Day The War Stopped June 12, 2021
A rare piece of history
On a hot June day in 1863, Union soldiers under the flag of truce came searching for fellow masons in St. Francisville to bury their commander with masonic honors. Confederate masons, put aside their differences and stopped the war for a short time to honor the higher calling of brotherly love. (read full story here)
On the second Saturday in June, Feliciana Lodge #31 along with St. George's Lodge #6 of Schenectady, NY re-enact this poignant moment of the Civil War. Visit The Day the War Stopped Facebook page
One must imagine what it was like,...you are in enemy territory, under a flag of truce, asking to bury a union soldier on confederate ground. And on the other side, you are a confederate soldier allowing a sworn enemy to not just be buried in a town that was decimated by union gun boats, but you are going to give him your burial plot. Somehow, the call of masonic brotherhood gave courage to those who needed it and the Day the War Stopped was born.
In 1997, WB and Judge, John R. Rarick, with the assistance of a few folks in the lodge and town recreated this event for the first time in St. Francisville and the event has grown each year attracting Masonic Brothers and Civil War Buffs from around the country.
Saturday June 12
9:30 AM - Day the War Stopped Play - Grace Episcopal Church Hall
10 AM - Reenactment - Corner of Prosperity St./Ferdinand St.
10:30 AM - Graveside Historical Reenactment
11 AM - 1 PM - 3rd Annual Jambalaya Cook off - Prosperity St.
2 - 2:30 PM - Historical Talk - Feliciana Lodge
Our Brothers from New York
Each year we welcome the return of our Masonic Brothers from St. George Lodge Schenectady New York - Commander Hart's Lodge.