June 5, 2023 • 27 mins
There are essentially three Masonic Aprons attributed to having been owned by George Washington and purported, at times, to have been a gift from Marquis de Lafayette. Dr. Jason Williams, the author of "Brought to Light", returns to discuss the historical Masonic connections between two heroes from the Revolutionary War.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:14):
Welcome to the Craftsman Online Podcast,the only five starretted Masonic podcast endorsed by
the Grand Lodge of New York.Any opinions, thoughts, or viewpoint shared
during this program are that of theindividual and do not reflect the official position
of any Grand Lodge appendant or concordinantbody from which that member may Hail.
I'm your host, brother, MichaelArsay, co founder of Craftsman Online dot
com, and you're back for ourepisode on the Lafayette Apron or is it
(00:38):
Apron says there are essentially three Masonicaprons, all being attributed to the one
only. Marquis de Lafayette's probably oneof the most famous French Freemasons, but
our guest this week is probably oneof the most famous non Freemasons to be
on our podcast, as we welcomeback the board certified psychiatrist and author of
Brought to Light the Mysterious George waWashington Masonic Cave, Doctor Jason Williams.
(01:02):
Welcome back, doctor Jason. Michael. It is so nice to be back.
Thank you for inviting me again,and it tickles me to be here.
Well, it's a pleasure for me, as I've told you, as
traveling and talking with Lodge brother.As I say, he's my favorite profane
guest. Mason's will get that,and outsiders will be like, it doesn't
swear, No, No, it'sjust a term that we use for people
outside of Freemason rhy and doctor Jasonhas a wealth of expertise and knowledge.
(01:26):
And as we're talking about the marquisday Lafayette, and there's a lot of
questions on whether he was made offreemason in France or raised to the sublime
degree of a Master Mason in amilitary lodge in New Jersey. There's no
question that he had a strong relationshipwith Brother George Washington. Can you give
(01:47):
us a little overview of Lafayette andmaybe a perspective because a lot of us
may only know him from names ofcounties, town squares, or parks.
Right, that's very true. Youknow, it's a name that's ubiquitous.
You know, in front of theWhite House everywhere that you'll see the name
Lafayette. And I think most Americansstill do know a little bit about him.
(02:09):
You know, you played had abig role in you know you've seen
Hamilton, you probably remember him thatin that um and everyone knows he kind
of had this role, but sortof the Masonic angle to lafa yet and
how how he got involved, it'sactually it's almost like a Hollywood blockbuster more
than a play on Broadway, tobe honest. Um. So Lafayette was
(02:32):
obviously French, and he was anobleman um, and he was always one
of the richest guys in France.And he came to the United States in
seventeen seventy seven of his own accord. But how he got here itself is
just quite the tale, um andthere's quite a Masonic underpinning to it,
(02:53):
story to it um. So youknow, he eventually earned this title hero
of both Worlds or two worlds,because he played a role in our Revolution
and also in the French Revolution.But when he was still a teenager.
Think of it, he was GeorgeWashington's the youngest general. He was nineteen
years old when he did this.So his dad died when he was just
(03:17):
two years old. His father servedin the Seven Years War, which over
here we called the French still calledthe French and Indian War, and his
father died when he was just twoyears old, and he was very intrigued
by Enlightenment ideas, and they're definitelyis proof that he became a Freemason in
France. I've seen you at theGrand Orient Lodge in Paris. I've been
(03:39):
there, and I've seen the actualphysical documentation. In seventeen seventy five he
joined at the lodge of Saint Johnde la Condura in Paris. And that
was kind of a difficult time tobe a Freemason, just several decades three
four decades before the Catholic Church,and Lafayette was Catholic, right, so
(04:00):
the Catholic Church had told all ofits members, you cannot be Freemasons,
and they the words in the CatholicBull, the bull put out by the
Pope was freemasonryes depraved and perverted right, And so in many countries in Europe
it was actually rather dangerous to bea Freemason or belonged to other so called
(04:24):
secret societies. Not so much inFrance. In fact, quite a few
French persons, men amblem became Freemasons. And around the time that he became
Lafayette became a Freemason, there weresix hundred lodges in France, and the
government knew where they were, andso it's not like it was an underground
(04:46):
movement like World War two or anythinglike that. But you know, it
was not easy to be a freemason. He joined a Paris lodge in seventeen
seventy five, and that same yearhe happened to go to a dinner party.
And it's quite the dinner party becausethe guest was a British Freemason named
(05:10):
Gloucester, or the Duke of Gloucester, and he was the youngest brother of
guests who King George the Third,right, the very guy that George Washington
had just started a war against overin America. And Lafayette gives this account
that he was at this dinner partyand hearing about this American general. He
had never been to America, didn'teven speak English, but he heard this
(05:32):
account of by Gloucester of George Washingtonfighting for liberty and independence against the cruel
King George the Third, and itjust struck him like, hey, I
want to go. Before he says, before he even left the table,
I had already committed to the effortlike this was happening. And so,
(05:58):
you know, he's nineteen, he'sgot a lot of wealthy because he you
know, he's a noble guy witha very rich family and his father's gone
right. So, and what's interestingis that even though Gloucester was a Freemason,
the guy who told him about allof this, King George the Third,
was not a Freemason, right.And so King Georgia Third had three
(06:19):
younger brothers. All three of themwere Freemasons, and they were all made
past Grandmasters at the Premier Grand Lodgeof England in seventeen sixty seven. There
was a big ceremony. King Georgiathird was not a Freemason. So anyway,
after this dinner party that night,Lafayette had it this idea, I'm
going to America and I'm going todo whatever i can to help George Washington,
(06:42):
right and in his fight, I'mgoing to offer my services. And
he met up with another Freemason namedJohann dea coalb who's a Bavarian, and
with the help of Silas Dean,a very interesting figure in the history as
well, connect these men, alongwith Ben Franklin, who was over in
Europe as well. They helped sortof recruit and and act as a conduit
(07:08):
for these European Freemasons to come toAmerica men like Lafayette. Now, others
had already come to America. GeorgeWashington was kind of getting sick and tired
of it because most of these youngwhipper snapper French noblemen who were coming to
America just wanted more fame and theywere not really looking to advance the cause
(07:30):
of liberty. And Lafayette was verydifferent. Anyway, he got his own
ship, he called it Victory,nice name, and the French were told
by the British. France was stillneutral at the time, right and so,
but the British told France, youbetter not let him flee to America.
And so the French under the KingLouis the sixteenth arrested Lafayette and he
(07:57):
escaped from jail, was able toboard his ship with I think the dozen
or a couple dozen of his men, and with a couple British warships and
hot per suit, was able toescape Frands and made it to the open
ocean. Wow. So that's ajob. Just hearing you describe this,
I'm thinking, you know, Hollywoodis out of movie ideas. Who needs
(08:20):
it when you have this? BecauseI'm thinking of you know, Han Solo
and the millennium Falcon barely escaping theRepublican and also the parallels with Lafayette's story.
I wasn't aware of it. Alot of it is close, as
you mentioned to like other would beAmerican patriots that came from European Europe,
like thad ESCs Cousco from Poland whonever became a Freemason, or there's very
(08:45):
loose information if he ever did.But I'm just curious, like in your
mind, George Washington was interacting witha nineteen year old kid. Basically,
how do you envision the first meetingbetween Washington and Lafayette. Lafayette landed in
South Carolina. As soon as hegot there, he sent some letters back
(09:05):
to France because he left his youngwife and an infant daughter there. So
he sent posted some letters back toFrance, bought some horses, and rode
all the way up to Philadelphia,where George Washington in the Congress were right,
And so he presents himself to Congressand he says, here I am,
and they said, okay, youare a major general, and we're
gonna go meet introduce you to GeorgeWashington. And I mean, it's it's
(09:30):
not just what I think it's kindof fortunately. So fortunately Lafayette left really
detailed notes and letters, and sodid Washington about their relationship. There a
lot of letters exchange in and Lafayettewas writing back to his wife in France
describing how noble George Washington appeared.And I could even read a little passage
(09:54):
he said, the majesty this iswhen he first met This is when Lafayette
first met Washington. The majesty ofhis figure and his height were unmistakable.
His affable and noble welcome was noless distinguished. And I accompanied him on
the inspections of the defenses. Andit was with such simplicity that we became
(10:15):
two friends united with like like acement, by the greatest of causes.
So he sort of idolized Washington.Washington, of course, it's like,
wait, you have actually no militaryexperience whatsoever, right, So Washington was
very skeptical. But guess what.It only took two weeks until Washington appointed
(10:39):
Lafayette his aid or aide de camp. Okay, and that's because it rapidly
Lafayette showed like no, I'm Iwant to be in the midst of the
fight. The worst part of thebattle right next to you. I'm going
to do this at my own ownexpense, and I'm not gonna ask any
questions and I'm not going to complain. So Washington went from very skeptical within
(11:01):
literally a couple of months to thisis my adoptive son. It does give
that vibe because you have a fortyyear old Washington and like almost a twenty
year old Lafayette. And at firstyou'd be like, who's this French guy
with money? It's coming here andwants to follow me along. And now
it's like, oh, he's alsoa brother and he wants to fight alongside
of me. Well, let's lethim do this. Washington never had any
(11:24):
kids of his own, of course, and he's like forty three at this
point. Lafayette lost his father whenhe was two years old, so it's
almost like a match made in heavenfrom that standpoint. And so but then
at the Battle of Brandywine Creek,Lafe was shot through the left calf right
by a British musketball and Washington,and it's documented in a letter that Washington
(11:46):
gave to his favorite physician, JamesCraig, who's also a big freemason involved
with Washington's life, he told doctorCraig looked look after him as half or
my own son, all right.And so not only that, we see
that Washington had a portrait painted ofLafayet. Well, a lot of people
(12:07):
had portraits painted in during the rightin the midst of the Revolutionary War.
But what's the difference different here isWashington had that portrait of It's a beautiful
portrait of the marquis in a continental Army uniform. He had the painting
brought to Mount Vernon and hung duringthe war and hung on the family room
(12:30):
wall at Mount Vernon, as ifthis is really a family member. Right.
He didn't do that with other youknow, Alexander Hamilton, Yeah,
very close with Washington. That Washingtondidn't do that. It wasn't that kind
of really father son relationship that Washingtonand Lafayet had, you know, during
the Valley Forge winter seventeen seventy seven, very brutal times, you know,
(12:52):
a lot of disease and not enoughfood. You know, Lafayette was right
there. Interestingly enough, guess whoelse was right there the bleakest moment of
the Revolutionary War. Martha Washington,Right, she wasn't back at Mount Vernon.
She was with George Washington at allof his winter encampments. She's there
(13:13):
with him side by side. That'sjust very remarkable. How did Alexander Hamilton
feel about Lafayette having this relationship withWashington because Hamilton really wanted to be George
Washington's right hand man as well.Right, you know, there were there
was a lot of backstabbing going onand rumor mongering between Washington's own, you
(13:37):
know, allies, the people thatWashington was closest too. In fact,
one of the quotes is that,you know, this is from Lafayette writing
back to his wife, Washington trustme deeper than I dare say. In
the place he occupies, he issurrounded by flatters and secret enemies. Right,
So that's what Washington is up against. Michael. I don't want to
(14:00):
get get too far astraight in this, but you know, as far as
like Freemasonry and the American Revolution andhow much did it contribute and how much
didn't it contribute? And I don'tI forget if we mentioned this last time,
but in my encounters with Mason's thereare some that sort of overaccentuate the
involvement of Freemasonry in the American Revolution. And then there's some that that are
(14:24):
like completely deny it. They're like, oh no, it's all overblown,
it didn't happen, there's no evidenceof it. It's it's a bunch of
It's all it is is more ofthe slandering or mislabeling of Freemasonry getting into
too sort of the esoteric and likeconspiracy theories, and so they sort of
like downplay Freemasonry's involvement. However,here's Lafayette's words about this is a letter
(14:54):
that Lafayette wrote about George Washington.Quote he never willingly gave independent command to
officers who were not Freemasons. Right. Nearly all the members of his official
family, as well as most otherofficers who shared his innermost confidence, were
his brethren of the mystic tie endquote. And now only fifty percent or
(15:18):
forty six There have been like studiesdone founded up how many of Washington's generals
were Freemasons, And they somebody countedup and said, well, only forty
six percent. Right. And it'salso true that many of these generals were
not handpicked by Washington. They weresent to Washington by Congress. Right,
(15:39):
So it's not like there's this giantconspiracy in George Washington was the leader of
Freemason and it's all, it's notlike that. But here's Lafayette, who
is George Washington's like adoptive son,saying, hey, he didn't give orders
to anyone, or probably not atleast important orders unless that person could be
trusted they were a Mason. That'sif we can't believe Lafayette, I don't
(16:00):
know who we can believe, becausehe was there this uh, you know
apron gifted to Washington buy Lafayet.There's been a great deal of confusion about
which one is the true Lafayet apron, and there are several that have kind
(16:22):
of staked the claim and saying wehave it. Okay. For example,
there's an apron that um that belongsto Alexandria Lodge right, and they think
they for many years, thought wehave the lafaye At apron, right,
the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, theythought they had. Obviously, one apron
(16:42):
can't be in three different locations atonce. Somebody's coming right, right,
and and so you know there's anotherapron in the Grand Lodge of New York.
That um is called the Lafayette apron. Let's that's the low hanging fruit.
Let's get that one out of theway. That's clearly a transfer printing
apron on leather. That kind ofapron didn't get popular until the early eighteen
(17:07):
hundred, so that's not the apron. And you know it. It's a
beautiful apron. But it was probablypart of the celebrations of when Lafayette came
back to America in eighteen twenty fourfor the final time. You know,
he had a big celebration with aGrand Lodge. There's also the Grand Lodge
of New York has a really interestingapron. If you go back, and
(17:33):
it's not even on their website,you have to go back into old historical
books. It's a triangular shaped apronthat is supposed to be a night's templar
apron that Lafayette had and war whenhe was initiated as a night templar.
And that's another Lafayet apron. Lotsof Lafayet aprons, but point being the
(17:55):
one that New York has. Theyadmit it themselves, No, it's not
even the right time period. Okay. The one that the Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania houses also not the right timeperiod. It's been for many years they
claimed it was until they examined thematerial and they realized, oops, this
material came from China. I wasjust going to joke about that China.
(18:18):
No, there was, but butit was, you know, it's not.
The material was not from France,and it was also printed on right
now. The two aprons that Iwant to talk about next are silk aprons.
They're not cotton, they're not leather. They are silk, as in
not cheap, right, and theyare embroidered with really fancy gold threads and
(18:45):
sequins of the style that is rightfor French freemasonry aprons of seventeen hundred,
so the style is a lot morenow. So, but there were two.
There's the one that Mount Nebo had, which will call the lafay Had
apron, because that's what it's beenbeen determined to be. And then there's
this other apron that the Alexandria Lodgehas and for many years claimed to be
(19:10):
the lafay Had apron, and theylook remarkably similar. The lafay Had apron
that's in West Virginia, currently housedin West Virginia. Like I said,
it's silk. It's got ol Masonicemblems on it, you know that are
You know, there are crossed Frenchand American flags, which make it pretty
clear that it was related to France. Um. It has a skull and
(19:34):
crossbones in the middle of it assort of the central um emblem, which
I believe means sort of like beliefin the afterlife, not not not like
poison, right, And that's alsoa very prominent French Masonic symbol. You
know. It has the square encompasses, of course, and it has a
(19:55):
sprig of sprig of acacia, whichalso means like eternal life, I believe.
And it has a gavel hanging fromthe top, which if I'm not
mistaken, sort of implies like whoeverwore this apron had some authority and was
probably even the master of a lodge. The back of it is black silk
(20:15):
front the front is and it hada black trim around it still does and
uh and and it's very colorful.Um uh. Now there's this other apron
that also was from France. Thisis the apron that the lodge in Alexandria
has, and it's now referred toas the Watson Casul apron. Watson was
(20:38):
an American businessman and Casul was aFrenchman, and the two of them were
spies of George Washington's and they duringthe war, and they were in cahoots
together, and they were also youknow, the person above them was Ben
Franklin, right, And so after, you know, in seventeen eighty four,
they had some nuns in a coventin France make a Masonic apron for
(21:03):
George Washington. We even have Washington'sletter of thanks to them, and we
also have a letter from the gentlemanCasual describing, you know, some of
the details of the apron. Sowe know that that apron is actually theirs.
But there's some some very remarkably similarfeatures and styles between these two aprons,
(21:27):
the one in West Virginia, theLafayette apron, and this other one,
the Watson Casul. It's also silk, it's the same size, it's
the same shape, and it alsohas the French and American flags crossed,
but it does not have a skulland crossbones as its main symbol in the
(21:47):
center. Instead, what it hasis a gold plate with the Hebrew tetra
grammatin on it before Hebrew were wordsthat basically mean the God of Israel.
And it has some angels around itand stars, but it also has the
gabble above it and a sort ofa festoon of the cable toe as well
(22:14):
above it. So there that's justlike on the other Lafayete apron. So
they look very similar. And what'sinteresting is when Lafayette came back to the
Alexandria Lodge in eighteen twenty four whenhe was an old man, and they
the lodge at Alexandria showed it tohim and said, oh, you remember
this apron that you gave washing Andhe's like, yeah, yeah, I
(22:38):
remember that. No, it wasthe wrong apron. That was My next
question is like, I would loveto have known. I'm sure there was
an official presentation, but were theaprons that Washington was given from Lafayette or
the apron I should say that hewas given from Lafayette. Was that a
apron that Lafayette had made for him? You kind of had alluded that it
(23:00):
was given by the Grand Lodge ofFrance. Maybe the history that we have
that was handed down in the Washingtonfamily and also Washington's home lodge in Alexandria
is that it was crafted by AdrianLafayette, who is the Marquis's wife.
Interestingly, somewhere along the lines thatthe two aprons got crossed, their paths
(23:25):
got crossed, I should say,and so the U and it may have
even been Washington who made the mixup. Okay, So he put the
apron that the French and American spies, not the Lafayette apron, but the
Watson Casul apron. He put itin the box that Lafayette gifted his two
(23:45):
and then the other apron had adifferent course of history. What happened is
after Washington died in seventeen ninety nine, there was a huge inventory of the
state. Not only that, there'san oilcloth, an early trustle board that
was in Washington's possessions, and that'sall detailed in his estate listing of everything
(24:07):
that he owned, all of hisknick knacks, and you know, all
the belongings that were important to him. And then Martha Washington died just a
couple of years later, and afterMartha died, Mount Vernon had essentially a
garage sale. I can't believe thatyou're going to go so now, a
lot of a lot of Washington's belongingswere spelled out in his will, right,
(24:32):
so a lot of things had wereyou know, very dictated, like
who gets this and that. Butthen there were a lot of things that
were it was not clear who wasgoing to get what right, and there
was a tremendous I assume there stillwould be a tremendous interest in anything that
Washington had ever touched, so youknow, bedpans and tea caddies and things
that normally would no one would wantto you know own. You know,
(24:56):
people showed up to bid. Itwas more like an auction. Oh I
bet, yeah, I just Ihave this awful picture in my head.
But hopefully I'm praying that like LodgeBrothers, and from what I've heard taking
the tour at the George Washington NationalMasonic Museum, is that Martha gave a
lot of artifacts or donate a lotof artifacts to the Lodge because she didn't
(25:18):
want to have them in the houseas a reminder of his presence, right,
And so a lot of those artifactsare in good safe keeping at the
George Washington Memorial in Alexandria. Ifanyone hasn't gone, if any Masons haven't
gone. That should be like abucket list Masonic visit for any Freemason.
So if we're to have a takeawayguide for brothers or just listeners that may
(25:41):
come across one of these three aLafia aprons that exist in your mind,
the key things from what I understandfor it to be an actual Lafayette would
have been presented from Lafayette to Washingtonis look for the ornate decorations that would
have been on a silk bren Andmost likely you would not find these on
(26:06):
display in a place that you couldgo visit. They would only come out
for special appearances. I'm guessing afterthe Mount Nebo Lodge brought out the apron,
they rolled it out in two thousandand nine and it was verified by
the authorities, which it should havebeen, and thankfully it was, and
a conservation endeavor was put together aswell to conserve it because the apron,
(26:29):
you know, it's made of silk, and silk is not exactly the strongest,
most standous fades and all that.So there's been a conservation effort.
And not only that, but andso I think it was two thousand and
twelve, don't quote me on that, but around In two and twelve,
Mount Vernon started displaying the Lafayette apronon President's Day or George Washington's Birthday every
(26:55):
year. I want to thank ourguest for coming back. I'm so it
slips out almost every single time.Doctor not brother, Doctor Jason Williams,
the author of broad to Light,thank you so much for coming back on
the podcast. You're very welcome,Michael always glad to be here. If
you've enjoyed this episode and you wantto hear more, you can tell Siri
(27:15):
or Alexa to play. The CraftsmanOnline podcast were available on all streaming platforms,
with new episodes every Monday morning untilnext time. Let Peace and Harmony prevail.
Welcome to the Craftsman Online Podcast,the only five starretted Masonic podcast endorsed by
the Grand Lodge of New York.Any opinions, thoughts, or viewpoint shared
during this program are that of theindividual and do not reflect the official position
of any Grand Lodge appendant or concordinantbody from which that member may Hail.
I'm your host, brother, MichaelArsay, co founder of Craftsman Online dot
com, and you're back for ourepisode on the Lafayette Apron or is it
(00:38):
Apron says there are essentially three Masonicaprons, all being attributed to the one
only. Marquis de Lafayette's probably oneof the most famous French Freemasons, but
our guest this week is probably oneof the most famous non Freemasons to be
on our podcast, as we welcomeback the board certified psychiatrist and author of
Brought to Light the Mysterious George waWashington Masonic Cave, Doctor Jason Williams.
(01:02):
Welcome back, doctor Jason. Michael. It is so nice to be back.
Thank you for inviting me again,and it tickles me to be here.
Well, it's a pleasure for me, as I've told you, as
traveling and talking with Lodge brother.As I say, he's my favorite profane
guest. Mason's will get that,and outsiders will be like, it doesn't
swear, No, No, it'sjust a term that we use for people
outside of Freemason rhy and doctor Jasonhas a wealth of expertise and knowledge.
(01:26):
And as we're talking about the marquisday Lafayette, and there's a lot of
questions on whether he was made offreemason in France or raised to the sublime
degree of a Master Mason in amilitary lodge in New Jersey. There's no
question that he had a strong relationshipwith Brother George Washington. Can you give
(01:47):
us a little overview of Lafayette andmaybe a perspective because a lot of us
may only know him from names ofcounties, town squares, or parks.
Right, that's very true. Youknow, it's a name that's ubiquitous.
You know, in front of theWhite House everywhere that you'll see the name
Lafayette. And I think most Americansstill do know a little bit about him.
(02:09):
You know, you played had abig role in you know you've seen
Hamilton, you probably remember him thatin that um and everyone knows he kind
of had this role, but sortof the Masonic angle to lafa yet and
how how he got involved, it'sactually it's almost like a Hollywood blockbuster more
than a play on Broadway, tobe honest. Um. So Lafayette was
(02:32):
obviously French, and he was anobleman um, and he was always one
of the richest guys in France.And he came to the United States in
seventeen seventy seven of his own accord. But how he got here itself is
just quite the tale, um andthere's quite a Masonic underpinning to it,
(02:53):
story to it um. So youknow, he eventually earned this title hero
of both Worlds or two worlds,because he played a role in our Revolution
and also in the French Revolution.But when he was still a teenager.
Think of it, he was GeorgeWashington's the youngest general. He was nineteen
years old when he did this.So his dad died when he was just
(03:17):
two years old. His father servedin the Seven Years War, which over
here we called the French still calledthe French and Indian War, and his
father died when he was just twoyears old, and he was very intrigued
by Enlightenment ideas, and they're definitelyis proof that he became a Freemason in
France. I've seen you at theGrand Orient Lodge in Paris. I've been
(03:39):
there, and I've seen the actualphysical documentation. In seventeen seventy five he
joined at the lodge of Saint Johnde la Condura in Paris. And that
was kind of a difficult time tobe a Freemason, just several decades three
four decades before the Catholic Church,and Lafayette was Catholic, right, so
(04:00):
the Catholic Church had told all ofits members, you cannot be Freemasons,
and they the words in the CatholicBull, the bull put out by the
Pope was freemasonryes depraved and perverted right, And so in many countries in Europe
it was actually rather dangerous to bea Freemason or belonged to other so called
(04:24):
secret societies. Not so much inFrance. In fact, quite a few
French persons, men amblem became Freemasons. And around the time that he became
Lafayette became a Freemason, there weresix hundred lodges in France, and the
government knew where they were, andso it's not like it was an underground
(04:46):
movement like World War two or anythinglike that. But you know, it
was not easy to be a freemason. He joined a Paris lodge in seventeen
seventy five, and that same yearhe happened to go to a dinner party.
And it's quite the dinner party becausethe guest was a British Freemason named
(05:10):
Gloucester, or the Duke of Gloucester, and he was the youngest brother of
guests who King George the Third,right, the very guy that George Washington
had just started a war against overin America. And Lafayette gives this account
that he was at this dinner partyand hearing about this American general. He
had never been to America, didn'teven speak English, but he heard this
(05:32):
account of by Gloucester of George Washingtonfighting for liberty and independence against the cruel
King George the Third, and itjust struck him like, hey, I
want to go. Before he says, before he even left the table,
I had already committed to the effortlike this was happening. And so,
(05:58):
you know, he's nineteen, he'sgot a lot of wealthy because he you
know, he's a noble guy witha very rich family and his father's gone
right. So, and what's interestingis that even though Gloucester was a Freemason,
the guy who told him about allof this, King George the Third,
was not a Freemason, right.And so King Georgia Third had three
(06:19):
younger brothers. All three of themwere Freemasons, and they were all made
past Grandmasters at the Premier Grand Lodgeof England in seventeen sixty seven. There
was a big ceremony. King Georgiathird was not a Freemason. So anyway,
after this dinner party that night,Lafayette had it this idea, I'm
going to America and I'm going todo whatever i can to help George Washington,
(06:42):
right and in his fight, I'mgoing to offer my services. And
he met up with another Freemason namedJohann dea coalb who's a Bavarian, and
with the help of Silas Dean,a very interesting figure in the history as
well, connect these men, alongwith Ben Franklin, who was over in
Europe as well. They helped sortof recruit and and act as a conduit
(07:08):
for these European Freemasons to come toAmerica men like Lafayette. Now, others
had already come to America. GeorgeWashington was kind of getting sick and tired
of it because most of these youngwhipper snapper French noblemen who were coming to
America just wanted more fame and theywere not really looking to advance the cause
(07:30):
of liberty. And Lafayette was verydifferent. Anyway, he got his own
ship, he called it Victory,nice name, and the French were told
by the British. France was stillneutral at the time, right and so,
but the British told France, youbetter not let him flee to America.
And so the French under the KingLouis the sixteenth arrested Lafayette and he
(07:57):
escaped from jail, was able toboard his ship with I think the dozen
or a couple dozen of his men, and with a couple British warships and
hot per suit, was able toescape Frands and made it to the open
ocean. Wow. So that's ajob. Just hearing you describe this,
I'm thinking, you know, Hollywoodis out of movie ideas. Who needs
(08:20):
it when you have this? BecauseI'm thinking of you know, Han Solo
and the millennium Falcon barely escaping theRepublican and also the parallels with Lafayette's story.
I wasn't aware of it. Alot of it is close, as
you mentioned to like other would beAmerican patriots that came from European Europe,
like thad ESCs Cousco from Poland whonever became a Freemason, or there's very
(08:45):
loose information if he ever did.But I'm just curious, like in your
mind, George Washington was interacting witha nineteen year old kid. Basically,
how do you envision the first meetingbetween Washington and Lafayette. Lafayette landed in
South Carolina. As soon as hegot there, he sent some letters back
(09:05):
to France because he left his youngwife and an infant daughter there. So
he sent posted some letters back toFrance, bought some horses, and rode
all the way up to Philadelphia,where George Washington in the Congress were right,
And so he presents himself to Congressand he says, here I am,
and they said, okay, youare a major general, and we're
gonna go meet introduce you to GeorgeWashington. And I mean, it's it's
(09:30):
not just what I think it's kindof fortunately. So fortunately Lafayette left really
detailed notes and letters, and sodid Washington about their relationship. There a
lot of letters exchange in and Lafayettewas writing back to his wife in France
describing how noble George Washington appeared.And I could even read a little passage
(09:54):
he said, the majesty this iswhen he first met This is when Lafayette
first met Washington. The majesty ofhis figure and his height were unmistakable.
His affable and noble welcome was noless distinguished. And I accompanied him on
the inspections of the defenses. Andit was with such simplicity that we became
(10:15):
two friends united with like like acement, by the greatest of causes.
So he sort of idolized Washington.Washington, of course, it's like,
wait, you have actually no militaryexperience whatsoever, right, So Washington was
very skeptical. But guess what.It only took two weeks until Washington appointed
(10:39):
Lafayette his aid or aide de camp. Okay, and that's because it rapidly
Lafayette showed like no, I'm Iwant to be in the midst of the
fight. The worst part of thebattle right next to you. I'm going
to do this at my own ownexpense, and I'm not gonna ask any
questions and I'm not going to complain. So Washington went from very skeptical within
(11:01):
literally a couple of months to thisis my adoptive son. It does give
that vibe because you have a fortyyear old Washington and like almost a twenty
year old Lafayette. And at firstyou'd be like, who's this French guy
with money? It's coming here andwants to follow me along. And now
it's like, oh, he's alsoa brother and he wants to fight alongside
of me. Well, let's lethim do this. Washington never had any
(11:24):
kids of his own, of course, and he's like forty three at this
point. Lafayette lost his father whenhe was two years old, so it's
almost like a match made in heavenfrom that standpoint. And so but then
at the Battle of Brandywine Creek,Lafe was shot through the left calf right
by a British musketball and Washington,and it's documented in a letter that Washington
(11:46):
gave to his favorite physician, JamesCraig, who's also a big freemason involved
with Washington's life, he told doctorCraig looked look after him as half or
my own son, all right.And so not only that, we see
that Washington had a portrait painted ofLafayet. Well, a lot of people
(12:07):
had portraits painted in during the rightin the midst of the Revolutionary War.
But what's the difference different here isWashington had that portrait of It's a beautiful
portrait of the marquis in a continental Army uniform. He had the painting
brought to Mount Vernon and hung duringthe war and hung on the family room
(12:30):
wall at Mount Vernon, as ifthis is really a family member. Right.
He didn't do that with other youknow, Alexander Hamilton, Yeah,
very close with Washington. That Washingtondidn't do that. It wasn't that kind
of really father son relationship that Washingtonand Lafayet had, you know, during
the Valley Forge winter seventeen seventy seven, very brutal times, you know,
(12:52):
a lot of disease and not enoughfood. You know, Lafayette was right
there. Interestingly enough, guess whoelse was right there the bleakest moment of
the Revolutionary War. Martha Washington,Right, she wasn't back at Mount Vernon.
She was with George Washington at allof his winter encampments. She's there
(13:13):
with him side by side. That'sjust very remarkable. How did Alexander Hamilton
feel about Lafayette having this relationship withWashington because Hamilton really wanted to be George
Washington's right hand man as well.Right, you know, there were there
was a lot of backstabbing going onand rumor mongering between Washington's own, you
(13:37):
know, allies, the people thatWashington was closest too. In fact,
one of the quotes is that,you know, this is from Lafayette writing
back to his wife, Washington trustme deeper than I dare say. In
the place he occupies, he issurrounded by flatters and secret enemies. Right,
So that's what Washington is up against. Michael. I don't want to
(14:00):
get get too far astraight in this, but you know, as far as
like Freemasonry and the American Revolution andhow much did it contribute and how much
didn't it contribute? And I don'tI forget if we mentioned this last time,
but in my encounters with Mason's thereare some that sort of overaccentuate the
involvement of Freemasonry in the American Revolution. And then there's some that that are
(14:24):
like completely deny it. They're like, oh no, it's all overblown,
it didn't happen, there's no evidenceof it. It's it's a bunch of
It's all it is is more ofthe slandering or mislabeling of Freemasonry getting into
too sort of the esoteric and likeconspiracy theories, and so they sort of
like downplay Freemasonry's involvement. However,here's Lafayette's words about this is a letter
(14:54):
that Lafayette wrote about George Washington.Quote he never willingly gave independent command to
officers who were not Freemasons. Right. Nearly all the members of his official
family, as well as most otherofficers who shared his innermost confidence, were
his brethren of the mystic tie endquote. And now only fifty percent or
(15:18):
forty six There have been like studiesdone founded up how many of Washington's generals
were Freemasons, And they somebody countedup and said, well, only forty
six percent. Right. And it'salso true that many of these generals were
not handpicked by Washington. They weresent to Washington by Congress. Right,
(15:39):
So it's not like there's this giantconspiracy in George Washington was the leader of
Freemason and it's all, it's notlike that. But here's Lafayette, who
is George Washington's like adoptive son,saying, hey, he didn't give orders
to anyone, or probably not atleast important orders unless that person could be
trusted they were a Mason. That'sif we can't believe Lafayette, I don't
(16:00):
know who we can believe, becausehe was there this uh, you know
apron gifted to Washington buy Lafayet.There's been a great deal of confusion about
which one is the true Lafayet apron, and there are several that have kind
(16:22):
of staked the claim and saying wehave it. Okay. For example,
there's an apron that um that belongsto Alexandria Lodge right, and they think
they for many years, thought wehave the lafaye At apron, right,
the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, theythought they had. Obviously, one apron
(16:42):
can't be in three different locations atonce. Somebody's coming right, right,
and and so you know there's anotherapron in the Grand Lodge of New York.
That um is called the Lafayette apron. Let's that's the low hanging fruit.
Let's get that one out of theway. That's clearly a transfer printing
apron on leather. That kind ofapron didn't get popular until the early eighteen
(17:07):
hundred, so that's not the apron. And you know it. It's a
beautiful apron. But it was probablypart of the celebrations of when Lafayette came
back to America in eighteen twenty fourfor the final time. You know,
he had a big celebration with aGrand Lodge. There's also the Grand Lodge
of New York has a really interestingapron. If you go back, and
(17:33):
it's not even on their website,you have to go back into old historical
books. It's a triangular shaped apronthat is supposed to be a night's templar
apron that Lafayette had and war whenhe was initiated as a night templar.
And that's another Lafayet apron. Lotsof Lafayet aprons, but point being the
(17:55):
one that New York has. Theyadmit it themselves, No, it's not
even the right time period. Okay. The one that the Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania houses also not the right timeperiod. It's been for many years they
claimed it was until they examined thematerial and they realized, oops, this
material came from China. I wasjust going to joke about that China.
(18:18):
No, there was, but butit was, you know, it's not.
The material was not from France,and it was also printed on right
now. The two aprons that Iwant to talk about next are silk aprons.
They're not cotton, they're not leather. They are silk, as in
not cheap, right, and theyare embroidered with really fancy gold threads and
(18:45):
sequins of the style that is rightfor French freemasonry aprons of seventeen hundred,
so the style is a lot morenow. So, but there were two.
There's the one that Mount Nebo had, which will call the lafay Had
apron, because that's what it's beenbeen determined to be. And then there's
this other apron that the Alexandria Lodgehas and for many years claimed to be
(19:10):
the lafay Had apron, and theylook remarkably similar. The lafay Had apron
that's in West Virginia, currently housedin West Virginia. Like I said,
it's silk. It's got ol Masonicemblems on it, you know that are
You know, there are crossed Frenchand American flags, which make it pretty
clear that it was related to France. Um. It has a skull and
(19:34):
crossbones in the middle of it assort of the central um emblem, which
I believe means sort of like beliefin the afterlife, not not not like
poison, right, And that's alsoa very prominent French Masonic symbol. You
know. It has the square encompasses, of course, and it has a
(19:55):
sprig of sprig of acacia, whichalso means like eternal life, I believe.
And it has a gavel hanging fromthe top, which if I'm not
mistaken, sort of implies like whoeverwore this apron had some authority and was
probably even the master of a lodge. The back of it is black silk
(20:15):
front the front is and it hada black trim around it still does and
uh and and it's very colorful.Um uh. Now there's this other apron
that also was from France. Thisis the apron that the lodge in Alexandria
has, and it's now referred toas the Watson Casul apron. Watson was
(20:38):
an American businessman and Casul was aFrenchman, and the two of them were
spies of George Washington's and they duringthe war, and they were in cahoots
together, and they were also youknow, the person above them was Ben
Franklin, right, And so after, you know, in seventeen eighty four,
they had some nuns in a coventin France make a Masonic apron for
(21:03):
George Washington. We even have Washington'sletter of thanks to them, and we
also have a letter from the gentlemanCasual describing, you know, some of
the details of the apron. Sowe know that that apron is actually theirs.
But there's some some very remarkably similarfeatures and styles between these two aprons,
(21:27):
the one in West Virginia, theLafayette apron, and this other one,
the Watson Casul. It's also silk, it's the same size, it's
the same shape, and it alsohas the French and American flags crossed,
but it does not have a skulland crossbones as its main symbol in the
(21:47):
center. Instead, what it hasis a gold plate with the Hebrew tetra
grammatin on it before Hebrew were wordsthat basically mean the God of Israel.
And it has some angels around itand stars, but it also has the
gabble above it and a sort ofa festoon of the cable toe as well
(22:14):
above it. So there that's justlike on the other Lafayete apron. So
they look very similar. And what'sinteresting is when Lafayette came back to the
Alexandria Lodge in eighteen twenty four whenhe was an old man, and they
the lodge at Alexandria showed it tohim and said, oh, you remember
this apron that you gave washing Andhe's like, yeah, yeah, I
(22:38):
remember that. No, it wasthe wrong apron. That was My next
question is like, I would loveto have known. I'm sure there was
an official presentation, but were theaprons that Washington was given from Lafayette or
the apron I should say that hewas given from Lafayette. Was that a
apron that Lafayette had made for him? You kind of had alluded that it
(23:00):
was given by the Grand Lodge ofFrance. Maybe the history that we have
that was handed down in the Washingtonfamily and also Washington's home lodge in Alexandria
is that it was crafted by AdrianLafayette, who is the Marquis's wife.
Interestingly, somewhere along the lines thatthe two aprons got crossed, their paths
(23:25):
got crossed, I should say,and so the U and it may have
even been Washington who made the mixup. Okay, So he put the
apron that the French and American spies, not the Lafayette apron, but the
Watson Casul apron. He put itin the box that Lafayette gifted his two
(23:45):
and then the other apron had adifferent course of history. What happened is
after Washington died in seventeen ninety nine, there was a huge inventory of the
state. Not only that, there'san oilcloth, an early trustle board that
was in Washington's possessions, and that'sall detailed in his estate listing of everything
(24:07):
that he owned, all of hisknick knacks, and you know, all
the belongings that were important to him. And then Martha Washington died just a
couple of years later, and afterMartha died, Mount Vernon had essentially a
garage sale. I can't believe thatyou're going to go so now, a
lot of a lot of Washington's belongingswere spelled out in his will, right,
(24:32):
so a lot of things had wereyou know, very dictated, like
who gets this and that. Butthen there were a lot of things that
were it was not clear who wasgoing to get what right, and there
was a tremendous I assume there stillwould be a tremendous interest in anything that
Washington had ever touched, so youknow, bedpans and tea caddies and things
that normally would no one would wantto you know own. You know,
(24:56):
people showed up to bid. Itwas more like an auction. Oh I
bet, yeah, I just Ihave this awful picture in my head.
But hopefully I'm praying that like LodgeBrothers, and from what I've heard taking
the tour at the George Washington NationalMasonic Museum, is that Martha gave a
lot of artifacts or donate a lotof artifacts to the Lodge because she didn't
(25:18):
want to have them in the houseas a reminder of his presence, right,
And so a lot of those artifactsare in good safe keeping at the
George Washington Memorial in Alexandria. Ifanyone hasn't gone, if any Masons haven't
gone. That should be like abucket list Masonic visit for any Freemason.
So if we're to have a takeawayguide for brothers or just listeners that may
(25:41):
come across one of these three aLafia aprons that exist in your mind,
the key things from what I understandfor it to be an actual Lafayette would
have been presented from Lafayette to Washingtonis look for the ornate decorations that would
have been on a silk bren Andmost likely you would not find these on
(26:06):
display in a place that you couldgo visit. They would only come out
for special appearances. I'm guessing afterthe Mount Nebo Lodge brought out the apron,
they rolled it out in two thousandand nine and it was verified by
the authorities, which it should havebeen, and thankfully it was, and
a conservation endeavor was put together aswell to conserve it because the apron,
(26:29):
you know, it's made of silk, and silk is not exactly the strongest,
most standous fades and all that.So there's been a conservation effort.
And not only that, but andso I think it was two thousand and
twelve, don't quote me on that, but around In two and twelve,
Mount Vernon started displaying the Lafayette apronon President's Day or George Washington's Birthday every
(26:55):
year. I want to thank ourguest for coming back. I'm so it
slips out almost every single time.Doctor not brother, Doctor Jason Williams,
the author of broad to Light,thank you so much for coming back on
the podcast. You're very welcome,Michael always glad to be here. If
you've enjoyed this episode and you wantto hear more, you can tell Siri
(27:15):
or Alexa to play. The CraftsmanOnline podcast were available on all streaming platforms,
with new episodes every Monday morning untilnext time. Let Peace and Harmony prevail.
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