek Nation.[4] Stidham
had been made a Mason in Washington, D.C., while attending to tribal affairs
and had taken numerous “higher degrees.” Legend has it that Stidham, Rev.
Calvin M. Slover, and Joseph M. Coodey traveled by
horseback to Little Rock, Arkansas, to obtain a dispensation for a new lodge.[5] And
thus, on the 9th of November, 1855, Muscogee Lodge No. 93 was chartered at the Creek
Agency by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas.[6] At
this time, the Creek Agency was located at the base of Fern Mountain on the
southern bank of the Arkansas River.[7] In
addition to Stidham, other notable Creek citizens held membership in Muscogee
Lodge, including Samuel Checote and Daniel N. McIntosh.[8]
George Washington Stidham
(Courtesy of the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution)
The annual reports to the Grand Lodge of Arkansas show that
Muscogee Lodge No. 93 had 26 members in 1856. This number had grown to 41 by
1859. Masonry in the Indian Territory prospered until the outbreak of
hostilities in 1861. All of the Five
Tribes became embroiled in the conflict and Masonic activity in the region
ceased. The proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas make particular note of
lodges being destroyed as Federal troops moved through that state.[9]
The lodges of Indian Territory were carried on the rolls of
the Grand Lodge of Arkansas through the Civil War, though no dues payments or annual
reports were being sent to Arkansas. By 1865, the Indian Territory lodges were
considered to be in default. To remedy this, they were required to provide
proof that the lodge charter had survived the War and remit their
outstanding dues by the 1st of June, 1866, or their charters would be withdrawn. Having
received no response by the given date, the Grand Lodge of Arkansas withdrew
the charters of Cherokee, Fort Gibson, Choctaw, and Muscogee Lodges in 1867.[10]
The reality of the situation was that the charter of
Muscogee Lodge had survived the War, as Joseph M. Coodey had preserved it during his service with the Confederacy.[11] As men returned to what was left of their homes, they began to resume their
Masonic activity when possible. Those Indian Territory lodges that responded to
the notice sent them by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas reported that few of their
members were left in the region. Cherokee Lodge, for example, only had 5 members still within the jurisdiction of the lodge.[12]
After the war, Stidham moved to the Eufaula area and opened a store. It
was in the second story of that edifice that Muscogee Lodge reconvened.[13] The Brethren labored diligently until early 1874 when they again journeyed to
Little Rock, Arkansas, to make payment for all accounts due and insure their
charter was valid.[14] For the sum of $80, Muscogee Lodge was able to settle their accounts and secure
permission to resume labor. Unfortunately, Muscogee Lodge’s original number had
been reassigned by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas and a new charter was issued as
Muscogee Lodge No. 90.[15]
The year 1874 was a busy one indeed for Muscogee Lodge. Having
just restored their charter in the spring, their presence would be requested in
the fall for the purpose of forming a Grand Lodge. Again traveling by
horseback, George W. Stidham along with Rev. Henry F. Buckner arrived in Caddo after two days ride. Along with representatives of Doaksville Lodge No.
279 and Caddo Lodge No. 311, the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory was formed on
the 5th of October, 1874. The first Grand Master was Granville McPherson, editor of the Caddo Star, with Stidham serving as
Grand Treasurer and Buckner as Grand Chaplain.[16] Owing
to the numbering under the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, the lodges of the newly
formed grand lodge became Muscogee Lodge No. 1, Doaksville
Lodge No. 2, and Caddo Lodge No. 3.[17] Muscogee Lodge would change its name to Eufaula Lodge in 1889.[18]
While the town of Doaksville and its lodge is nothing more than a memory, in 1981 the Masons of Eufaula Lodge No. 1 AF&AM broke ground on a new meeting hall. There they remain as a monument to those early Brethren of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
While the town of Doaksville and its lodge is nothing more than a memory, in 1981 the Masons of Eufaula Lodge No. 1 AF&AM broke ground on a new meeting hall. There they remain as a monument to those early Brethren of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
[1] "Fort
Gibson,” Oklahoma
Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma
History and Culture, <http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/F/FO033.html>,
Accessed 4 November 2012.
[2] Charles E. Creager, History of Freemasonry in Oklahoma
(Muskogee, Oklahoma: Muskogee Print
Shop, 1935), 20.
[3] Creager, 23-28.
[4] Ibid., 28.
[5] “Eufaula Masonic Lodge: Oldest in Oklahoma,” The Indian Journal, 2 March 1922, p. 3.
[6] Creager, 28.
[7] Thomas F. Meagher, "Map of the Old Creek
Agency: 1851-1876" Oklahoma
Historical Society Map Collection (Tulsa, 1938).
[8] Proceedings
of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge AF&AM of the Indian Territory
(Caddo: Oklahoma Star, 1875), 24.
[9] Proceedings
of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge F&AM of the State of Arkansas
(Little Rock: 1856-1862).
[10] Proceedings
of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge F&AM of the State of Arkansas
(Little Rock: 1865-1867).
[11] “Eufaula Masonic Lodge: Oldest in Oklahoma.”
[12] Proceedings
of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge F&AM of the State of Arkansas
(Little Rock: 1867).
[13] “Eufaula Masonic Lodge: Oldest in Oklahoma.”
[14] “Eufaula Masonic Lodge #1: Sesquicentennial Anniversary,” The Indian
Journal, Spring Expo 2005, p. 19.
[15] J. Fred Latham, The Story of Oklahoma Masonry (Guthrie: Grand Lodge of Oklahoma,
1978), 10-11.
[16] Creager, 41-46.
[17] “Eufaula Masonic Lodge #1: Sesquicentennial Anniversary.”
[18] Proceedings
of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge AF&AM of the Indian Territory
(Muskogee: Phoenix Steam Printing Company, 1889), 66.
