| MASONRY IN NORTH DAKOTA | ||||
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Chapter 2 _______________________________________________________________________________
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MORE THAN HALF a century passed, after the boats of the Lewis and Clark Expedition made their way down the Missouri River on August 20, 1806, before Masonry was again brought to light within the present confines of North Dakota, insofar as recorded history has revealed. This time it was not a story of exploration that came to our attention, but a record of war against the Indians and the burial of a Master Mason that has come down to us. General Henry H. Sibley had been sent out with several regiments from Minnesota in 1863 to subdue the Sioux Indians near the present site of Bismarck. His forces have been variously estimated at from 2,000 to 6,000 men and those of his opponents have been rated as high as 10,000. Several engagements were held with the enemy in the country, between Tap-pen and Bismarck, and the Sioux were driven across the Missouri River just south of the present site of Bismarck late in July, 1863. As an aide on the staff of General Sibley was an English nobleman, educated at Oxford and an ordained clergyman of the Episcopal Church, named Frederick John Holt Beever. He had come to America as a soldier of fortune and had attained the rank of lieutenant when he came to Dakota with the Seventh Minnesota Infantry. On July 29, 1863, General Sibley sent him to carry dispatches to Colonel William Crook near the River, which he had evidently delivered, as he was last seen on his way back to camp. He had become confused in his directions, was ambushed by Indians and shot in the back with arrows. His horse was dead beside him. It is supposed that he killed two Indians, as pools of blood were found nearby. His hair being very short, he was not scalped, but a piece was taken from his chin with his beard and he was stripped of everything but his shirt. He was found by a searching party the next day and his body was returned to camp. An official report by Sergeant James T. Ramer of Company B, Seventh Minnesota regiment, whose small group found the body, relates: "Lieutenant Beever, on General Sibley's staff, was missing. He had carried a dispatch to Colonel Crook at the river, but did not return. We remained in camp until noon, then advanced through the woods and destroyed the Indians' wagons and camp equipage. We saw a few Indians on the opposite (west) side of the river; we returned and deployed as skirmishers to find Lieutenant Beever. His body was found shot with arrows and a part of his whiskers torn off. His horse lay near him, pierced with arrows." Lieutenant Beever was a member of the Masonic Order in England and the Masons in the army, of whom there were many, thought it most appropriate that he should be given Masonic burial. It was a happy coincidence that Lieutenant John C. Whipple, with the expedition, was the R.’. W.'. Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota in 1863, and he took charge. He called an emergent communication of the brethren and opened a Lodge of Sorrow on July 31, 1863, to conduct the funeral of Brother Beever. As Worshipful Master, he appointed Brother A. J. Edgerton, later Junior Grand Warden of Minnesota; as Senior Warden, Brother John C. Braden, later Grand Master of Minnesota; and as Junior Warden, a Brother Patch whose full name and affiliation we do not have. In 1877, M. W. Brother John C. Braden, as Grand Master of Minnesota, traveled to Bismarck, Dakota Territory, to constitute Bismarck Lodge No. 120, and in his address before the Grand Lodge that year is found the following, which is probably the most authentic account of the Masonic burial of Brother (Lieutenant) Frederick John Holt Beever: "At Bismarck I was reminded of a Masonic service, in which I bore a part during General Sibley's Indian expedition of 1863. While in camp four miles below the present site of Bismarck, Brother Beever, a volunteer aide on the staff of the general commanding, was killed by the Indians. On the last Sunday of July, R.'. W.'. Brother John C. Whipple, then Deputy Grand Master, called together in a Lodge of Emergency the brethren with the expedition; he appointed Brother A. J. Edgerton, now Junior Grand Warden, Worshipful Master; myself, Senior Warden; and the late Brother Patch, Junior Warden. Thus constituted, the last sad rites of Masonry consigned to our Mother Earth, in the then far-off wilds of the upper Missouri, all that was mortal of our brother. Brother Beever came to the general commanding, a stranger, but strongly recommended by prominent citizens of New York, among them Hamilton Fish and John Jacob Astor. He soon endeared himself to all acquaintances. He was fitted to adorn any society, for he was of a good English family, and an Oxford man. His remains have since been removed and now lie in Oakland Cemetery, near this city. (St. Paul). This was the first Masonic service held in Dakota Territory." Brother Beever was buried in the rifle pits, on a ridge overlooking Apple Creek, near its mouth, where it empties into the Missouri River, just south of Bismarck. There is some discrepancy as to the dates listed for the burial; Grand Master Braden using the last Sunday in July, which was July 26th; Sergeant Ramer using July 30th; M.'. W.'. Brother Walter L. Stockwell, July 31st; and M.'. W.'. E. A. Montgomery, P.G.M., Minn., August 31st. However, the weight of evidence points to either July 30th or 31st, and the latter date is generally believed to be correct. The body was disinterred on September 8, 1864, by Captain Thomas of the Eighth Minnesota, Captain Jones and Lieutenant Whipple; conveyed to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and buried there. On August 27, 1865, it was finally buried in Oakland Cemetery, St. Paul, where it remains today and where the grave is decorated on Memorial Day by the G.A.R. __________
June 1, 1921
No recognition of the original burial place of Lieutenant Frederick John Holt Beever was made until 1920-21, when M.'. W.'. Brothers Allan V. Haig, Grand Master, and Walter L. Stockwell, Grand Secretary, resolved that the place should be fittingly marked and honored. During the year the premises had been procured, a native granite boulder engraved and a strong steel fence with granite posts placed around it. The inscription is as follows: On this spot, July 31, 1863, occurred the first Masonic ceremony held in the present state of North Dakota. It was the Masonic funeral of Lieutenant Fred J. Holt Beever, an Englishman and Oxonian, and a volunteer soldier, attached to the staff of General H. H. Sibley. He was killed in a skirmish with the Indians and was buried in the rifle pits which were dug along this ridge. Deputy Grand Master John C. Whipple of Minnesota convened an emergency Masonic Lodge with Brothers A. J. Edgerton as Worshipful Master, J. C. Braden, Senior Warden, and Bro. Patch, Junior Warden, and the body of Brother Beever was here consigned to earth with Masonic services. This tablet and marker has been placed by the Grand Lodge A.'. P.'. & A.'. M.'., of North Dakota, A. D. 1920, A. L. 5920, to commemorate the fact that while Lieutenant Beever died far from home and among strangers, yet he was among brethren who saw that the honors so justly his due were paid him. At 3:00 o'clock on June 1, 1921, the Marker and Tablet, placed at the site on Apple Creek, south of Bismarck, where Lieutenant Beever was buried and where the first Masonic ceremony in the present state of North Dakota was held, were dedicated. This was the date of a district meeting in Bismarck, and a large number of brethren journeyed to the site where appropriate ceremonies were held. M.'. W.'. Brother Walter L. Stockwell, Grand Secretary, delivered the address.
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