This is some interesting Masonic history, I'm sure most people don't know.

There was another interesting "religious" institution that had a profound impact upon the historic sequence of events within the Indian Territory leading up to the Civil War. Freemasons came with the Indians upon their removal to the west and when they had arrived in the new territories, they began to set up their lodges and conducted their rituals throughout the Five Nations. Freemasonry within the Indian Territory spread rapidly among both the mixed blood and full blood elements of Native American society. By the time of the Civil War, many of the most important leaders of the Five Nations of Indian Territory had been initiated into the craft.

This is taken from Patrick Minges' webpage at http://www.us-data.org/us/minges/ .

If you've read some of the online and recently reprinted "Slave Narratives", these are part of Patrick's outstanding work.

Jim Martin