Congressional Recognition 193 Congressional Recognition of the Aztec Club of 1847 1 by Robert M. Clark, Jr. In 1889 two former Union Colonels, one United States Senator Charles 2 Fred e rick M anderson , and the o th e r, U n ite d S tate s H o u se o f 3 Representative m em ber Byron MacCutcheon , introduced a joint resolution in the Fifty-First Congress of 1889-1890 allowing military servicemen who are members of the Aztec Club or other hereditary military societies to wear on their uniform the badges adopted by their 4 respective Society. This joint resolution is significant because this was 1 An attorney and a fifth generation resident of Dallas, Texas, Mr. Clark is a member of the Aztec Club and other hereditary and military societies, including the Society of the Cincinnati, General Society of the War of 1812, Veteran Corps of Artillery, State of New York, constituting the Military Society of the War of 1812. 2 Charles Frederick Manders, a Senator from Nebraska 1883 to 1895, President pro tempore of the U. S. Senate from 1891 to 1893, born 1837 in Philadelphia and died in 1911 at Liverpool, England, President American Bar Association 1900, lawyer, Colonel 19th Ohio Infantry, Brevet Brigadier General. He was elected to membership in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States on 4 April 1883. He was commander of the District of Columbia Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, transferring to Nebraska in 1895. He is listed in the Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1961 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1961) p. 1258, Who Was Who in America 1897-1942, p. 772, and Dictionary of American Biography, American Council of Learned Societies (New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons), p. 230. 3 Byron MacCutcheon, a United States House of Representative member from Michigan 1883 to 1891, awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor “for distinguished gallantry at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, KY, May 10, 1863”, born in 1836 in Pembroke, Merrimack County, NH, died in 1908 at Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County, Michigan lawyer, Colonial 27th Michigan Infantry, Brevet Brigadier General. He was elected to membership in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States on 4 February 1885. He is listed in the Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1961, p. 769, and in an Obituary, New York Times, April 13, 1908, p.7, col. 4. 4 Volume XXI, Part 1, Congressional Record, Special Session of the Senate and Fifty-First Congress, First Session (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1889), p. 107 (4 December 1889) and p. 689 (20 January 1890): 194 aztec club of 1847 the first mention of the Aztec Club or other hereditary military societies by the U.S. Congress and because it greatly honors the members of 5 those societies. The resolution is also important to the Aztec Club because at that time the U.S. Congress itself produced a short history of the Society which is contained in the Senate Committee report. The other societies mentioned in the proposal were the Society of the 6 7 Cincinnati , the National Association of Veterans of the Mexican War , the 8 Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the Grand 9 Army of the Republic. These organizations, like the Aztec Club, were Mr. Manderson introduced a joint resolution (S.R. 6) granting permission to officers and enlisted men of the Army of the United States, members of the Society of the Cincinnati, the Aztec Society, the National Association of Veterans of the Mexican War, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and of the Grand Army of the Republic, to wear the badges adopted by those orders; which was read twice by its title, and with the accompanying papers, referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. 5 The Aztec Club (referred to in the record as the Aztec Society) of 1847 is a U.S. Military Officer's organization composed of officers who served in the Mexican War. It was organized in Mexico City on 13 October 1847 with 160 original members. After the U.S. evacuation from Mexico City it next met in St. Louis in 1852, and again met in 1867, and again in 1881. By 1997 total membership of the Aztec Club of 1847 was almost two hundred, slightly larger numerically than it had been 150 years previous. [Ed. Note: Members met at Detroit and elsewhere in small groups in 1852, and sent in mail ballots as well. The Annual Meeting where the election was finalized was at Jefferson Barracks, MO.] 6 The Society of the Cincinnati was America’s first hereditary military society, being founded in the original thirteen states under General George Washington in 1783, as well as in France through recognition of King Louis XVI. In addition to the 1890 joint resolution recognizing the Society of the Cincinnati, the report of a joint Congressional Commission formed in 1885 to dedicate the Washington monument provided for General Officers of the Cincinnati to take precedence after Governors of States and Territories and that members of the Society were to follow immediately after commissioned officers of the Army and Navy of the United States, see William S. Thomas, M.D., The Society of the Cincinnati 1783-1953 (New York, N.Y.: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1935), pp. 86-90. 7 The National Association of Veterans of the Mexican War was a non-hereditary general veteran's military society formed in 1866, see 51st Congress, 1st Session House Committee on Military Affairs, Report No. 1522, 18 April 1890, p.8. 8 The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States is a hereditary military society formed in 1865. It is currently composed of lineal and collateral descendants of Union Officers. 9 The Grand Army of the Republic was a non-hereditary general veteran's military society formed in 1866, see Fifty-First Congress, First Session House Committee on Military Affairs, Report No. 1522, April 18, 1890, p. 11. The successor to the Grand Army of the Republic is the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, which was founded in 1881. Congressional Recognition 195 founded by the Veterans of their respective wars themselves. Of the societies which were listed in the resolution, only the Aztec Club, the Society of the Cincinnati, and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States exist today because they provided for hereditary memberships. The final substituted version of the joint resolution passed in 1890 read 10 as follows: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives, etc., that the distinctive badges adopted by military societies of men who served in the armies and navies of the United States in the war of the Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the War of the Rebellion, respectively, m ay be worn u po n all occasions of ceremony by officers and enlisted men of the Army and Navy of the United States who are members of said organization in their own right. This final substituted version omits the name of the Aztec Club and of the other originally named societies for the reason stated “that others than those specified in the resolution as [originally] offered are in existence...” The House Committee Report described the history of the Aztec Club as 11 follows: THE AZTEC CLUB The Aztec Club was founded in the City of Mexico on the 13th day of October 1847, General Quitman being its first p re sid e n t. O n th e 1 st o f Janu ary, 1 8 4 8 , a constitution was adopted, when General Persifor F. Smith was elected president. It was made up of officers of the U.S. Army, regular or volunteer, who had served during the Mexican War, and seems to have been in the first instance a social organization. In the language of its 10 Volume XXI, Part II, Congressional Record, Fifty-First Congress, First Session, p. 1898 (3 March 1890); ibid., Part IV, p. 3525 (18 April 1890); ibid., Part X, p. 10171 (17 September 1890), p. 10330 (23 September 1890), and p. 10350 (23 September 1890); ibid., p. 10474 (26 September 1890); The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from December 1889 to March 1891, vol. XXVI (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1891), p. 681. 11 Ibid., p. 7. 196 aztec club of 1847 constitution, the com m ittee of arrangem ents were directed “to adopt and enforce a system of rules calculate d to pro m o te th e gran d o bje cts of o u r association -- harmony, economy, and comfort.” When the armies of the United States withdrew from Mexico the club was declared adjourned until September 1852, and it seems to have been held in a state of abeyance for several years, holding only occasional meetings. In the year 1877 a new constitution was framed, which was adopted in 1878, at a meeting held in the City of Philadelphia. By it, it was determ ined that the club formed in the City of Mexico should be continued in perpetuity as the Aztec Club of 1847. It was provided that the members of the club should consist — First. Of the surviving members of the original club, and those officers of the Army who served in Mexico during the war subsequently elected. Second. Of the successors of members specially nominated by themselves, who must be sons or blood relatives.