Fort Masonic, 1814

At the height of the War of 1812, as the British closed in on New York, DeWitt Clinton, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York, called Masons together to redoubt Fort Green in what is now the Bronx.  The Brothers completed the work in a single day and then continued to support the stronghold, now known as Fort Masonic.  Because of its existence, the British army skirted New York City and attacked the state at Plattsburgh a month later, where it was badly defeated. Doubtless, Fort Masonic and the Freemasons who fortified it contributed to saving the area from a destructive battle.