USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The original institution of the general Society of the Cincinnati, as formed by the officers of the army of the United States, at the conclusion of the revolutionary war > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
E 202 . 1
. $24
Copy 2
27.0
-300
202 THE 524 ORIGINAL INSTITUTION -
-OF THE
General Society
.- OF THE ...
CINCINNATICE
AS FORMED BY
The Officers of the Army of the United States AT THE CONCLUSION OF
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR,
WHICH GAVE
INDEPENDENCE TO AMERICA.
TOGETHER WITH THE
Rules and By-Laws of the State Society of South Carolina,
As Adopted July 4, 1848, and Amended; AND ALSO, A. LIST OF OFFICERS AND MEMBERS, AND
A ROSTER OF OFFICERS IN CONTINENTAL SERVICE.
PUBLISHED BY ORDER FOR THE USE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.
CHARLESTON, S. C. WALKER, EVANS & COGSWELL, PRINTERS. 188I.
M
P
THE ORIGINAL INSTITUTION
OF THE
GENERAL SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI,
AS FORMED BY THE OFFICERS OF THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES, AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE
REVOLUTIONARY WAR,
WHICH GAVE INDEPENDENCE TO
AMERICA.
TOGETHER WITH THE RULES AND BY-LAWS
OF THE
STATE SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, AS ADOPTED JULY 4th, 1848.
PUBLISHED BY ORDER, FOR THE USE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.
CHARLESTON, S. C. .WALKER, EVANS & COGSWELL, PRINTERS, Nos. 3 Broad and 109 East Bay Streets. 1880.
C
١
1
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
General Sociefu o the Cincinnati
WITH THE
ORIGINAL INSTITUTION OF THE ORDER.
CANTONMENT OF THE AMERICAN ARMY, ON HUDSON'S RIVER, IOTH MAY, 1783.
Proposals for establishing a Society, upon principles there- in mentioned, whose members shall be officers of the Ameri- can Army, having been communicated to the several regi- ments of the respective lines, they appointed an officer from each, who, in consideration at their meeting this day, at which the Honorable Major-General Baron de Steuben, the senior officer present, was pleased to preside.
The proposals being read, fully considered, paragraph by paragraph, and the amendments agreed to.
MAJOR-GENERAL KNOX, - BRIGADIER-GENERAL HAND, BRIGADIER-GENERAL HUNTINGDON, and CAPTAIN SHAW,
were chosen to revise the same, and prepare a copy to be laid before this Assembly at their next meeting, to be holden at Major-General Baron de Steuben's quarters, on Tuesday, the 13th instant.
TUESDAY, 13th May, 1783.
The representatives of the American Army being assem- bled, agreeably to adjournment, the plan for establishing a Society, whereof the officers of the American Army are to be members, is accepted, and is as follows, viz :
4
" It having pleased the Supreme Governor of the Universe, in the disposition of human affairs, to cause the separation of North America from the domination of Great Britain, and after a bloody conflict of eight years, to establish them free, independent, and sovereign States, connected by allian- ces founded on reciprocal advantages, with some of the great Princes and powers of the earth.
" To perpetuate, therefore, as well the remembrance of the vast event, as the mutual friendship which has been formed under the pressure of common danger, and, in many instances, cemented by the blood of the parties, the officers of the American Army do hereby, in the most solemn manner, associate, constitute and combine themselves into one Society of Friends, to endure as long as they shall endure, or any of their eldest male posterity, and in failure thereof, the collateral branches who may be judged worthy of becoming its supporters and members.
" The officers of the American Army, having generally been taken from the citizens of America, possess high veneration for the character of that illustrious Roman, Lucius Quintius Cin- cinnatus, and being resolved to follow his example, by return- ing to their citizenship, they think they may, with propriety, denominate themselves the Society of the Cincinnati.
" The following principles shall be immutable, and form the basis of the Society of the Cincinnati :
" An incessant attention to preserve inviolate those exalted rights and liberties of human nature for which they have fought and bled, and without which the high rank of a rational being is a curse instead of a blessing.
" An unalterable determination to promote and cherish, between the respective States, that union and national honor so essentially necessary to their happiness and the future dignity of the American Empire.
"To render permanent the cordial affection subsisting among the officers. This spirit will dictate brotherly kind- ness in all things, particularly extend to the most substantial acts of beneficence, according to the ability of the Society, towards those officers and their families who, unfortunately, may be under the necessity of receiving it.
" The General Society will, for the sake of frequent com- munications, be divided into State Societies, and these again into such districts as shall be directed by the State Society.
" The Societies of the Districts to meet as often as shall be agreed upon by the State Society ; those of the State on the fourth day of July, annually, so long as they shall deem it necessary, and afterwards, at least once in every three years.
5
" At each meeting, the principles of the institution will be fully considered, and the best measure to promote them adopted.
" The State Societies will consist of all the members resi- dent in each State respectively ; and any member removing from one State to another, is to be considered in all respects, as belonging to the Society of the State in which he shall actually reside.
"The State Societies to have a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Assistant Treasurer, to be chosen annually by a majority of votes at the State meeting.
"Each State meeting shall write annually, or oftener, if necessary, a circular letter, to the other State Societies, noting whatever they may think worthy of observation, respecting the good of the Society, or the general union of the States and giving information of the officers chosen for the current year ; copies of these letters shall be regularly transmitted to the Secretary-General of the Society, who will record them in a book to be assigned for that purpose.
" The State Society will regulate everything respecting itself and the Societies of its district consistent with the general maxims of the Cincinnati, judge of the qualifications of the members who may be proposed, and expel any mem- ber who, by a conduct inconsistent with a gentlemen and a man of honor, or by an opposition to the interests of the community in general, or the Society in particular, may render himself unworthy to continue a member.
"In order to form funds which may be respectable and assist the unfortunate, each officer shall deliver to the Treas- urer of the State Society, one month's pay, which shall remain forever to the use of the State Society; the interest only of which, if necessary, to be appropriated to the relief of the unfortunate.
" Donations may be made by persons not of the Society, and by members of the Society, for the express purpose of forming permanent funds for the use of the State Society, and the interests of these donations appropriated in the same manner as that of the month's pay.
" Moneys, at the pleasure of each member, may be sub- scribed in the Societies of the Districts, or the State Societies, for the relief of the unfortunate members, or their widows and orphans, to be appropriated by the State Society only.
" The meeting of the General Society shall consist of its officers and a representation from each State Society, in num- ber not exceeding five, whose expenses shall be borne by their respective State Societies.
6
"In the general meeting, the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, and Assistant Treasurer-Generals, shall be chosen to serve until the next meeting.
" The circular letters which have been written by the re- spective State Societies to each other, and their particular laws, shall be read and considered, and all measures con- certed which may conduce to the general intendment of the Society.
" It is probable that some persons may make donations to the General Society, for the purpose of establishing funds for the further comfort of the unfortunate, in which case such donations must be placed in the hands of the Treasurer-Gen- eral. the interest only of which to be disposed of, if necessary, by the general meeting.
" All the officers of the American Army, as well those who have resigned with honor, after three years' service in the capacity of officers, or who have been deranged by the resolutions of Congress, upon the several reforms of the Army, as those who shall have continued to the end of the war, have the right to become parties to this institution ; provided they subscribe one month's pay, and sign their names to the general rules in their respective State Societies, those who are present with the Army immediately, and within six months after the Army shall be disbanded, extraordinary cases ex- cepted ; the rank, time of service, resolution of Congress by which any have been deranged, and place of residence, must be added to each name, and as a testimony of affection to the memory, and the offspring of such officers as have died in the service, their eldest male branches shall have the same right of becoming members, as the actual members of the Society.
" Those officers who are foreigners, not resident in any of the States, will have their names enrolled by the Secretary- General, and are to be considered as members in the Societies of any of the States he may happen to be.
" And as there are, and will at times be, men in the respec- tive States eminent for their abilities and patriotism, whose views may be directed to the same laudable objects with those of the Cincinnati, it shall be a rule to admit such char- acters as honorary members of the Society for their own lives only : Provided, always, that the number of honorary mem- bers in each State does not exceed a ratio of one to four of the officers or their descendants.
" Each State Society shall obtain a list of its members, and at the first annual meeting the State Secretary shall have
7
engrossed, on parchment, two copies of the institution of the Society, which every member present shall sign, and the Secretary shall endeavor to procure the signature of every absent member ; one of those lists to be transmitted to the Secretary-General, to be kept in the archives of the Society, and the other to remain in the hands of the State Secretary. From the State lists the Secretary-General must make out, at the first general meeting, a complete list of the whole Society, with a copy of which he will furnish each State Secretary.
" The Society shall have an Order, by which its members shall be known and distinguished, which shall be a medal of gold, of a proper size to receive the emblems, and suspended by a deep blue ribbon two inches wide, edged with white, descriptive of the union of France and America, viz :
THE PRINCIPLE FIGURE, CINCINNATUS, .
THREE SENATORS PRESENTING HIM WITH A SWORD AND OTHER MILITARY ENSIGNS-ON A FIELD IN THE BACK-GROUND, HIS WIFE STANDING AT THE DOOR OF THEIR COTTAGE-NEAR IT A
PLOUGH AND INSTRUMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. ROUND THE WHOLE,
OMNIA RELIQUIT SERVARE REMPUBLICAM. ON THE REVERSE, SUN RISING-A CITY WITH OPEN GATES, AND VESSELS
ENTERING THE PORT-FAME CROWNING
CINCINNATUS, WITH A WREATH INSCRIBED, VIRTUTIS PRÆMIUM. BELOW, 1 HANDS JOINED, SUPPORTING A HEART, WITH THE MOTTO, ESTO PERPETUA. ROUND THE WHOLE, SOCIETAS CINCINNATORUM INSTITUTA. A. D. 1783.
8
The Society, deeply impressed with sense of the generous assistance this country has received from France, and desirous of perpetuating the friendships which have been formed, and so happily subsisted between the officers of the allied forces in the prosecution of the war, direct that the President-General transmit, as soon as may be, to each of the characters here- after named a medal containing the Order of the Society, viz. :
His Excellency THE CHEVALIER DE LA LUZERNE, Minister Plénipotentiary.
His Excellency THE SIEUR GERARD, late Minister Plenipoten tiary.
Their Excellencies-
THE COUNT DE ESTAING,
THE COUNT DE GRASSE,
THE COUNT DE BARRAS,
THE CHEVALIER DE TOUCHES,
Admirals and Commanders in the Navy.
His Excellency THE COUNT DE ROCHAMBEAU, Commander in Chief.
And the Generals and Colonels of his army, and ac- quaint them that the Society does itself the honor to consider them members.
Resolved, That a copy of the aforegoing institution be given to the senior officer of each State line, and that the officers of the respective State lines sign their names to the same, in manner and form following, viz. :
"We, the subscribers, officers of the American Army, do hereby voluntarily become parties to the foregoing institution, and do bind ourselves to observe and be governed by the principles therein contained. For the performance whereof we do solemnly pledge to each other our sacred honor.
Done in the Cantonment on Hudson's River, in the year 1783."
That the members of the Society, at the time of subscribing their names to the institution, do also sign a draft on the Pay- master-General, in the following terms (the regiments to do it regimentally, and the Generals and other officers not belong- ing to the regiments, each for himself individually), viz. :
" To JOHN PIERCE, Esquire, Pay-Master-General to the Army of the United States :
"SIR,-Please to pay to - - treasurer for the State Association of the Cincinnati, or his order, one month's pay
9
of our several grades respectively, and deduct the same from the balance which shall be found due to us on the final liqui- dation of our accounts, for which this shall be your warrant.
That the members of the several State Societies assemble as soon as may be, for the choice of their President and other officers, and that the Presidents correspond together, and appoint a meeting of the officers who may be chosen for each State, in order to pursue such further measures as may be judged necessary.
That the General officers, and the officers delegated to rep- resent the several Corps of the Army, subscribe to the insti- tution of the General Society, for themselves and their con- stituents, in the manner and form before prescribed.
That General HEATH, General BARON DE STEUBEN, and General KNOX,
be a committee to wait on His Excellency, the Commander- in-chief, with a copy of the institution, and request him to honor the Society by placing his name at the head of it.
That Major-General Heath, second in command in this army, be, and he hereby is, desired to transmit copies of the institution, with the proceeding thereon, to the commanding officer of the Southern Army, the senior officer in each State, from Pennsylvania to Georgia, inclusive, and to the com- manding officer of the Rhole Island line, requesting them to communicate the same to the officers under their several commands, and to take such measures as may appear to them necessary, expediting the establishment of their State Socie- ties, and sending a delegation to represent them in the First General Meeting, to be holden on the first Monday in May, 1784.
The meeting then adjourned without day.
10
CANTONMENT OF THE AMERICAN ARMY, I9TH JUNE, 1783.
'At a meeting of the General officers, and the gentlemen delegated by the respective regiments, as a convention for establishing the Society of the Cincinnati, held by the request of the President, at which were present :
Major-General BARON DE STEUBEN, President.
Major-General HOWE,
Major-General KNOX,
Brigadier-General PATTERSON,
Brigadier-General HUNTINGDON,
Brigadier-General PUTNAM,
Colonel WEBB,
Lieutenant-Colonel HUNTINGDON,
Major PETTENGILL,
Lieutenant WHITING,
Colonel H. JACKSON,
Captain SHAW, Lieutenant-Colonel HULL,
Lieutenant-Colonel MAXWELL,
Colonel COURTLAND.
General Baron de Steuben acquainted the Convention that he had, agreeably to their request, at the last meeting, transmitted to His Excellency the Chevalier De la Luzerne, Minister Plenipotentiary from the Court of France, a copy of theinstitution of the Society of the Cincinnati, with their vote respecting His Excellency, and the other characters therein mentioned, and that His Excellency had returned an answer, declaring his acceptance of the same, and expressing the grateful sense he entertains of the honor conferred on himself, and the other gentlemen of the French nation, by this act of the Convention.
Resolved, That 'the letter of the Chevalier de la Luzerne, be recorded in the proceedings of this day, and deposited in the archives of the Society, as a testimony of the high sense this convention entertains of the honor done to the Society by his becoming a member thereof.
The letter is as follows :
PHILADELPHIA, le 3 Juin, 1783.
" Monsieur le Baron :
" J'ai reçu avec beaucoup de reconnaissance les statuts de l'orrde respectable que messieurs les officiers de la'mee Ameri- cainne viennent de fonder : si le courage, la patience & toutes les vertus que cette brave armée a si souvent de deployées
11
dans le cours de cette guerre, pouvoient jamais être oubliés, ce monument seul les rapelleroit.
" J'ose vous assurer, monsieur, que tous les officers de ma nation, que vous avez bien voulu admettre dans votre société, en seront infiniment honorés ; je vous prie d'être bien per- suadé que je sens, en mon particulier, bien vivement l'honneur que m'ont fait messieurs les officiers de l'armée en daignant penser à moi dans cette occasion. Je compte aller rendre mes devoirs à son excellence le général Washington, aussitôt que le traite definitif sera signé, et j'aurais l'honneur de les assurer de vive voix de ma respectueuse reconnoissance.
"Je saisis avec un grand empressement cette occasion de vous renouveller les sentiments du très parfait et très re- spectueux attachment avec lesquels j'ai l'honneur d'être.
Monsieur le Baron, votre très humble, & très obeissant serviteur,
Le Chevalier de la LUZERNE.
Monsieur, Monsieur le Baron STEUBEN, Major-Général au service des Etats Unis, au Quartier-Général."
PHILADELPHIA, 3d June, 1783.
"SIR: I have received, with much gratitude, the institution of the respectable order that the officers of the American Army have founded ; if courage, patience, and all the virtues that this brave army have so often displayed in the course of this war could ever be forgotten, this monument alone should recall them. I dare assure you, sir, that all the officers of my nation, that you have been pleased to admit in your Society, will be infinitely honored by it. I pray you to be fully persuaded, I feel, for my part, in the most lively manner, the honor the officers of the army have done me, in deigning to think of me upon this occasion. I expect to pay my respects to his Excellency General Washington, as soon as the definitive treaty shall be signed, and I shall have the honor of assuring them, personally, of my respectful acknowledgement.
I seize with great eagerness, this occasion of expressing to you the sentiments of the most perfect and most respectful attachment with which I have the honor to be,
Sir, your very humble, and very obedient servant, Le Chevalier de la LUZERNE.
To Baron de STEUBEN, Major-General in the service of the United States, Head Quarters."
12
The Baron having also communicated a letter from Major l'Enfant, enclosing a design for the medal and order, contain- ing the emblems of the institution.
Resolved, That the bald eagle, carrying the emblems on its breast, be established as the order of the Society; and that the ideas of Major l'Enfant, respecting it and the manner of its being worn by the members be adopted. That the order be of the same size, and in every other respect conformable to the said design, which for that purpose, is certified by the Baron de Steuben, President of the Convention, and to be de- posited in the archives of the Society as the original from which all copies are to be made. Also, that silver medals, not exceed- ing the size of a Spanish milled dollar, with the emblems, as designed by Major l'Enfant and certified by the President, be given to each and every member of the Society, together with a diploma on parchment, whereon shall be impressed the exact figures of the order and medal, as above mentioned, anything in the original institution respecting gold medals, to the contrary notwithstanding.
Major l'Enfant's letter is as follows :
PHILADELPHIA, le 10 Juin, 1783.
Mon General:
Aussitôt après la reception de votre lettre en date du 20 Mai, laquelle ne m'est parvenu que le 7, ayant eté par hazard à la poste, je me suis occupé projecto de la médaille. Je vous envoie les desseins de deux faces, que j'ai faits, en grand, à fin qu'on puisse mieux juger de l'ensemble. Lors de l'éxécu- tion on la reduira à la grandeur convenable, qui pour peu que l'on exige de précision dans le dessein, ne doit pas être plus petite qu'un dollar, le sujet se trouvant trop compliqué pour que les détails puissent être aperçus sous une plus petite di- mension.
Je ne l'ai point faite ovale, ainsi que vous me le demandez, vû que cette forme est peu propre à une medaible ; d'ailleurs on pourra toujours la faira au moment de l'éxécution, si on persiste absolument à vouloir porter l'ordre sous cette forme, à laquelle je crois que tout autre seroit préférable ; ainsi que' je crois et espère que vous en serez bien persuadé, & ferez en sorte d'en convaincre les personnes qui composent le comité relatif à cette institution, auxquelles je vous prie de commu- niquer les observations suivantes.
13
Le médaille, ronde ou ovale, n'est considerée dans les differents états de l'Europe que comme une récompense d'ar- tiste, d'artisan, ou comme une signe de communanté de fabriquants ou societé religieuse-en outre, l'usage abusif que l'on en fait, particulièrement en Allemange, & en Italie, d'où il arrive en France, des baladins, des musiciens, decorés de cette manière, rend necessaire de distinguer cet ordre par une forme qui lui soit particulière, et puisse, en honorant celui qui en sera decoré, remplir le double object de se faire re- specter par son simple aspect, de ceux mêmes qui ne seront pas àportée d'en detailler les differents empreintes.
Ce n'est pas que je croie qu'une forme, ou une autre changera l'opinion d'un peuple republicain accoutumé à penser, mais je dis, que dans une institution pareille, le premier but doit être de se rendre respectable à tous les peuples du monde ; et que ce n'est qu'en parlant aux yeux qu'on attire l'attention du vulgaire, qu'il y a des préjugés d'habitude qui ne peuvent être detruits-qu'un homme qualifié et déja décoré en Europe ne portera pas une médaille, ou, si flatté de recevoir une marque de distinction d'une societé respectable, il la portait, ce seroit d'une manière, peu proper á faire accréditer la valeur de l'ordre. Qu'au contraire, en lui donnant une forme nouvelle en particu- lier, ce sera ajouter à sa valeur reelle, celle de la rendre recom- mendable, en engageant ceux qui en seront decorés à en faire parade de pair avec les autres ordres militaire, ce qui est le plus sûr moyen de mettre d'abord de niveau avec eux.
" Le bald aigle qui est particulier á ce continent et qui se distingue á celui des autres climats. par sa tête et sa queue blanche, m'a paru mériter de l'attention.
Je vous envoie deux essais que j'ai faits ; je desire que l'un des deux puisse être adopté au lieu et place de la médaille. Dans l'un, je fais l'aigle supportant une étoile, à treize pointes, dans le centre de la quelle est renfermée la figure de la médaille avec les inscriptions, tant sur la face que sur le revers. On pourroit ajouter une légende dans les serres et antour du col de l'aigle avec une inscription particulière, ou bien y transferer celle du contour de la médaille. Dans l'autre, j'ai fait l'aigle simplement portant sur sa poitrine la figure de la médaille, avec une légende dans ses serres et autour du col, laquelle lui repasse par derrière le dos pour soutenir le revers. Je préfererois le dernier, en ce qu'il n'a rapport à aucun ordre et porte avec lui un charactère distinctif et ne seroit pas fort dis- pendieux á faire executer. Le premier menée, quoique plus compliqué ne revieneroit pas aussi cher qu'on pourroit le penser, toute fois qu'on en chargeroit des personnes capables
14
de l'éxécuter ; ce qui ne peut avoir lieu non plus que rela- tivement à la medaille qu' en l'envoyant en Europe ce qui n'éxigeroit pas beaucoup de tems, et ne seroit pas si dispen- dieux, que d'en confier l'éxecution á des personnes incapa- bles.
" Une medaille est une monument qui passe á la posterité, et par consequent il est nécessaire qu'elle soit portée au degré de perfection possible dans le siècle oú elle est frappée. Or, bien frapper une médaille est une chose qui demande de l'habitude et un bon coin, or il n'y a ici ni balancier propre à cette besogne ni gens capables de faire un bon coin, je me chargerois volontiers de recommender l'éxécution de la mé- daille, de l'aigle ou ordre, á gens capables de l'éxécution à Paris.
" Bien loin que je propose de changer la médaille ovale en un aigle en sur lequel seroit empreint cette médaille, je ne prétends pas dire qu, ils ne servent pas frapper des médailles. Au contraire, voici qu'elle est mon idée à ce sujet.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.