Santa Anna's Masonic Membership Confirmed
From today's
Sacramento Bee:
The Texas Scottish Rite of Freemasonry has confirmed that Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Commander at the battle of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto, was a Scottish Rite Mason in Mexico. His original Scottish Rite membership certificate is located in the Livingston Masonic Library of the Masonic Grand Lodge of New York.
According to M. Douglas Adkins, the top Scottish Rite official in Texas and a member of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the Southern Jurisdiction, a person must be a Master Mason to be eligible for Scottish Rite membership in Mexico, as in the United States. Today's announcement resolves arguments by Texas historians who have contended there has been no proof of General Santa Anna's membership.
The significance of this announcement in terms of Texas history stems from numerous reports that General Santa Anna saved himself from execution after being captured at the battle of San Jacinto in 1836 by giving secret Masonic signs to Texas soldiers and later to General Sam Houston, a well-known Mason. The Texas critics of these reports have said that General Santa Anna would not have known of such secret signs unless he actually was a Mason, for which no proof had previously been provided.
Mr. Adkins explained that this confirmation of Masonic membership does not provide proof of the story that Masonic membership saved General Santa Anna's life, but rather only refutes the arguments that General Santa Anna was not a Mason. Some Masons have said that General Houston and many other Masons at San Jacinto would have known that General Santa Anna had disowned Masonry and that his offenses in Mexico, the Alamo and Goliad would have forfeited any rights for protection he may have had as a Mason. Sources in Mexico have confirmed that he was kicked out of Masonry.
Mr. Adkins emphasized that the Texas Scottish Rite is taking no position in this historical controversy, and is only confirming General Santa Anna's Masonic membership.
Mr. Adkins said Masonry always has celebrated its history and the lives of many of its members, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, William B. Travis, James Bowie and Davy Crockett. The Texas Scottish Rite is pleased to provide this information for the use of present and future Texas historians.An enlarged and enhanced graphic image of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Scottish Rite Masonic Membership certificate, as well as his Masonic Apron, his spurs, items from his tent at San Jacinto, Davy Crockett's pistol from the Alamo, and other Texas history artifacts will be on display before and after the presentation of the new play, "Leaving San Jacinto," on April 23, 2013, in Dallas.
For more information, please visit http://www.leavingsanjacinto.com or call 214-748-9196.For further information, please contact M. Douglas Adkins at (214) 999-4444 ordadkins@gardere.com.
This is an interesting article. It kinda changes one important thing related to Davy Crockett, too!
ReplyDeleteGreat article, Mr. Hodapp!
Shawn Bell
<a href="http://merefreemasonry.com>www.merefreemasonry.com</a>
This is actually old news in Texas. Recently someone took a picture of themselves with Santa Anna's apron and tried to claim some big discovery when our GL always had a picture of it on display and references to a 1938 Texas Masonic publication that first announced it. Santa Anna's Scottish Rite membership certificate has been at the GL of NY since 1960. I think the TX SR simply came forward to make the doubters shut up. As a proud member of the oldest lodge in Texas, whose lodge charter was present at the Battle of San Jacinto and that had prominent members present at Santa Anna's surrender, we always knew he was a mason.
ReplyDeleteI worked with an old judge years ago who always stated that Houston, Bowie, Travis, Fannin, Crockett and Santa Anna were ALL masons. The old judge also stated that Bowie, Travis and Fannin were members of a secret slave-smuggling gang called 'The Alphabit'. Crockett was not a member of this 'sub group'. Supposedly the night before the big battle at The Alamo, Santa Anna, flanked by his officers, met with Bowie and Travis (ALL Masons) to find a way to settle things peacefully.
ReplyDeleteThe story goes that Bowie raised up off his sick bed and stated, "Hell, NO. We are going to fight and not give up our business." (Slave smuggling and owning slaves was not allowed in Mexico, according to the old judge I worked with.) This information came from letters that have survived that were written by Santa Anna's officers who wrote letters to their wives. Interesting!