ALBERT PIKE'S MASONIC LIBRARY

ALBERT PIKE'S MASONIC LIBRARYA Civil War Incident
By Bro. JOSEPH FORT NEWTON, Litt. D.The Master Mason - May 1925
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IN AN ADDRESS entitled "Albert Pike, the Mason," delivered beforeIowa Consistory, No. 2, celebrating the centennial of his birth, inDecember, 1909, I made the following statement, in reference to anincident during the Civil War: "When the Union Army attacked LittleRock, the commanding general, Thomas H. Benton, Grand Master ofMasons in Iowa, posted a guard to protect the home of Pike and hisMasonic library." The statement has been called in question a number of times, most recently by Brother Charles E. Rosenbaum, Lieutenant Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite, in the following letter:
My DEAR BROTHER NEWTON:
I have repeatedly seen in print sketches of the Life of General AlbertPike that have been credited to you. In each one of these occurs thestatement on the printed sheet which I enclose. I have underscored that part of it that I would very much like confirmed by you if you can give me any authority for the statement therein contained. Several times I have intended writing you on this subject to ask you the source of your information, but other and more important things intervened, and I deferred doing so.
The truth about the matter as I understand it is that the only Thomas H. Benton that we know anything about of national reputation was aSenator from the State of Missouri during the Civil War period. Thegeneral who took possession of Little Rock and its vicinity for theFederal Army was General Steele. These are undoubted facts. So far as the surrounding of General Pike's home with soldiers to protect his library is concerned, that all reads very well, but it is likely as near the truth as Senator Thomas H. Benton being Grand Master of Iowa at the time and general in command of the Federal Forces in Little Rock.
Of course I realize that I am treading on dangerous ground to ask one as noted as yourself for information on a subject on which, no doubt, you are much better informed that I am, but if my information is wrong I certainly want the facts straight.
Thanking you in advance for any consideration you will give the subject, I remain Sincerely and fraternally yours,C.E. ROSENBAUM.
NATURALLY one does not keep in mind the authority - chapter andverse - for a statement made sixteen years ago. I referred the matter to the Library of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, where I first read it. The Grand Secretary, Brother C. C. Hunt, has been good enough to furnish the following brief of the facts, giving the reference where they may be found in the Proceedings of the Supreme Council:
In regard to Brother Rosenbaum's letter questioning your statementregarding Thomas H. Benton, Grand Master of Masons in Iowa posting a guard to protect the home of Pike and his library, I would refer you to page 127, Proceedings of the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction for October 25, 1895. On that date the Supreme Council went in a body to Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, District of Columbia, to hold appropriate services over the grave of Albert Pike. T.S. Parvin gave the memorial address and in reference to a remark of the Library of the Supreme Council there is printed the following:
"It is due to history and to the memory of a dear friend and Brother that an incident, of no little importance, touching our great Library, the gift to the Supreme Council of General Pike, be placed upon our records, that honor may be given to whom honor is due.
"I had the facts, first by letter, and then, upon his 'return from the war,' from the lips of Colonel Thomas Hart Benton, Jr., at the time Grand Master of Masons in Iowa (my superior officer). Thomas H. Benton, Jr. ("nephew of his uncle" of that name), ex-State Senator, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Grand Master 1860-'63, entered the Union Army as Colonel of the 29th Iowa Infantry and was later promoted to the rank of brevet brigadier-general, and in command of a division encamped for a time at Little Rock, Arkansas.
"It was at this period, when the passions of the Union soldiers werearoused against General Pike, who was at the head of the Indians in the Confederate (Rebel, as they said) Army, that the soldiers of his division determined to burn the house and everything, including the valuable library of General Pike, wherever found. The Grand Master, Colonel Benton, hearing of this, rushed to its rescue, and to guard against, any further attempt at its destruction, made the General's house his headquarters and placed a guard over his library.
"But for this noble deed of Iowa's Grand Master, my bosom friend for half a century, this Supreme Council would today be without, instead of possessing, one of the most rare and valuable libraries in the land.
"General Benton was too modest to publish this, save to his intimatefriends. Of him we may say, in General Pike's own words, "He has lived - the fruits of his labors live after him;" and you, my Brothers, are enjoying them, as it was this service that made it possible for General Pike in later years to place his library in our House of the Temple and dispose of it, as he did, for his honor and our good."
There is, however, one mistake in the statement which BrotherRosenbaum criticizes, and that is in calling Thomas H. Benton thecommanding general. At that time our Thomas H. Benton was a colonel, commanding the second brigade of a the third division, under General Steele. (See page 471, part 1, Volume 29, Series 1 of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.) Also, the Thomas H. Benton referred to as colonel at the time the Federal troops took possession at Little Rock, was at that time Grand Master of Iowa and was serving his second year. He was in the army at the time of the Grand Lodge communication in 1863 and his deputy acted for him in presiding over the Grand Lodge.
Thomas H. Benton was a nephew of the Senator Thomas H. Benton, to whom Brother Rosenbaum refers.
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