The Better Angels of Our Nature | The Better Angels of Our Nature: Freemasonry in the American Civil War |...

Mr | The Better Angels of Our Nature: Freemasonry in the American Civil War | Michael A. Halleran

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	• The Better Angels of Our Nature: Freemasonry in the American Civil War Michael A. Halleran University Alabama Press, 2010 - 248 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Outstanding

Michael Halleran's "The Better Angels of Our Nature," is an outstanding, in-depth study of interactions between Freemasons during the American Civil War. Halleran's title comes from Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address on March 4, 1861, as he argued passionately before his audience and the nation to keep the Union together.

It accomplishes what few books about Freemasons are able to do: it explores the legends and long-told tall tales of the fraternity in an academic fashion, with both dispassionate analysis of the facts, and an obvious passion for the subject. Personal accounts from the Civil War have the effect of humanizing the experience, instead of being able to hold it at a polite distance, perhaps because it was the first war that had, not just commanders, but so many enlisted men educated enough to write letters and diaries. Along the way, Michael shatters several longstanding and cherished Masonic fables, but he reinforces and illuminates far more than he buries. And he finds the humanity and real truth behind events in the war that pitted brethren against each other more than any other.

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The Better Angels of Our Nature

Up until now, we had only anecdotal evidence of how Masons helped each other during the Civil War (and other conflicts.) This book, however, attempts to add sound historical rigor to the quest--and by and large succeeds admirably.

Mr

A great book. Especially for freemasons. Several people have asked me if they could borrow it.

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Better Angles has scholastic underpinnings

Michael Halleran has taken what is often sensationalized to the point of being near fiction and through solid research and scholarship has accurately presented the role of Freemasonry in the American Civil War. He not only sets the record straight on one of the more romanticized stories revolving around participants at Picket's Charge at Gettysburg, but he documents real accounts of events in the prison camps and battles involving Freemasons and the fraternal culture that crossed battle lines and political obstructions for the benefit of its members. The notes section at the end of the book gives the serious scholar of this subject a multitude of resources. It is an easy read of a complex subject.

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Fraternal bond transcended nationality

The Better Angels of Our Nature is an incredible study of individual Masons acting on one of their most sacred tenets - charitable relief of a fellow brother in severe distress. What is astounding is the setting: the killing fields of the Civil War, for these Masons are enemies. One minute they are locked in brutal combat killing each another, the next they are displaying unequaled acts of kindness. What is the basis for their actions? Michael A. Halleran not only tells their stories, but he also explains their motivations. The answer comes down to a man keeping his promise, his Word, his obligation to the fraternity of Freemasonry regardless of his political allegiance to state or nation. These stories are verified by Halleran's in-depth research and cross-source referencing in a history detective passion for the truth. From life-saving battlefield examples to prisoner relief to protecting property, the soldiers of Freemasonry show through their actions what Halleran writes in his Afterword, "...that the fraternal bond transcended nationality."

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One of the enduring yet little examined themes in Civil War lore is the widespread belief that on the field of battle and afterward, members of Masonic lodges would give aid and comfort to wounded or captured enemy Masons, often at great personal sacrifice and danger. This work is a deeply researched examination of the recorded, practical effects of Freemasonry among Civil War participants on both sides. From first-person accounts culled from regimental histories, diaries, and letters, Michael A. Halleran has constructed an overview of 19th-century American freemasonry in general and Masonry in the armies of both North and South in particular, and provided telling examples of how Masonic brotherhood worked in practice. Halleran details the response of the fraternity to the crisis of secession and war, and examines acts of assistance to enemies on the battlefield and in POW camps. The author examines carefully the major Masonic stories from the Civil War, in particular the myth that Confederate Lewis A. Armistead made the Masonic sign of distress as he lay dying at the high-water mark of Pickett's charge at Gettysburg.

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