History

The Order Knights of Pythias was founded on the evening of February 19th, 1864, in the City of Washington, District of Columbia, as a chivalric order and fraternal organization dedicated to inspiring and preserving the knightly principles of fraternal love in a country torn by civil war.

The founder of our Order was born Henry Edwin Dwight Rathbone near Utica, New York in 1839 to prominent lawyer Justus Hull Rathbone Esq., and Sarah Elizabeth Dwight, who was herself a descendant of philosopher and theologian Jonathan Edwards. When he was ten years old, his name was changed by striking out “Edwin Dwight” and prefixing his father’s name, Justus. He attended Mt. Vernon Boarding School, Cortland Academy, Carlisle Seminary, Madison University, and ultimately graduating at 18 years old from Colgate University in 1857.  As a young man, Justus Henry Rathbone moved to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He was employed as a school teacher in Central Mine, Northwest Mine, and in Eagle Harbor, Michigan. As some of the town names suggest, these were mining settlements on Lake Superior, and besides teaching school, Rathbone had also been employed as a clerk at one of the mining companies. The now-historical area did not provide much entertainment for the settlers and workers at the time, with the only noteworthy social event being an annual wintertime ball. Most of Rathbone’s evenings were spent reading and studying. Eventually, Justus Rathbone and his friends formed the “Stevens Dramatic Association” named in honor of a prominent local citizen, who was so complimented by the honor that he offered the association the use of the upper story of his commercial building free of charge. Rathbone was selected to be the stage manager, and it was his duty to secure plays from a publisher in New York City. Among the many plays sent was Irish playwright John Banim’s “Damon and Pythias”.

Rathbone had seen the play performed before numerous times, but reading it over at the schoolhouse one day after class had been dismissed, he was so taken by the story of friendship between the two title roles that it occurred to him that such friendship could and should be the basis of fraternal, secret society.   Being under 21 years of age, he was then too young to be a member of most secret societies such as the Freemasons and had no experience at the inner workings of then-successful fraternal organizations, yet between the autumn of 1858 and the spring of 1859, Justus Henry Rathbone completed the first ritual of the Knights of Pythias. And when the manuscript was completed, he folded it neatly, and put it away, not to be revealed to anyone until one, cold night in February, 1864.

“‘Twas a night dark and gloomy, and the blood of brothers slain
Had our country’s altar overflown, leaving dread and awful stain,
And a crimson, gory curtain, heavy, dripping wet,
Had veiled our nation’s temple, when a few good brothers met.

“‘Mid the roar of deadly cannon and the clash of cruel steel,
They planned our beauteous temple, with a grand, heroic zeal –
With a prayer to the God of Heaven, in the font of living grace,
There they christened our loved Order, and vouchsafed it to the race.”

Rathbone had been ordered to Washington, D.C., for duty in the Medical Department during the fever pitch of the American Civil War, 1863. It was the next year at a meeting of the Arion Glee Club that Justus Rathbone told five other members of the club that he had in his possession the ritual of a secret society which he had written some time before while teaching school in the Lake Superior country, and which he was desirous of now ushering into existence. He and his working associate Mr. Robert A. Champion, who had already read the ritual and was quite impressed, now urged the formation of such a society. Within just a few years, membership in the order numbered in the thousands.

So popular the Knights of Pythias were in Washington, D.C., that it didn’t take long before the organization was being spoken of in the White House. President Abraham Lincoln, being advised of the contents of the ritual of the Knights of Pythias and its teaching, said: “The purposes of your organization are most wonderful. If we could but bring its spirit to all our citizenry, what a wonderful thing it would be. It breathes the spirit of Friendship, Charity and Benevolence. It is one of the best agencies conceived for the upholding of government, honoring the flag, for the reuniting of our brethren of the North and of the South, for teaching the people to love one another, and portraying the sanctity of the home and loved ones. I would suggest that these great principles be perpetuated and that you go to the Congress of the United States and ask for a charter, and so organize on a great scale throughout this nation, and disseminate this wonderful work that you have so nobly started. I will do all in my power to assist you in this application and with your work.”

In time, President Lincoln’s blessing was realized, and on May 5th, 1870, the Knights of Pythias became the first fraternal organization to receive a Congressional charter.

As the numerical strength of the Order grew, subordinate lodges sprang up more rapidly than anyone had ever imagined, and Grand Lodges began forming, one in every state, under the authority of the Supreme Lodge. Making its way westward, the Supreme Lodge instituted the Grand Lodge of Missouri on July 7, 1871.